Academic training cannot ever bestow on a student the dogged persistence and the love for God’s people that he must have in the inevitable beat-down that ministry brings. Low pay, long hours, lost church members and very little affirmation will often be a pastor’s lot, and at such times, his rigorous academic training might actually work against him, contributing to feelings of entitlement and inflated self-worth that tempt him to cut and run.
In those dark moments of opposition and spiritual dryness, he had better have something more significant than a seminary degree to keep him faithfully engaged and committed. He needs a fire in his bones, not a diploma on his wall.
On the other hand, I have seen many godly men who never made it to seminary lead vibrant and productive lives for Christ in the local church.
As pastors, worship leaders, student ministers or associate pastors, they exhibit a sense of calling, the skill set that demonstrates that anointing of God, and a passion that drives them to seek opportunities and to improve in their calling.
Put another way, the church can exist without the seminary. It has done so before and could do so again.
The seminary, on the other hand, cannot and should not exist apart from the churches. The seminary has been tasked with giving young ministers a theological education on behalf of the churches, and we had better not ever forget that, but a theological education is only part of qualification for ministry.
A little over a year ago, I spent a week in Cuba and I saw God moving in ways I had never seen before. Hundreds of thousands a year are coming to Christ and churches are multiplying with incredible speed. Under tremendous deprivation, oppression and persecution, the gospel is preached and the Spirit is moving mightily.
Almost none of the pastors there have a seminary education, but I noted with great interest that almost all of them want one. Even though they are experiencing a revival that is perhaps more significant than any other place in the world right now, they feel that the depth and breadth of knowledge that a seminary education affords could make them even more effective and productive in the ministry.
Can we have both? Can we have a robust, full-orbed, theological education coupled with a passionate, Holy-Spirit-anointed commitment to evangelism and church planting? Can we produce ministers who have an intelligent, thoughtful understanding of theology and a heart to walk through the hurts and sorrows of life with a congregation?
We can, when the churches accept the primary responsibility for the spiritual formation of ministers and when those whom God has called understand that seminary training can enhance and enrich their service to the church but never supplant it.
