Nazarene Theological Seminary (NTS) is a Christian seminary affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene. It is located in Kansas City, Missouri, which was formerly also the location of the headquarters of the Church of the Nazarene. (Now the Church of the Nazarene Global Ministry Center is in Lenexa, Kansas.) The seminary was established by the Eleventh General Assembly in June 1944 and started its first school year in 1945 with 61 students. The first president was Dr. Hugh C. Benner. It moved to its current location in 1950. The current president of Nazarene Theological Seminary is Dr. Ron Benefiel. The seminary offers Master's degrees in Divinity, Christian Education, Intercultural Studies, and Theological Studies as well as a Doctor of Ministry degree and various other non-degree programs. The Church of the Nazarene, founded in 1908, has since its beginning stressed the importance of education. It started and developed a number of denominational colleges to meet the demand of its constituents for college training, and for some time it relied on the religion departments of its colleges as the principal means for training students preparing for ministry.