Seminary

A couple of posts ago I promised to share some of my thoughts regarding seminary for those who might be considering a seminary education.  I also mentioned that some of those thoughts might be controversial to some people.  Let me say at the outset that I am not opposed to a seminary education as some in the past have accused me of being.  I recently earned my Doctor of Ministry degree from Liberty Theological Seminary which made my second degree from that institution.  What I am opposed to is the way seminary education is often presented, especially for bivocational ministers.

For many years the Master of Divinity degree has been considered the standard degree for pastors.  In a sense it has become like the MBA for business professionals.  Anyone in the ministry without the MDiv has been looked at by some as a second-class minister.  This 90 or more hour degree covers a wide variety of courses that are supposed to prepare a person for pastoral ministry, but in my opinion the way this degree is offered may not do that.  Again, in my opinion, the MDiv would be a great degree for someone whose goal is to continue his or her education and earn the PhD in order to teach in a university or seminary setting.  It is not a great degree for one preparing to be a pastor, especially a pastor of a smaller, bivocational church.  Lest you think I am too radical let's look at what some other Christian leaders have said.

Leith Anderson, pastor of Wooddale Church near Minneapolis, holds two degrees from respected seminaries and has taught in seminary.  In his book A Church for the 21st Century he writes, "Traditional seminary education is designed to train research theologians, who are to become parish practitioners.  Probably they are adequately equipped for neither. (46)"  N. Graham Standish, pastor of a Presbyterian church in Pennsylvania, writes about his experience in seminary, "I learned very little about how to lead a church.  The assumption, so well articulated by a Hebrew professor, was that 'you can learn how to do all that church stuff when you get out of seminary...Seminaries are academic institutions.  You have to figure out the other stuff on your own. (Becoming a Blessed Church, 11)'"  In his book Small Congregation Big Potential Lyle Schaller writes, It is also unrealistic to expect residential seminaries that identify themselves as graduate schools of theology, rather than as professional schools, to be able to prepare students to be effective parish pastors in the 21st century. (189)"  Author and seminary professor Aubrey Malphers writes, "My view is that the problem is not what evangelical seminaries teach but what they do not teach.  Many evangelical seminaries teach the Bible and theology, and it is imperative they do so.  However, they often do not provide strong training in leadership, people skills, and strategic-thinking skills and this is poor preparation for ministry in today's shrinking world, which is undergoing intense, convoluted change. (Advanced Strategic Planning, 44)"  I could cite other examples, but this should be enough for this posting.

Persons spend thousands of dollars on a seminary education only to find out in their first church they have not been equipped to provide what the church needs.  In my 20 year pastorate no one ever asked me to parse a Greek verb, but I had a number of people who needed help with a troubled marriage or a child who was having difficulties.  I was never asked to explain the dialectical structure of Luke-Acts, but I was asked by many how they could cope with the loss of a loved one.  Is it wrong to know how to parse a Greek verb or to understand the dialectical structure of Luke-Acts?  No, not if you are a research theologian or one teaching research theologians.  But, such information is not especially helpful for a pastor who is expected to provide pastoral ministry and leadership to his or her church and community.

Most MDiv programs require a minimum of two semesters of Greek and one of Hebrew or two semesters of Hebrew and one of Greek.  Is that enough to make anyone proficient in either language?  My guess is that it is just enough to make a person somewhat dangerous.  For me, I would much prefer to study something that I'm going to use everyday in ministry.  I can buy excellent sermon study aids written by people who have spent their lifetimes studying the biblical languages, customs, and histories.  They will have much more knowledge than someone who took three semesters of biblical languages.  As I write this I am looking at eight bookshelves in my study filled with such commentaries and other Bible study aids plus I have a computer program with dozens of other such helps that I can refer to anytime I am studying a passage of Scripture.

My encouragement to those who are thinking about seminary is to look at the various Master of Arts programs that focus on specific ministry areas that are now being offered by a number of seminaries and Schools of Theology.  I earned a Master of Arts in Religion with a concentration in leadership which I found to be extremely practical.  Such MA degrees can be earned in less time for less money and will often be much more practical for the typical church pastor.  Campbellsville University offers a Master of Theology (MTh) that would also fall in that category.  These programs still offer a good overview of theology and Bible study, but they also offer practical ministry classes.  Many of them can be taken on-line which is even more convenient for the bivocational minister.

I know some will disagree with me.  They will believe that the MDiv is still the way to go for anyone preparing for the pastorate.  That's OK, but I believe there are now other options that might be better, especially for the person serving in a bivocational ministry position.