The Value of a Seminary Education

Last weekend, I went out to Pasadena, CA to investigate Fuller Seminary's main campus. I left expecting to be affirmed in my plans to move there and pursue a more intense theological academic. But I returned with some odd leadings and plenty to wrestle with. I came back questioning my call, the value of ministry experience and the value of a seminary education. The three go hand-in-hand for me. Depending on my call, I might pursue different preparatory experiences and degrees.

In the midst of these questions, one has risen to the top. What is the value of a seminary education in my life with Christ. Here are some raw reflections:

PROS

1. Seminary prepares the mind of the future minister by teaching how to interpret and preach the Scriptures. Seminary also gives practical advice on how to lead, administer, handle conflicts, counsel, etc. Many of these lessons are very important and can save lots of time and energy in trial & error.

2. Seminary can provide key future ministry connections. Seminary is a great place to be in community with other people who have a similar heart and call. Through this community, students can stregthen each other in their learning. Ideally, students will also find accountability for Godly living, but this has not been my experience thus far. Seminary is a bubble-community away from the world, and perhaps away from the heart of God.

3. Seminary will give the credentials needed to get a nice, comfortable ministry position. When candidating a church, a seminary degree tells them, like God couldn't/wouldn't that your the man/woman to fill their needs. If they vote for you, you'll make all their wildest dreams come true, because you went to seminary! In a sense, seminary is a very expensive and laborious set of dues at many churches. These same churches can't help but exclude the founders of the church [see below]

CONS

1. Seminary rarely models the discipler/disciple model suggested in Scripture, especially with Jesus. Jesus taught with his entire life. Everything they did was an opportunity to teach into the early disciples life. Jesus focus was not primarily on what the disciples knew, but what they did. I believe Jesus desired an inner-transformation that went beyond mere knowledge. The disciples had to become like him. Seminary falls very short of this in my experience. Only rarely is a professor teaching for soul transformation. Most of the lessons are academic in nature. Seminary's message: If you know these things, you will be more prepared for ministry.

2. Seminary is very expensive and I have a problem with significant debt. These days, you are going to drop $50,000-80,000 getting the "qualifying degree." Most seminarians will carry school loans halfway into their ministry. Most importantly, they will have to get the right position in the right ministry, not based on God's call, but on which one can provide financially. The preparation for ministry God has for his shepherds shouldn't cost them two years wages.

3. Seminary can dry you out spiritually. I've seen and read about this often. Some people graduate from seminary burnt out spiritually. Time they should have been spending with Jesus got thrown to the backburner, for late night papers and test preparations. All for what? To impress professors. I am not convinced that making good grades and impressing professors, matters at all to God. America is in love with credentials. We worship our resumes like idols: "Gotta have the right experiences and education to work at our church." I'm thankful Jesus didn't operate on this system. None of the twelve disciples or even Paul would get call-backs at most of today's churches. They definitely couldn't go mainline for sure. They might sneak into some non-denominational church somewhere.


The wrestling continues and this probably reeks of overstatements, ignorance and bias, but so it goes...