What happened to Spurgeon’s College?

Just as students across the UK are beginning the fall term, 169-year Spurgeon’s College in London has closed its doors for good.

According to a statement by the school, the unexpected closure of Europe’s largest Baptist college on July 31 came as a “profound shock to many.” However, with a history of financial instability and a risky plan to transform the school into a university, perhaps the collapse of Spurgeon’s College should not have been such a surprise.

Humble beginnings

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the Baptist pastor who founded the institution that would one day bear his name, received little formal education himself and no ministerial training whatsoever. Inspired to help a street preacher pursue his education, Spurgeon founded “Pastors’ College” to train men for the ministry in 1856.

He removed the academic and financial barriers to a theological education, allowing students to pay whatever they could afford. The ethos of Pastors’ College was, “When God’s work is done in God’s way, it never lacks God’s supply.”

Yet, it was Spurgeon’s family and friends, along with the congregation at Metropolitan Tabernacle, which at that time was the largest church in the world with 6,000 members, who funded the majority of the school’s budget.

After Spurgeon’s sudden death in 1892, donations to the school dwindled. Without Spurgeon’s animating influence, the college teetered on the brink of financial collapse. Then, in 1922, a wealthy Baptist benefactor stepped in and saved the school.

Charles Hay Walker established the Falkland Park Trust (also referred to as “Falklands Park Trust”) in memory of his wife. The trust provided the college a grandiose mansion, Falkland Park House (also known as Walker House), and 6 acres of land surrounding it in the London Borough of Croydon to use as a theological college aligned with the doctrine stipulated in the trust’s deed. Pastors’ College at once changed its name to Spurgeon’s College and moved classes into the mansion the next year.

A new vision

In 2017, when Spurgeon’s College appointed Baptist minister and former Army chaplain Philip McCormack as the new principal, he brought with him “an exciting vision for the future of the college,” said Sara King, who chaired the school’s board of governors at the time. McCormack’s predecessor, Roger Standing, resigned after an extended period of sick leave during which progress at the college stalled. Perhaps this leadership vacuum left the college craving a bold new plan.

McCormack and the governors of Spurgeon’s College became determined to transform the school from a Bible college training future ministers for the church into a “collegiate university” with “constituent colleges” across the UK and possibly internationally. Achieving this required Spurgeon’s to attain degree-awarding powers for taught degrees and post graduate research degrees. In 2017, Spurgeon’s relied on Manchester University (among others) to validate its courses; but with degree-awarding powers, the college could create and award its own degrees in both religious and secular fields.

The leadership reasoned new degrees would attract new students and Spurgeon’s College needed to triple the size of its student body to achieve university status. However, the outdated education facilities at Falkland Park already were at maximum capacity with 700 students. Thus, Spurgeon’s developed a masterplan to build three large lecture theaters, a new library, 13 smaller lecture rooms, a dining hall, a café, a kitchen, 30 offices, a boardroom, six meeting rooms and a new chapel to prepare for the school’s anticipated growth.

A series of loans

As a university, Spurgeon’s would need to demonstrate enough surplus of capital to ensure a degree once offered would not run out of funding before students could complete it. To finance the construction of the education facilities and give the college an influx of cash, the school planned to sell a portion of its land to its development partner to build nearly 200 apartments to rent (later amended to 42 family homes to sell).

In 2018, Spurgeon’s College obtained a £350,000 loan from the Baptist Union Corporation, a property trustee for Baptist churches in the UK that also oversees the Baptist Union Loan Fund of the Baptist Union of Great Britain. It was the first of many loans for the college, which at this early stage needed money to train staff for DAP and develop plans to present to the Borough Council of Croydon. The following year, on May 24, 2019, the school acquired two additional loans from the private bank C. Hoare & Co. in London.

That fall, the Office for Students, which regulates the higher education system in England, rejected the school’s registration application after Spurgeon’s failed to meet the criteria for financial stability. According to the government, “The college was forecasting deficits, cash outflows from its core activities and weak liquidity.” Spurgeon’s lacked the financial resources to be sustainable, and in the opinion of the reviewers, did not have a realistic or adequate plan for addressing its financial situation.

