The National Association of Free Will Baptists founded the college as Free Will Baptist Bible College in 1942. The Board of Education of the National Association chose Nashville as an ideal site for the new college, centrally located among the major centers of the denominational population in the Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest. Welch College is owned and operated by the National Association of Free Will Baptists and is governed by a board of trustees elected by that association. The college subscribes to the beliefs and practices set forth in the Free Will Baptist Treatise.