University Senate Removes Asbury, Others from Approved Seminaries

by

Ordained Ministry

UPDATED June 29, 2026 with Northeastern Seminary statement.

A United Methodist Insight | June 25, 2026

Four theological schools, including the flagship school of conservative Methodists, have been removed by the University Senate from the list of theological schools approved for United Methodist candidates for ministry.

Following usual quadrennial reviews by the senate’s Committee on Theological Education, the schools no longer approved “for providing theological education for candidates for licensed or ordained ministry” are:

Asbury and Northeastern were delisted after a vote at the University Senate's June 18 meeting. Luther and Palmer were delisted earlier.

The University Senate is the United Methodist body that approves schools for an official relationship to the denomination. Each approved seminary is reviewed once every four years, explained Susan Clark, director of communications for the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, the University Senate’s related agency.

“The reviews are designed to verify that candidates for ministry are formed in institutions that embody a United Methodist ethos and provide regular, substantive instruction in United Methodist history, doctrine, and polity, Ms Clark explained in an email.

Roland Fernandes, top executive of the United Methodist General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, said the seminaries were removed after a process of review and discernment, including conversations with each school’s administrative and academic leaders.

“The University Senate takes this kind of vote seriously,” said Dr. Fernandes, who along with Dr. Susanna Baxter, president of LaGrange College and Senate president, are the group’s only authorized spokespersons.

Dr. Fernandes said the seminaries were delisted primarily for two reasons:

  • Lack of a United Methodist-affiliated professor teaching United Methodist history and polity;
  • Distance learning replacing on-campus resident study intended to provide direct spiritual and collegial formation for clergy candidates.

Though never an official United Methodist seminary, multi-denominational Asbury Theological Seminary has been the ministerial education bastion for conservative United Methodist clergy for decades. Asbury alumni long have been advocates for conservative or “traditionalist” United Methodist theology. Asburians regularly served as delegates to General Conference, the UMC’s top legislative body, often forming political blocs that kept the denomination from enacting progressive policies.

Dr. Fernandes told United Methodist Insight that the University Senate’s Committee on Theological Education had a “cordial meeting” with Asbury leaders in April. Dr. Fernandes said the University Senate’s criteria for disapproval included Asbury’s lack of a United Methodist professor to teach history and polity, and Asbury’s ethos that “includes language that is incompatible with United Methodist Social Principles and doctrine,” said Dr. Fernandes.

Among Asbury’s statements posted on its website:

  • “By God’s grace, we will nurture redemptive relationships that honor and uphold the dignity of creation, human life, the sanctity of embodied human sexuality, the equality of women and men, the covenant of Christian marriage between one man and one woman, and the importance of the family.”
  • “We believe God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as either male or female. Together these two distinct sexes reflect the creative nature and image of God.”
  • “We affirm marriage as sanctioned by God, which joins one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union for life, as delineated in Scripture, and provides the sole context for sexual intimacy, helping to ensure the blessings of that relationship as God intended.”
  • “Based on a Biblical view of creation, fall, and redemption, our goal is to come alongside as a loving community anyone who is experiencing gender identity discordant with their birth sex. We do not affirm theologically the adoption of a psychological identity discordant with one’s birth sex as a result of the tension between one’s biological sex and one’s experience of gender. Similarly, we do not affirm attempts to change one’s given biological birth sex via medical intervention in favor of the identity of the opposite sex or of an indeterminate identity.”

In contrast, the United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline, its collection of church laws, includes the following statements approved by the 2024 General Conference:

Paragraph 163, The Political Community, “Basic Rights and Freedoms:” “We condemn all attempts to deny individuals their basic rights or freedoms or to strip human beings of their inherent dignity and worth. We, therefore, reject within the church and wider society any act of discrimination, hatred or violence directed against individuals or groups based on national origin, tribal affiliation, ethnicity, age, gender identity, disability status, economic condition, sexual orientation, religious affiliation or other any factors.”