Without that approval, students could not access funds from the government’s Student Loans Company. Spurgeon’s students were only informed of the school’s situation a month before term was to begin in 2019.

Baptist Union of Great Britain stepped in and set aside £200,000 from its reserves to help students who had been denied loans or had their loans reduced because of the school’s rejection by the government agency. While publicly disputing the ruling, on Oct. 2 Spurgeon’s borrowed £2 million from Baptist Union Corporation, before it reapplied to the Office for Students on Oct. 8. On Oct. 10, the college then used the loan from BUC to repay the loans from C. Hoare & Co. The five-year BUC loan for £2 million was secured against the house and land provided to the school in the Falkland Park Trust. This infusion of cash satisfied the Office for Students, for the moment.

Spurgeon’s College had hoped to begin construction on the major elements of its masterplan in 2020 so the new campus buildings would be completed in time for the school’s centennial anniversary in 2023. However, the COVID pandemic derailed the construction timeline and compounded the college’s financial struggles. The college lost £47,728 in income from accommodation fees when students could not live on campus during lockdown and £194,475 from a downturn in enrollment and the delayed 2019 Office for Students registration.

“The COVID pandemic derailed the construction timeline and compounded the college’s financial struggles.”

The college’s finances improved slightly after flipping the former Raleigh Park Baptist Church, which closed its doors in 2018 and left its property to the school. However, a dispute over building plans delayed the site’s sale. Two individuals in positions of leadership at the school secured personal loans totaling £200,000, which they then donated to Spurgeon’s College. The college governors gave an additional £107,000 in personal loans to the school in November and December of 2021, all of which the college would repay once the Raleigh Park property sold.

The next year, more borrowing ensued. A bridge loan for £400,000 was secured from BUC in December and another in February 2022 for £1 million. The college used the February loan to satisfy a loan from financing company TAB London Ltd. As of July 2022, the school owed BUC £3 million.

Once again using the Falkland House and grounds as collateral, the college secured a two-year short-term refinancing loan from TAB on Oct. 18 for £5 million. A portion of that money paid off the £2 million BUC loan the same day. But this game of monetary musical chairs had done nothing to reduce the school’s ballooning debt or provide capital for the master plan.

In 2022, Spurgeon’s annual expenditure of £2,213,459 was double its income of £1,086,793, leaving a deficit of £1,126,666. Student fees formed the school’s primary source of income, and the college calculated that increasing student numbers by 20% would generate an additional £200,000 a year.

Just when things were looking up

Spurgeon’s finally received degree-awarding powers on May 22, 2022, the first theological college in the UK to do so, and set about attracting students in both religious and secular fields. The school continued training men and women for ministry, offering bachelor of arts degrees in theology with specialties in chaplaincy and ministerial formation, and master of arts degrees in digital theology and ministry. In 2023, the school partnered with the New Testament Church of God to provide training for its ministers in addition to educating future Baptist clergy for BUGB.

When Spurgeon’s closed in July, half its ministerial students were from denominations other than Baptist.

“When Spurgeon’s closed in July, half its ministerial students were from denominations other than Baptist.”

The college created its own bachelor of science degree in counseling with plans to add new degrees in the humanities every year as enrollment grew and its finances stabilized. But in the current fiscal environment, relying on the humanities (as worthy as they are) to generate income proved a deeply flawed strategy.

The UK government has been pivoting away from funding these courses, instead investing in health care and the sciences to stimulate the post-COVID economy. Likewise, students in the UK are looking for degrees that guarantee job security, such as computer science, medicine, economics, business, law and social work. With this in mind, Croydon’s own Local Plan SP5 supports the presence of a university in the borough, but one focused on innovation and technology.

Although the student body at Spurgeon’s grew to 800, the slight increase did little to impact the schools’ growing deficit. Student fees never fully paid for the cost of an education at Spurgeon’s, and relying on them never would make the school solvent. In 2023, the college ran a deficit of £2,059,043, again roughly double its income of £1,162,710.

This prompted the college to take even bolder actions to boost enrollment and income. Abandoning plans to build a Charles Spurgeon Heritage and Conference Center, the college sold its Spurgeon Heritage Collection, comprised of manuscripts, documents, personal letters, minutes from Pastors’ College and more to Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for £1.6 million.

