The American Lutheran Theological Seminary (ALTS) is currently in Applicant Status with the Commission on Accreditation of the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE).
Applicant Status is a pre-membership status granted to institutions that may be considered for candidacy status and indicates that ALTS has met the ABHE’s initial eligibility requirements and is actively engaged in the process of pursuing full accreditation.
The seminary is committed to maintaining high academic and spiritual standards as it continues to develop programs and institutional practices in alignment with ABHE’s expectations.
The ABHE considers accreditation to be an eight-year process. The
first four years of that process are the Applicant phase; the second
four years are the Candidate phase, followed by full accreditation.
We have just completed the second year of the Applicant phase. But
we took a bold step on November 14, 2025, by adding an official
request to accelerate our process. Both our ABHE representative
and our Accreditation Consultant thought that we were in a good
position to make such a request. So, we would like to ask you to
pray with us that the ABHE would grant our request to accelerate
our Applicant phase of the process. We will find out in February
2026 about the ABHE’s decision.