As seminaries across the country confront enrollment pressures, Dallas Theological Seminary has recorded the largest fall enrollment in its history: 2,657 students preparing for ministry and service incommunities around the world.

For DTS, growing enrollment is not about numbers orrecord-setting; rather, it’s an opportunity to bring theological education to people with widely varying circumstances, locations, and ministry responsibilities.

“Higher education in general and the seminary market in particular are in massive flux right now, so having stability and even a little bit of growth is a real blessing from the Lord,” says John Dyer, vice president of enrollment services and educational technologies. “We always want to remember that it’s first and foremost the grace of God, not any one thing we’re doing.”

According to data from the Association of Theological Schools, DTS ranks fourth among US seminaries by full-time-equivalentenrollment. The students behind those numbers represent several generations preparing for ministry and service. Students in their thirties make up the largest age group, followed by those in their twenties and forties. But more than 700 students are in their fifties or older. International students account for nearly a quarter of the total.

“Reaching a wide variety of people, training them for manyministry settings, and doing it around the world has kept us strong,” Dyer says.

The seminary’s flagship Master of Theology (ThM) program illustrates how access to DTS education has changed. In 2001, 96 percent of ThM students were resident in Dallas; by 2025, that had declined to 44 percent.

Additional pathways help students take the next step toward graduate education. These include opportunities to apply eligible coursework from DTS’s free theological courses toward graduate study, and innovative partnerships and residencies with churches, ministries, and educational institutions. Arrangements like these allow students to pursue training while maintaining connections to their work and ministry settings.

Once enrolled, students find support from the seminary throughout the completion of their degrees. Retention of master’s students stood at 87.9percent in 2026, up from 83.5 percent in 2023. Student preparation and support, online and distance resources, and scholarship opportunities contribute to this increase in student retention.

For the DTS community, the enrollment record is an occasion for gratitude and renewed commitment to the students entrusted to the seminary. Every student is on a journey, and the classroom is not the end of that story. As explained in the seminary’s mission statement, theological education serves a purpose that extends far beyond enrollment: equipping godly servant-leaders for the proclamation of God’s Word and the building up of the body of Christ worldwide.