Engaging Rick Warren

Then, in April 2023, Spurgeon’s named Pastor Rick Warren as its first honorary chancellor. Once more, the school was relying heavily on a prominent personality to drum up donations. In his largely symbolic role, Warren promoted Spurgeon’s College at his speaking events and recorded a series of videos for the school as part of a fundraising/vision campaign kicking off in November 2024.

Yet, even with Rick Warren lobbying on the school’s behalf, and after spending £79,539 on fundraising efforts, when the financial year closed in July 2024, the college still ran a deficit of £2,239,201, double the amount of its £1,035,135 income.

Master plan opposition

And what of the school’s master plan? It still was a dream on paper. Despite several preapplication meetings and presentations for the Croydon Council, the school still had not secured approval from the borough to build its new education facilities or the housing development. Members of the council raised concerns about the projected loss of mature trees and the increase in traffic congestion. They also were dismayed the plan did not include any affordable housing, something the borough needed but the college could not afford.

To determine the financial feasibility of the school’s plan, the council consulted studies by two different firms, BNP Paribas Real Estate and Turner Morum. While BNPPRE said the plan was viable, Turner Morum calculated the scheme would not work without a 10% increase in revenue and a 10% decrease in cost.

Residents of Croydon themselves had mixed opinions about Spurgeon’s masterplan, which they voiced online and at public information sessions. In addition to trees and traffic, residents objected to the overall scale of the project relative to the amount of land available. They also raised concerns about the impact of so many new families and students on Croydon’s public schools and medical facilities.

“Almost half those providing feedback, including Spurgeon’s College alumni, did not want to see residential housing built on the land.”

Almost half those providing feedback, including Spurgeon’s College alumni, did not want to see residential housing built on the land given to the school by the Falkland Trust for theological education. When the college raised the possibility of moving to a different location if its building application was not approved, 27% thought it would be a loss to the community, 29% did not think it would be a loss and 22% were not sure.

In July 2024, Spurgeon’s submitted its full planning proposal to the Croydon Council for approval, along with the community responses and various impact assessments. According to a timeline published by the college, if the plan were approved that summer, construction would begin in the winter 2024. Autumn came, but the approval of Spurgeon’s masterplan never did.

At the end of October, the college issued its Student Protection Plan, a document required by UK law that details how colleges and universities will provide for students if the campus or institution is forced to close. Spurgeon’s plan stated that, if ever necessary, it would close gradually so students could finish their degrees. Protection plans must also include the degree of risk to students of such an event happening. For Spurgeon’s College, the risk to continuity of study that fall was “medium.” The risk that the college would close due to financial unviability was “high.”

The Dacre Foundation

With its future in the balance, Spurgeon’s College once more looked to a wealthy benefactor for help: Graham Dacre, an evangelical Christian who had given more than £6 million to charities and community organizations, including Moorlands College. In November 2024, the governors of Spurgeon’s College struck a deal with the Graham Dacre Charitable Foundation Trust. The Dacre Foundation would pay off Spurgeon’s £5.4 million loan, and in exchange Spurgeon’s College would resign as the corporate trustee of the Falkland Park Trust, turning control of the land and school buildings over to the foundation. As the new trustees of the Falkland Park Trust, the Dacre Foundation would rent the land and buildings back to the school for a minimal fee until the end of July 2027.

According to the governing board at Spurgeon’s, the Dacre Foundation also committed to fundraising on behalf of the school and promised to make additional donations throughout the 2025 school year to ensure the college’s “financial security.” The arrangement appears designed to save the Falkland House and property from foreclosure by TAB London. It also would buy Spurgeon’s College time to continue its fundraising among “high-net-worth individuals” and pursue its building projects.

When the year-end report for 2024 was approved by the school’s governing board on Feb. 6, 2025, they declared with confidence that Spurgeon’s College had sufficient cash flow and fundraising prospects to sustain it for the next year and beyond. However, independent auditors who reviewed the report raised concerns that the school was “heavily reliant” on its future relationship with the Dacre Foundation for its fundraising and operations. Even with the foundation promising to pay off the loan to TAB London, the school still had more than £4,382,289 in other loans due within the year.

