The Federation of Bexley Hall and Seabury Western Theological Seminary forms an Episcopal educational center in the Midwest that offers a new model for sustaining rigorous theological education. Our flexible academic programs, rooted in ecumenical partnerships, offer fresh options for clergy and laypeople who are preparing for ministry in a changing church.

Seabury and Bexley offer the full spectrum of graduate level theological education. Bexley offers the Master of Divinity degree in conjunction with Trinity Lutheran Seminary, while Seabury offers Doctor of Ministry degrees in congregational development and preaching in partnership with the Church Divinity School of the Pacific and the Association of Chicago Theological Schools, respectively, and continuing education programs for church leaders. Both schools offer an Anglican Studies program for those in formation to work as clergy in the Episcopal Church either after or in conjunction with completing an MDiv at a non-Episcopal seminary.

On a weekend in late May, the Rev. Roger Ferlo and his wife Anne Harlan, a book artist, left their stately home on the campus of the largest and wealthiest seminary in the Anglican Communion to go apartment hunting in Chicago.

Two months earlier, Ferlo, associate dean and Director of the Institute for Christian Formation and Leadership at Virginia Theological Seminary, had been named president of Bexley Hall and Seabury Western Seminaries. Since late March, he’d been wrapping up his old job while taking on some of the responsibilities of his new one. Now it was time to focus entirely on the work ahead: bringing to life the innovative federation formed by the Episcopal Church’s two Midwestern seminaries.

“My job here has been as much involved in leadership and lay education as it has been in MDiv education,” says Ferlo, who was also professor of religion and culture at VTS. “So for me the combination of the two, with the Bexley site with the masters of divinity program and the Seabury site with all of these possibilities for leadership training, seems to be a really great combination.”

Alums and students at Bexley Hall and Seabury Western Theological Seminary, which have recently formed a federation, talk about why it's exciting to study at the schools and what's been most valuable to them.

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Across the Episcopal Church, lay leaders, clergy and aspirants to ordained ministry are seeking new kinds of training to lead a new kind of church. The new Bexley Seabury Federation Program in Anglican Studies offers a wide range of options for leaders from all walks of life. Join us in Columbus, Chicago or online and choose from a variety of intensive and semester-long courses. At Bexley Seabury, you can combine course formats and campus locations and design a program of study that suits your own needs, interests and schedule.

On March 27, the Seabury and Bexley Boards of Trustees announced that they have unanimously voted to federate and to elect the Rev. Roger Albert Ferlo, Ph.D., D.D., currently of Virginia Theological Seminary, as the Federation’s first president.