Best Christian Colleges in Missouri 2026

Badge for BEST IN MISSOURI CHRISTIAN COLLEGES

Updated: Mar 10, 2026

For prospective college students looking for schools that align with their Christian faith and demonstrate academic excellence, here are the best Christian colleges and universities in Missouri.

10 Best Christian Colleges in Missouri in 2026

Saint Louis University
Drury University
+3
Rockhurst University
+1
Central Methodist University
+2
Westminster College
+5
Columbia College
+7
Evangel University
–4
Fontbonne University
–1
Southwest Baptist University
–1
Avila University
–1

Table of Contents

Colleges and Universities in Missouri

Tuition costs in Missouri fall below the national average, allowing students access to many affordable options. For example, at Missouri State University, the second largest public school, tuition fees are around $7,000. Students of actor John Goodman’s alma mater can major in fields like religious studies, history, and business, and even have the option of earning an associate degree in arts or a bachelor’s in business at the university’s sister school in China. Missouri also offers more than 40 private schools.

Find college admissions consultants in your state.

Tuition and student populations vary greatly among these schools, but students who attend these higher education institutes also have the option to attend classes at other campuses. For example, Saint Louis University, a college with Jesuit roots, has campuses in both St. Louis and Madrid, Spain. Additionally, Missouri offers special loan forgiveness programs for nurses and other health professionals, including dentists, psychiatrists, and primary care physicians, who work in designated, high-need areas.

When you aren’t exploring one of its 6,000 caves, chowing down on some barbecue, or taking in a live jazz performance, Missouri can serve as the perfect place to begin a road trip. The Show Me State is bordered by eight other U.S. states, making it ideal for students love travelling and planning weekend getaways. During the week days, students can continue on their road to success by pursuing their degree at one of Missouri’s 72 higher education institutes.

See where Missouri’s many roads can take you while earning your degree at one this state’s top learning institutions.

What are Missouri’s Colleges & Universities?

Missouri’s Best Overall

The following list of the best Christian schools consists entirely of colleges and universities that offer four-year undergraduate degrees. We’ve identified 16 Christian colleges in Missouri. In order to be included in this ranking list of best Christian colleges and universities, a school must self-identify as Christian, be fully accredited, and offer a broad range of bachelor degree programs.

How do we determine Missouri's best Christian colleges and universities?

Methodology

The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great! If you are serious about finding the best colleges and universities for a bachelor’s degree, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching and whether their graduates are themselves advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence in their fields of study.

Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is freer from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.

To rank the influence of schools, we first determine the influence of scholars and professionals based on the number of citations and publications they have had over the past 10 years. In addition to publications and citations, we consider the web links to and from these sources, and the page views of those sources. We then match the influential people to their alma maters and institutions of employment, so that their influence is attributed to those schools. Our machine-learning Influence Ranking algorithm produces a numerical score of academic achievements, merits, and citations across Wikipedia, wikidata, Crossref, Semantic Scholar and an ever-growing body of data. If you are interested in exploring how and why we rank by influence, explore our methodology in more depth.

Best Christian Colleges in Missouri 2023

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2021 Ranking Archive

Many of our 2024 undergraduate focused rankings look considerably different than 2023. That’s because we took a fundamentally different approach. For 2024 we utilized our Concentrated Influence algorithm, designed to take away the size advantage larger schools have when we rank their faculty and alumni’s academic influence. Concentrated influence highlights smaller schools that are proportionally as successful as larger universities at cultivating influential alumni and faculty.

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Best Christian Colleges in Missouri 2026

10 Best Christian Colleges in Missouri in 2026

Colleges and Universities in Missouri

What are Missouri’s Colleges & Universities?

Best Christian Colleges in Missouri 2023

Last Year’s Ranking:

Career Outlook for degree at Saint Louis University

Most Influential Alumni

Saint Louis University’s Online Degrees

Degree Concentrations

Degree Concentrations

Career Outlook for degree at Drury University

Most Influential Alumni

Drury University’s Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at Rockhurst University

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Central Methodist University

Most Influential Alumni

Central Methodist University’s Online Degrees

Degree Concentrations

Degree Concentrations

Career Outlook for degree at Westminster College, Missouri

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Columbia College

Columbia College ’s Online Degrees

Degree Concentrations

Career Outlook for degree at Evangel University

Most Influential Alumni

Most Influential Alumni

Fontbonne University’s Online Degrees

Degree Concentrations

Career Outlook for degree at Southwest Baptist University

Most Influential Alumni

Southwest Baptist University’s Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at Avila University

Most Influential Alumni

Avila University’s Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at College of the Ozarks

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at William Woods University

Most Influential Alumni

William Woods University’s Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at Missouri Valley College

Most Influential Alumni

Missouri Valley College’s Online Degrees

Degree Concentrations

Career Outlook for degree at Missouri Baptist University

Missouri Baptist University’s Online Degrees

Degree Concentrations

Career Outlook for degree at Culver–Stockton College

Most Influential Alumni

Culver–Stockton College’s Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at Hannibal–LaGrange University

Most Influential Alumni

Hannibal–LaGrange University’s Online Degrees

Missouri’s Best Christian Colleges in Your Area of Interest