The 2024 report also indicates the college had every intention of continuing its planned construction of new educational and residential buildings. However, on Feb. 21, 2025, the developer working with Spurgeon’s College withdrew the school’s planning application from the Croydon Council. It is unclear whether this was because the college planned to amend and resubmit it, or if the school had decided to abandon its masterplan for the Falkland House and property now that, as of March 4, the campus would be under the control of the Dacre Foundation. Perhaps leadership was exploring options to follow through on their threat to move the college out of Croydon entirely.

Meanwhile, Spurgeon’s kept up appearances that all was well. Plans were in the works for an Aug. 4 webinar introducing a master of arts degree in transformational leadership taught by Rick Warren. The school was interviewing possible candidates for the full-time position of student recruitment officer and accepting payments from current students for the coming 2025-2026 school year.

On June 21, a month before its closure, Spurgeon’s hosted an Open Day for students interested in studying theology. Yet, while prospective students were visiting the campus that June, four of the college’s directors were resigning and leaving, including Principal McCormack, who did not even stay for graduation on July 12. McCormack said he left the college with the “foundation to build for the future” from a “position of strength.”

Sudden closing

Then suddenly, Spurgeon’s College released a statement on July 31 announcing the Dacre Foundation had “unexpectedly terminated” its relationship with the college on July 21 and withdrawn its financial support. Spurgeon’s £5.4 million loan from TAB London was completely paid off on July 28, presumably with the funds promised by the Dacre Foundation in November 2024. Since the college has yet to repay the Dacre Foundation, the property of the Falkland Trust likely remains in the hands of the foundation.

“The Dacre Foundation had ‘unexpectedly terminated’ its relationship with the college on July 21 and withdrawn its financial support.”

The foundation is known for repurposing properties into community spaces for youth and helping religious organizations build centers for ministry, worship and child care. Did the Dacre Foundation just happen to find itself in the final chair when the music stopped, or did it terminate its charitable support and so stop the music for its own interests?

Both Spurgeon’s College and the Dacre Foundation were contacted for this article but neither responded to questions about the termination of support or which entity now controls the Falkland Trust. Spurgeon’s College is currently in administration, so details may be forthcoming.

So what happened?

Whatever the cause or sequence of the collapse, students enrolled at Spurgeon’s College were left stranded by the school’s sudden closure. With only a month before term began, they scrambled for last-minute admittance and accommodation at one of the college’s partner schools. However, not all the programs and courses taught at Spurgeon’s are transferable, and the UK is suffering a shortage of student housing.

Those who already had paid their student fees may not have the financial resources to apply to a second school while they wait to be refunded by the insolvency administrator. International students, who depend on their enrollment status for their visas, may be forced to leave the country. Once again, BUGB has stepped in to assist Baptist students and ministers in training, coordinating with Bristol Baptist College to create a learning hub in London. They also are providing a measure of financial help on a case-by-case basis, but their resources are limited.

Pondering the collapse of Spurgeon’s College, it’s hard not to wonder how things went so wrong and how they might have turned out differently. What if the school had used its small surplus in 2016 to invest in its community, cultivate relationships and pursue a more gradual plan for growth? Liverpool Hope University’s Network of Hope and the Amity Youth Development program both met on the campus, and a lunch club for senior adults and adults with learning disabilities utilized the college’s kitchen and dining space. What if Spurgeon’s had leaned in and listened to these and other residents’ needs and dreams, rather than imposing its sweeping vision onto the community? Was the leadership’s ambition to craft a university from a religious training college the height of mortal hubris or a tragic, unrequited leap of faith born out of a sincere belief God would provide?

After 169 years of educating clergy, answering this last question may prove the hardest lesson of all.

 

Kristen Thomason is a freelance writer and journalist living outside Edinburgh in the United Kingdom. She has produced educational and promotional media for national and international religious organizations and public television. Kristen also worked with local churches in Metro D.C. and Toronto, Canada. With a master’s degree in communication and undergraduate degrees in media studies and classics, she is interested in the intersection of politics, religion, history and the arts.