On October 15, 1881, the institution held its first class in Bethany Lutheran Church in Lindsborg. Starting as an academy, the school amended its charter in 1886 and became a college with the right to confer baccalaureate degrees. The four-year college program was introduced in 1887 and the first class graduated in 1891. Bethany College has always enjoyed a close relationship with the Lutheran Church. Having been founded by the pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church, the Rev. Carl A. Swensson, the College was adopted by the Kansas Conference of the Augustana Lutheran Church one year after its inception. Today the institution is governed and supported by the Central States and Arkansas-Oklahoma synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, with additional covenant support and board representation from the Rocky Mountain Synod. The Board of Directors consists of twenty-eight members, including the bishops of the three supporting synods and the president of the College as ex officio members.