Private theological university pioneering competency-based theological education across North America.
Kairos University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and the Association of Theological Schools, granting degrees from bachelor's through doctoral levels. The institution specializes in competency-based theological education (CBTE), emphasizing integrated knowing, demonstrated proficiency, mentoring, contextual learning, and flexible pacing. Programs integrate Bible, theology, ministry practice, leadership, counseling, and theological research. Kairos is one of only two universities in the US offering a Doctor of Professional Counseling (DPC) degree, alongside Mississippi College.
The institution traces its origins to 1858 when founded in Rochester, New York as the German Department of the Rochester Theological Seminary. It relocated to Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 1949 and moved to a new environmentally friendly campus in 2009. In 2014, Sioux Falls Seminary launched the Kairos Project, a CBTE initiative inviting collaborative theological institutions to join a network. In 2021, Sioux Falls Seminary officially became Kairos University, integrating five legacy partner institutions: Taylor Seminary, Evangelical Seminary, BLI School of Ministry, and Houston Graduate School of Theology.
Beyond its main Sioux Falls campus, Kairos operates offices in the United States and Canada and maintains a network of partner seminaries, colleges, and ministry organizations internationally. Partners include St. Stephen's University in Canada, Theologisches Seminar Rheinland near Cologne, Germany, and theological schools in Africa and Asia. The institution claims to operate one of the largest and most diverse accredited systems of competency-based theological education globally since launching the Kairos Project in 2014.
While interdenominational in scope, Kairos University retains an affiliation with the North American Baptist Conference. The institution's competency-based model has been recognized by scholars and the Association of Theological Schools as pioneering and comprehensive in theological education reform.