More seminarians not entering pulpit; fewer pulpiters going to seminary.

[Rabrrrrrr]

Intersting article in the New York Times march 17, 2006:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/17/national/17seminary.html?n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fB%2fBanerjee%2c%20Neela&_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1142698327-Y2de82DRo03a1AI2ReS/DA

Across the country, enrollment is up at Protestant seminaries, but a shrinking portion of the graduates will ascend the pulpit. These seminarians, particularly the young ones, are less interested in making a career of religion than in taking their religion into other careers.

Those from mainline denominations are being drawn to a wide range of fields from academia to social service to hospital chaplaincy, said the Rev. Daniel O. Aleshire, executive director of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada. Students who are evangelical Protestants, meanwhile, often end up at advocacy groups, sometimes called parachurches, which have defined the priorities and solidified the influence of conservative Christians.

Only about half of those graduating with a Master in Divinity now enter parish ministry, Mr. Aleshire said. The portion has fallen sharply in a generation, he said, and declined 10 to 15 percentage points in the last five years alone. The idea of using the seminary as the jumping off point for other, seemingly unrelated pursuits, is not new; just the number of people doing it is.

While I do think this is wonderful - more people should have seminary educations, in my opinion; or at least, if they are people of faith, they should take some time and actually learn about it and let it inform their lives and not separate their careers from their ostensibly proclaimed faith. :-) It's a great experience, seminary, and all the self-evaluation and looking into oneself, dialogue and debate with one's peers, the ability to explore and try new ways of thinking and see where they lead...

But I want to go off topic from this article somewhat, and hit it from the opposite side: we have a lot of seminarians who aren't going into pulpit ministry; but sadly, we have a lot of people going into pulpit ministry who aren't going to seminary.

I am saddened by the number of people who DO want to go into ordained ministry who are going to seminary part-time, or over the Internet, or are getting their educations in ways that take them out of the seminary community. They might be learning some book stuff, but in my opinion, I think they're missing about 80% of the essentials that an actual full-time seminary experience provides them. And in my opinion, I think their ministry and their ability to think intellectually and their ability to communicate is hampered because of it.

What think thee all?

[bmbmd]

1. I agree completely.

Texas is full of churches-some darn good size-whose pulpits are filled by uneducated superstitious cretins. They have no knowledge of history or government or literature or philosophy or psychology or art or music or human nature-they have no knowledge of the human condition at all. They go by "what the scriptures say", meaning their own interpretation of what the scriptures say. The pulpit should be filled by men a women of wisdom and knowledge, trained for their posts.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. I have no desire to be a clergy person, but I'm interested in studying

Scripture and theology, so I've enrolled in the Episcopal church's Education for Ministry program, a four-year course for lay people that meets once a week. The first year concentrates on the Old Testament, the second on the New Testament, the third on church history, and the fourth on theology. We not only learn facts and background material but also have plenty of opportunity for discussion of the relevance of the lessons.

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. That's very cool!

It seems like a number of churches are starting to do these kinds of lay education things, for people who want to go further in their faith but aren't called to ministry, and aren't called to a full-time seminary experience, either.

I have some friends who have done this with the UCC back in Wisconsin, and had great experiences.

Good for you!!

[Critters2]

5. Some of these are then getting ordained, though, in areas with clergy shor

I'm not too keen on that. My seminary experience was more than classroom stuff. It was living with one another and supporting one another while we did the hard work of vocational discernment, and prepared for the challenges of ministry. I think these lay ed programs miss something. I think about this a lot, because I don't want to sound like "I had to do it, so now YOU have to do it." I don't think that's where I'm coming from. The seminary community was REALLY important to me, and I want others to have that experience.

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. I hear ya - without the seminary experience,

the living-with-each-other and debating-each-other experience, a minister is not going to be anywhere near as fully developed as they should be.

Most of what I learned that is truly important in seminary was from the community, not the classroom.

I am also not very keen even of the idea of part-time, at-night, not-living-there seminary education for future pastors. Even though they are still on campus for their classes, they aren't really in the community, and they aren't really LIVING with the stuff by taking one class a semester.

In my perfect world, we would require anyone seeking ordination to go full-time seminary, do one year internship plus their field ed, do at least one unit of CPE, and the church would pay for the entire education so that all qualified candidates can do it, even if it's a second career and the person is 45 years old with two kids.

I think we're shooting ourselves in the ecclesiastical foot by allowing part-time seminary education, allowing sattelite or on-line seminary education, and also by allowing our future pastors to leave seminary with $40 or $50 grand in debt, or expecting them to work full-time while in school.

[flamingyouth]

4. I'd love to do that someday.

That sounds great. :hi:

[RevCheesehead]

6. "The Church" is dying.

From what I can tell, too many churches are running like autonomous entities, and they seek pastors who will validate their current existence, rather than reach out to the world around them.

Many of the smaller churches don't want a seminary-educated pastor. They want a chaplain to visit the shut-ins, and care for the people who are already in the church. But the moment you ask them to think about reaching out to the community, they protest, saying they're too tired, they've done their time (as if you "retire" from discipleship!), and they don't want to be bothered.

I told my Pastor-Parish committee that though they are looking at the state of our congregation right now, I am looking at it as it might be in 10-20 years... and the news is not good. They have a choice before them now: change, or die. Considering that most of them are over 60, I think they've chosen to die.

One more thing: the Methodists have a "Local Pastor" - one who is not seminary trained, but who does take "course of study" training for a number of years. These pastors are under review every year by their district board of ordained ministry... but still, it's dangerous ground, IMO. Most of them are part-time, but some are full-time local pastors. I think many choose that route either because of finances, or they simply want to launch into ministry right away.

That sound you hear is John Wesley, spinning in his grave. :(