Paragraph 162-D The Social Community: “Within the church, we affirm marriage as a sacred, lifelong covenant that brings two people of faith, an adult man and woman of consenting age, or two adult persons of consenting age into union with one another.”

In addition, General Conference delegates removed all bans and penalties throughout the Book of Discipline related to the exclusion of LGBTQ+ persons from ordained ministry or UMC clergy performing same-sex marriages.

Insight contacted the office of Asbury’s president, the Rev. Dr. David F. Watson, by telephone and email for a response to the University Senate de-listing. No response had been received by deadline.

In a statement to UM News, Dr. Watson said:

“We engaged fully and faithfully in the process and honored every request from the Senate in a timely manner,” he said. “We were forthcoming with the requested documents and information. Throughout the process, we were honest and clear about our doctrinal and ethical standards, even when those differed from the recently amended Social Principles of The UMC. Their final decision to delist us was unilateral. While we had hoped for a different outcome, our focus remains steadfast on our unchanging calling.”

Heather Hahn's article continued: "He added that the Senate’s requirements — especially those concerning The United Methodist Church’s revised Social Principles on human sexuality and marriage “are not aligned with Asbury Theological Seminary’s institutional ethos and the historic witness of the Christian faith.”

Regarding the other schools, their evaluations happened in different review cycles, according to Ms. Clark:

  • In July 2025, Palmer Theological Seminary was invited to participate in their official quadrennial review. In February 2026, the University Senate received official notification that they wished to decline their invitation and be removed from the listing of UM-approved theological schools.
  • Luther Seminary was invited to participate in their official quadrennial review in February 2026. In May 2026, they also declined the invitation for review and asked to be removed from the listing of UM-approved theological schools.
  • Northeastern doesn’t have a United Methodist faculty member to teach required United Methodist history, doctrine, and polity, and the school’s program is taught primarily online with no residential, formational experience, as is required by University Senate standards for non-United Methodist theological schools.

Northeastern Seminary, a Free Methodist-affiliated school that embedded in Roberts Wesleyan University, released a statement in response to United Methodist leaders' decision. The seminary draws most of its United Methodist students from the Upper New York Conference. 

“While we hoped for a different result, Northeastern Seminary appreciates the fair and transparent process with which the Commission on Theological Education conducted this review and communicated their reasons for the decision,” said Josef Sykora, professor of biblical interpretation and dean of Roberts Wesleyan University's School of Theology and Northeastern Seminary, in the statement. 

Northeastern Seminary currently educates more than 200 students.

"Our school remains deeply committed to its mission to prepare men and women for faithful and effective ministry in today's complex world," Sykora said. "As we move forward, we will carefully evaluate these findings with the desire to address the differences and hopefully regain the approved status with the United Methodist Church in the future."

Fernandes and Baxter,  in answering questions from UM News, said they are mindful that these decisions affect students, schools, conferences and the wider church.

“The quadrennial review process exists to help ensure that candidates for ministry are formed in settings clearly aligned with United Methodist ethos and provide regular, substantive instruction in United Methodist history, doctrine and polity,” they said. “This work is part of the church’s ongoing commitment to prepare clergy who can serve faithfully, lead wisely and bear witness to the Gospel in a changing world.”

They added: “The University Senate gives thanks for the long history and contributions of these institutions to theological education and to the life of The United Methodist Church.”

“United Methodist students at (any de-listed institution) who are currently enrolled or plan to matriculate in fall 2026 will be permitted to complete their programs without interruption and pursue ordination in the United Methodist Church,” Susan Clark of GBHEM explained for Insight. “After fall 2026, United Methodist students beginning Master of Divinity coursework for the purpose of pursuing ordination in The United Methodist Church should explore Senate-approved theological schools.”

There are 13 official United Methodist seminaries and 26 non-UMC theological schools approved for clergy candidates to attend. Click here for a current list of approved theological schools.

Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011 as a media channel for news and views by, about and for marginalized and underserved United Methodists.