The beginning of Lima Evangelical Seminary (SEL-Seminario Evangélico de Lima) goes back to the year 1930, when a group of missionaries met in Lima to consider the possibility to start a biblical institute. They were: Raymond Clark, Manuel Garrido and Alex Renwick, who represented the Christian Missionary Alliance, the South American Evangelical Union and the Free Church of Scotland.

In 1931 the three missions decided to offer a three month course for young people who felt the calling to the ministry. And so, 17 young people who were at that time studying at the Anglo Peruvian School in the Square of La Recoleta attended the course. After those three months were over, the representatives of the missions met again to consider the future of the project: to open a permanent institute in the capital of Peru.

And so it was, in February of 1933 the Peruvian Biblical Institute (IBP-Instituto Bíblico Peruano) opened its doors to the evangelical young people of Peru. Its first site was located in Miraflores and its first director was Raymond Clark. Later, the institute was moved to San Isidro. In 1945, an Independent Board of Directors was established, securing the interdenominational character of the institution.

The first session of the new board took place in the library “El Inca” in March of 1946, and in that session Juan Ritchie was elected as president of the board. The first measure the board took was to close the Institute in 1947 and to commend the Clark's to raise funds abroad for the purchase of a large field and the construction of adequate buildings for education.

The following year, the Institute doors were re-opened in a rented place in Barranco. On this location, up to 35 students were lodged. In 1949, God miraculously provided the means to purchase one and a half hectare of land in La Molina, and two years after the purchase the Institute started operating in a privately owned site.

In 1961 Board of Directors approved the motion of establishing a program in a Professional level granting a Bachelor's degree. A year later, the name of Peruvian Biblical Institute was changed for Lima Evangelical Seminary. 

In 1985 by a Supreme Decree the seminary achieves the recognition of the Ministry of Education of Peru to grant nationally recognized degrees, and today is one of two evangelical institutions of theological education with such recognition.

In 2005 we entered into a renovation process of the academic program and we have deepened our bond with the churches for the benefit of the students and the christian community.

As in every institution that is growing and developing, our seminary has gone through different stages of change in the academic, administrative and infrastructure realms, among others.
There are key elements that have always been kept at the SEL, and are a vital part of its history: the zeal for the Word of God, the academic rigour and the emphasis in the spiritual formation of the servant of God. But above all this, God's faithfulness was the one thing that was never lacking.