Gordon-Conwell arose primarily from the merging and refounding of two separate schools, Gordon Divinity School, formerly of
Gordon College (1889) in
Wenham, Massachusetts, and the Conwell School of Theology (1888), formerly of
Temple University in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both schools were founded in the
Baptist theological heritage. Both
Adoniram Judson Gordon and
Russell Conwell, the namesakes of Gordon-Conwell, were Baptist ministers; Gordon's divinity school was first established as Gordon Bible Institute in 1889, while Conwell's theological school was originally chartered as
Temple College in 1888. In addition, the
Boston Evangelical Institute, founded as
Revere Lay College, also merged with Gordon-Conwell. Beginning in the 1960s, both Gordon Divinity School and Conwell School of Theology experienced new challenges. In 1961,
Temple University became a public university and was forced to divest the theological school, thus re-establishing the previous school of theology as a religious studies department. While
Temple University hoped
Russell Conwell's legacy would continue to grow through their new religious studies department,
J. Howard Pew and Daniel Poling, a Baptist minister and member of Temple's board, felt Conwell's vision to train Baptist ministers would be neglected. Poling contacted
evangelist Billy Graham who agreed to help if he could appoint both a board of trustees of his choosing and faculty members he trusted. Graham, in turn, contacted his close friend
Harold Ockenga who was due to take the presidency of
Gordon College and oversee the financially stressed divinity school. Rather than see two
evangelical seminaries compete, Graham proposed merging the two schools to form one evangelical school on the East coast to mirror
Fuller Theological Seminary's place on the West Coast.
J. Howard Pew agreed to financially back the merger on the condition that the seminary must be divorced from an undergraduate institution.
Stuart Babbage was the first vice-president and also served on the faculty alongside
Philip Edgcumbe Hughes,
R.C. Sproul, Walter Mueller, and
Richard Lovelace among others. Gordon-Conwell initially received protests and negative press for moving theological out of the inner city. In response,
Stephen Mott,
Michael E. Haynes, pastor of
Twelfth Baptist Church in
Roxbury and state representative, and Gordon-Conwell trustees located
Roxbury as the key location for inner city ministerial education. In 1976, the Boston-campus in
Roxbury, the Campus for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME) was founded. Classes were originally held in Haynes' Twelfth Baptist Church. Eldin Villafañe, Dean Borgman, and
Stephen Mott were among the first faculty to teach at CUME. Other former presidents include Robert E. Cooley (1981–1997) who founded the Charlotte campus and
Walter Kaiser Jr. (1997–2006). The brief tenure of
James Emery White (2006–07) saw White resign in less than a year into his post leading to the interim tenure of
Haddon Robinson (2007–08). The President appointed after Robinson's interim post was
Dennis Hollinger (2009–2019). On October 12, 2017,
Dennis Hollinger announced his intention to retire on June 30, 2019. Scott Sunquist, an alumnus of Gordon-Conwell and former Dean of the School of Intercultural Studies and Professor of
World Christianity at
Fuller Theological Seminary in
Pasadena, California, succeeded Hollinger as the seventh president in July 2019. ==Campuses and locations==