I’ve been wrestling with the effectiveness of traditional seminary programs for engaging postmodern culture with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Before I share my thoughts on the subject, I thought I’d just throw this quote out to see what you think.
It comes from Steve Ogne’s and Tim Roehl’s Transformissional Coaching
“Neither seminary nor seminar will prepare us to do ministry in the postmodern future. We believe that ministry equipping for transformissional church leaders will be just in time, on the job, on the Internet, in the church, and in the trenches.”
What do you think?
Follow up (Jan 19, 2011) – After writing this post, I thought I’d follow up with where I’m at now – Check out my post “Why I ditched the M.Div…and am still a pastor.”
Kind of depends on the seminary that you attend doesn’t it?
Yeah….and the degree program as well.
Let me ask you an honest question – do you feel like the M.Div at Regent is sufficiently equipping you for ministry in the 21st century? Or do you feel like you need to supplement the education with… ?
I think that is a great quote. Obviously working with the MAGL I have a certain bias but I would agree that a seminary serves its students best when it comes alongside those that are in ministry. In our program we require 4 years of ministry experience to ensure that the training is “just in time” and we require you to be in a leadership position to make sure that you are “on the job… in the church (using the most general sense of the word), and in the trenches” and of course the program is online.
The one thing I think that the quote lacks is the important balance between being and doing. Faith without works is dead and in the same way, seminary education without application is just cerebral. But I think there is something to be said of the theological wrestling and learning from those that came before us that can sometimes get left behind in the attempt to be too practical.
So I think the Future of the Seminary will strike a balance between these two poles and offer both scholarly study and practical ministry equipping and do this in community.
Hey Chris,
I totally agree with you! That’s why I stopped pursuing the M.Div and switched over to the MAGL.
woot woot!
I think seminaries are doing a poor job of training effective ministers of the gospel. but they are to be greatly honored as centers of biblical and theological studies. Seminaries have setup a backdrop of reliable Bible translation and the clear exposition of reformation truths. Without these things we could have no enduring pentecostal or charismatic movements by which Chriatianity is exploding in Asia, America, and Africa. I think some ppl are gifted in theology and are balanced in apostolic teaching. Combine that with great character and I see no need for that person to finish seminary to “qualify” to serve. Other ppl are just plain lazy with the Bible and are largely ignorant of Scripture. Such ppl would be in danger of mishandling Scriptures and would definitely benefit from some sort of rigorous study! it would be great to reform our seminaries and make them fresh but we all know that old wineskins are not very pliable. it seems that new training schools are popping up right now to try and deal with this exact issue.
Hey PC,
Thanks for your great comments. I like the way you approached the issue from both sides. Personally, I think seminaries know that they are in need of a reform. When one examines the association of theological school’s requirements for the M.Div program, one quickly discovers how the curriculum requirements are very 20th century focused. I guess that’s why we are seeing more and more M.A. and different degrees offered by leading seminaries that are seeing how important it is to change the way we do pastoral education to do ministry in the 21st century.
I guess that’s probably one of the biggest reasons I ditched the M.Div and went to the M.A. in Global Leadership at Fuller. http://www.fuller.edu/magl/