SEUT had its beginnings in 1884, with the foundation of the Instituto Evangélico de Teología at Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz, Spain). From the start it underwent the ups and downs typical of a very difficult period for Evangélicos in Spain. In 1919 it was transferred to Madrid, at which time it acquired its present name of Seminario Evangélico Unido de Teología. It remained in Madrid until the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). During this period it had teachers of the stature of Jorge and Teodoro Fliedner, Juan Bautista Cabrera, Carlos, Elías and Adolfo Araujo, and Manuel Gutiérrez Marín.

SEUT opened its doors again in 1947, moving from Noviciado Street to the El Porvenir School. In 1948 it was closed by government order, and transferred to Barcelona under the name of Centro Evangélico de Formación Teológica.

Classes were held initially at the site of the Baptist seminary, and afterwards at the San Pablo Church, and in the home of the school's Director, Manuel Gutierrez Marín.

In 1965 SEUT returned to Madrid, based in the building of the Iglesia de Jesús Church (on Calatrava Street), and taking again the name of Seminario Evangélico Unido de Teología. From there it moved to the building of the Cathedral of the Iglesia Española Reformada Episcopal, on Beneficencia Street, and in 2002 to its present campus at El Escorial (see Our Campus).

Up until 1992 SEUT only held on-site classes, but that year a programme for extension studies was started. This makes it possible for ministry candidates to remain with their home churches, for laypersons to continue their commitment to their local congregations, and for interested pastors and missionaries to build upon their previous ministerial formation.

The extension programme has been eminently successful thanks to the cooperation of the Open Theological College (now part of the University of Gloucestershire), and of St John's College, Nottingham, UK, whose programmes and written materials, duly translated, are the core of the SEUT course offerings.

Sponsors

SEUT is part of the Federico Fliedner Foundation, an Evangélico institution dedicated to education and Christian service. It also operates under the aegis of the Committee of Interchurch Cooperation in Spain (CECI - Comité Español de Cooperación Intereclesial), an organisation that embraces the Iglesia Evangélica Española Church (of Presbyterians, Methodists, Congregationalists, and Lutherans), together with the Iglesia Española Reformada Episcopal Church (Anglican), both of which were among the founding members of the World Council of Churches. It also receives support from OMS International, a mission with Wesleyan Holiness roots. As a reflection of the spirit of these sponsoring churches our present faculty includes lecturers and professors from six different denominations; and our students hail from over twenty different denominations, and many different places (Spain, plus a number of countries in Europe and Latin America, and the United States).