Why CBTS?
Discover why students choose CBTS
Our Vision, Identity
& Approach
At CBTS, you’ll study in the context of the local church, under the guidance of seasoned pastors who serve as your professors. Our biblically grounded and confessionally faithful training combines academic rigor with heartfelt devotion—uniting head and heart. All of this comes in a flexible and affordable format designed to sharpen you for a lifetime of faithful ministry to Christ's church.
Nurtured in the Local Church
Your seminary training keeps you anchored in your church community, so you are nurtured in the best context for pastoral development and the very place God has called you to serve.
Mind & Heart Preparation
Theological training at CBTS is both deep and balanced, forming the whole man for ministry, mind and heart. You’ll be shaped not only to think biblically but to minister faithfully.
Biblical & Confessional
Rooted in the Scriptures and guided by our Confession of Faith, our courses will equip you with theological clarity, historical depth, and doctrinal conviction.
Accessible & Affordable
Our low-cost tuition allows you to study and graduate debt-free. You can study online from anywhere in the world, at a pace that fits your life and church responsibilities.
Nurtured in the Church
CBTS provides theological education that prepares you for ministry right where God has placed you.
The Local Church
Christ entrusted His church with the responsibility to prepare the next generation of gospel ministers (2 Timothy 2:2). The local church is uniquely qualified for confirming the calling of a pastor and observing the development of his life and doctrine.
The Seminary
CBTS comes alongside local church pastors to help equip men who show promise for ministry. Your seminary training at CBTS doesn’t pull you out of your church, but keeps you anchored in it to nurture and mentor you for your future ministry.
Trained by Experienced Shepherds
We believe ministry formation happens best under the watchful care of those who already shepherd God’s people. That’s why every faculty member is a pastor or has significant pastoral experience, and every student in a pastoral program receives personal pastoral mentoring throughout his studies.
Pastoral Experience
You’ll be learning from men who understand ministry not just theoretically, but practically—men who have shepherded congregations and carry the weight of pastoral responsibility with grace and faithfulness.
Spiritual Sharpening
Seminary isn’t simply an academic experience, but a season of spiritual sharpening. Your professors and mentors will not only teach doctrine; they’ll challenge you to grow in humility, holiness, and wisdom.
Shaped by Scripture
The Holy Scriptures will shape your preaching, teaching, counseling, and leadership, rooting your ministry in God’s unchanging truth. Every aspect of your preparation is governed by the conviction that God’s Word is wholly true and sufficient, providing the foundation and final authority for faith and life.
The Inerrant Word
CBTS firmly stands upon the infallibility and inerrancy of God's Word. We affirm that Scripture is wholly true in all it teaches, containing no error in any part. The Bible, as God’s breathed-out Word, is perfect in all its assertions and entirely reliable as the final authority for faith and life.
Sola Scriptura
The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. It is the supreme judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest.
Grounded in the 1689 Confession
CBTS stands firmly on the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, convinced that it offers one of the clearest, most comprehensive, and time-tested summaries of biblical truth.
Confessionally Baptist
The 1689 London Baptist Confession provides the theological guardrails of our seminary. As a student, you’ll benefit from a curriculum that is historically grounded in our confession of faith.
Guarded from Novelty
Our confessional foundation protects students from unstable theological trends. You can study with confidence knowing that what you learn is rooted in the same truths proclaimed by faithful Christians throughout history.
Mind & Heart Preparation
The pastoral ministry requires thorough, comprehensive, and balanced training, not skewed either towards exclusive pastoral experience or exclusive academic studies.
Informed Scholarship
We are committed to offering the highest quality of academic scholarship. Our curriculum is thorough and well-rounded, spanning biblical exegesis, systematic theology, church history, and pastoral studies. Though we teach our courses with pastoral ministry in mind, we also teach them with an eye to current trends in important theological debates.
Pastoral Heart
We hold together the academic and the pastoral—training that engages the mind while shaping the heart. You’ll study theology not as theory, but as truth meant to practically and experientially transform your life and ministry. "The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith" (1 Timothy 1:5).
Studying On Your Schedule
Our programs are designed for busy students, combining the best of both in-person studies with flexible online courses that allow you to study without uprooting your family or leaving your local church. Whether you’re a full-time pastor, bi-vocational worker, or student preparing for future service, you can tailor your seminary schedule around real-life responsibilities.
Start Anytime
Because life and ministry rarely follow a rigid academic calendar, CBTS allows you to begin when ready and move at your own pace.
From Anywhere
Our flexible format allows you to pursue seminary training from anywhere in the world, without having to relocate your family or leave your church.
Graduating Debt Free
We are convinced that those who most need theological education are often those who can least afford it. That’s why CBTS is devoted to keeping costs low and tuition affordable. Our generous supporters and church partners help us to bring low-cost, but high-value, theological education to each student.
Low-Cost Tuition
Our tuition remains intentionally low ($100/credit hour with a $450/semester fee). This is made possible by supporting churches and donors who are passionate about the preparation of men for gospel ministry.
A Degree, Not Debt
Financial freedom allows you to focus on ministry, not loan repayment. Our tuition-relief programs and scholarships ensure that qualified students can finish their studies without the weight of unnecessary debt.
Our Confession of Faith
CBTS fully subscribes to the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith.
Our Constitution
Approved by the CBTS Board of Directors, July 29, 2025.
From the President
Greetings in the name of our reigning Lord Jesus Christ! Thank you for your interest in Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary.
Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary is committed to informed scholarship with a pastoral heart. We are committed to offering the highest quality of scholarship, both through our distance learning program and for students who choose to move to Owensboro, Kentucky, and study with us here. Though we teach our courses with pastoral ministry in mind, we also do so with an eye to current trends in important theological debates.
CBTS is founded on a commitment to the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. For us, it is the finest historic confession available to the church today. CBTS fully subscribes to it and ensures that all our teaching remains faithful to it. In this way, you may be assured that the teaching you receive through CBTS is not novel but reflects the great tradition of Reformed Baptist thought growing out of the Reformation.
The Lord Reigns,
Dr. Sam Waldron, President