(RNS) — Asbury Theological Seminary, a 103-year-old Kentucky evangelical seminary, is no longer approved as a school for United Methodist candidates for ordained ministry, the school announced Thursday (June 25). It attributed its removal by the United Methodist Church’s university accrediting body to the school’s objections to a new version of the denomination’s social principles that no longer solely affirm heterosexual marriage.

In its acknowledgment of the decision, the seminary based in Wilmore, Kentucky, said “this outcome reflects a determination made by the UMC rather than a shared resolution.”

A statement from the UMC General Board of Higher Education and Ministry said that the June meeting of the denomination’s University Senate included the removal of both Asbury and Northeastern Seminary in Rochester, New York, from its “list of approved non-United Methodist schools.”

The organization, which determines which schools may be attended by United Methodist ministerial students, also said it was notified during its most recent review period that Palmer Theological Seminary in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, and Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, requested removal from the same list.

But the new juncture with Asbury was notable due to recent UMC developments.

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Asbury President David Watson said in a statement, “The Senate’s requirements, particularly those related to the UMC’s 2024 Social Principles concerning ‘Human Sexuality’ and ‘Marriage,’ are not aligned with Asbury Theological Seminary’s institutional ethos and the historic witness of the Christian faith.” 

The statement continued, “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.”

The denomination’s social principles were revised during its quadrennial 2024 General Conference, when delegates voted to remove from the UMC’s rule book a statement added in 1972 that called homosexuality “incompatible with Christian teaching.”

“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,” reads a portion of the section on marriage in the revised principles.

The UMC statement said its Commission on Theological Education decided “Asbury’s published ethos statement is not compatible with the Social Principles of The United Methodist Church. In addition, Asbury does not have a full-time United Methodist faculty member who consistently teaches required United Methodist history, doctrine, and polity.”

A lack of a United Methodist faculty member was also among the reasons cited for the delisting of Northeastern Seminary, as well as its primarily offering online programs.

United Methodist students currently enrolled or matriculating at the four schools in fall 2026 will be allowed to complete their programs and pursue ordination in the denomination. But after this fall, students pursuing United Methodist ordination must attend schools that remain approved by the University Senate.

The United Methodist bishop of the region where Asbury is located addressed the mixed emotions the decision about the seminary is expected to prompt.

“Many in our conference will receive this news with disappointment and sadness,” wrote Bishop David Graves, leader of the UMC Kentucky-Tennessee Episcopal Area. “I share those feelings. For many clergy and laity across Kentucky and Tennessee, Asbury is more than an institution. It is a place where faith was deepened, callings were clarified, friendships were formed, and lives were changed.”

Mark Tooley, president of the conservative Institute on Religion and Democracy, posted on X: “Asbury Seminary is the largest theologically Wesleyan seminary in the world. It will easily outlast the shrinking United Methodist Church.”

In its statement, Asbury noted that the decision by the UMC will not affect its accreditation. It is still an approved theological school of the Global Methodist Church — a breakaway denomination that started in 2022 by departing United Methodist congregations — among other denominations.

Asbury, founded in 1923, has additional sites in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Memphis, Tennessee; and the Florida cities of Orlando and Tampa, in addition to fully online degrees. About 9% of its student body identifies with the UMC, according to the school. It was approved in 1946 by The Methodist Church, one of the predecessors of the UMC, for educating students seeking ordination. In 1981, it was approved by the UMC for educating candidates for ordination in the denomination.

The United Methodist accrediting body now approves of 13 United Methodist schools of theology and 25 non-United Methodist schools of theology.

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