Sioux Falls Seminary
Sioux Falls Seminary is a private Baptist seminary in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The seminary offers on-campus and distance learning, including a Master of Divinity program in Omaha, Nebraska. The student body is broadly evangelical and denominationally diverse. Formerly known as North American Baptist Seminary, it is the main seminary of the North American Baptist Conference, formerly an association of ethnic German Baptist churches.
The seminary was founded in 1858 in Rochester, New York, and was known as the German Department of the Rochester Theological Seminary. Its purpose was to train pastors for German-speaking people in North America. In 1931, the seminary became known as the German Baptist Seminary, and in 1945, it changed its name to North American Baptist Seminary. In 1949, the seminary relocated to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in order to be more centrally located to its constituents. The name was changed from North American Baptist Seminary to Sioux Falls Seminary on May 18, 2007. In July 2009, the seminary moved into a new, environmentally friendly campus in central Sioux Falls, nestled on the eastern edge of the Augustana University campus.
Sioux Falls Seminary offers several Master's level degree programs which include a Master of Divinity, as well as Master of Arts degrees in Christian Leadership, Bible and Theology, Counseling, Marriage and Family Therapy, and Christian Leadership. In addition the seminary oversees a Doctor of Ministry degree, graduate level certificates, and non-graduates certificates.
The school is known for contextual learning, an approach that allows students to gain ministry experience while earning their degrees. Students are placed in churches and other places of ministry where they are able to preach, teach, and lead worship.
