‘Students are hungry for God’s Word’: Southern Baptist Gateway Seminary reports record enrollment
Gateway Seminary, a California-based theology school affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, has reported record enrollment for its fall semester.
According to the reported fall enrollment, the seminary has 1,095 students, up from 971 in fall 2025. New student enrollment rose 46% to 338, the largest incoming class in Gateway’s history.
In comments emailed to The Christian Post last week, Gateway President Adam Groza said the total headcount includes enrollment in the core programs at the seminary, including master’s, doctorate and certificate programs, “as well as students in the diploma and certificate programs as they are in the same master’s level classes as the other master’s students.”
“Not included in these numbers are our [doctor of ministry] students and students in our unaccredited leadership development program called ADVANCE,” he explained. “Students in the DMin program are in a cohort model that doesn’t quite translate cleanly into a one-to-one comparison with our semester-oriented core programs.”
In addition to the 1,095 enrollment being a record student headcount, the total credit hours of 5,240 marks the highest number of hours since Gateway relocated its main campus to Ontario, California, in 2016.
“Our enrollment success is ultimately the result of God’s grace and the faithful partnership and support of Southern Baptist churches,” said Groza. “Students are hungry for God’s Word.”
“Students are drawn to our emphasis on preaching, missions and evangelism: to that end, every Gateway student can qualify for a fully-funded overseas mission trip as part of their education at Gateway.”
Groza also credited the faculty and their “unwavering commitment to the inerrancy and sufficiency of Scripture, as expressed in the Baptist Faith and Message,” saying this was “attractive to students, many of whom are serving in highly secular ministry contexts.”
“They want a seminary education with a high view of God and a high view of His Word so that they can serve faithfully in churches and ministries around the world,” he told CP.
Gateway's growth comes at a time when many seminaries across the United States are seeing enrollment declines and weathering serious financial challenges.
When CP asked what advice he had for other struggling seminaries, Groza cautioned that each “seminary exists in a unique context,” but offered several suggestions.
“First, we make efforts to stay connected with the local church so that we are responsive to their needs,” he said. “We do what we can to be good partners with our churches, Southern Baptist associations and conventions, and with sister organizations like the Baptist Foundation of California and California Baptist University.”
“Second, we try to be wise about the trends in theological education. For instance, several seminaries are lowering the required hours for the Master of Divinity, but we are not. Now more than ever, we are finding that students want a more robust theological education.”
A third piece of advice that Groza gave was putting “Christ-centered theological education in the places that need it most,” noting that “Gateway continues to expand its contextual education model through regional campuses and teaching sites.”
This effort included recently opening a campus in Hawaii, which enrolled 24 students in its first semester, launching teaching sites elsewhere in California, as well as Nevada, and forming overseas partnerships in Finland, Hong Kong and Ukraine.
“Lastly, we work hard to foster a culture that is both convictional and humble,” said Groza. “Students find that Gateway faculty are pastoral, staff are friendly, and our campus environments, though modern and urban, feel like family.”
