For the education of ministers

The future of seminaries is in the news.

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School is closing its Chicago area campus and merging with Trinity Western University in British Columbia. The end of this venerable institution (at least as we’ve known it) is the latest tremor shaking the landscape of theological education.

In recent years some seminaries have repositioned themselves by streamlining degree requirements, launching new programs, and changing their business model by selling properties and trimming faculty. Perhaps most significantly, many seminaries have fully embraced online delivery to offer students maximum flexibility in their training. Ten or 15 years ago, some institutions dabbled with online courses, but now (accelerated by the COVID pandemic and other factors) online seminary has become the default choice for numerous students seeking convenient, cost-effective, quality theological education. Why quit your job, move your family to Deerfield, Dallas, or Louisville, and commute to campus when you can access on-demand courses taught by respected professors from anywhere in the world with an internet connection?

Online and hybrid programs have expanded access to world-class theological teaching for a new generation of seminarians who can tailor their studies around their work and ministry commitments. Many seminary presidents and boards view such sweeping changes as necessary for their institutions’ ongoing relevance and viability in the face of new market pressures and demands.

Yet the need remains for well-trained pastors to lead and feed Christ’s church. What sort of education should aspiring preachers pursue and church search committees prefer? The great Princeton theologian B. B. Warfield cautioned, “A low view of the functions of the ministry will naturally carry with it a low conception of the training necessary for it.” Consider the years of rigorous training required to become a neurosurgeon or an army general. Harvard Medical School does not train doctors virtually, nor does West Point ready officers online. Such callings demand commitment, sacrifice, and years of focused preparation. I contend that those called to the sacred task of shepherding Christ’s church and stewarding the oracles of God should likewise seek the best possible training, which is found in face-to-face instruction from godly professors and pastors whose doctrine and manner of life are worthy of emulation.

What is seminary for? I contend that the seminary’s essential purpose is to prepare pastors in partnership with the local church. The seminary accomplishes this work by entrusting sound doctrine, expounding God’s Word, and exemplifying faithful living.

In 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul charges young Timothy to “entrust” what he had received from the apostle “to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” “Entrust” conveys committing something for safekeeping. This vision for gospel transmission does not stop with one pastor but spans multiple generations. Think of a man planting acorns so that his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren can enjoy the shade of oak trees. That’s the long-range foresight that fuels investment in seminaries. In fact, the word “seminary” derives from the Latin seminarium, a seedbed. It’s an environment for planting gospel seeds and preparing pastors.

Seminaries must also equip future ministers to expound holy Scripture as approved workmen, “rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). “Rightly handling” means cutting straight with care and precision. To paraphrase Martin Luther, the church needs pastors who will wield the sword of the Spirit, which comes in a sheath of Greek and Hebrew. Over a hundred years ago, J. Gresham Machen lamented that many institutions were abandoning the study of Greek for more “practical” studies. This trend has accelerated in recent years as many M.Div. programs now require few if any courses in Greek or Hebrew exegesis. The founder of Westminster Theological Seminary charged pastoral candidates, “If you are to tell what the Bible does say, you must be able to read the Bible for yourself.”

Seminarians not only need sound instruction in historical theology, homiletics, and hermeneutics. They also need pastors and professors whose lives and ministries are worthy of emulation. Pastors-in-training need to follow faithful ministers to their homes, to the hospital, to elder meetings and prayer meetings.

Pastoral ministry is a worthy calling, “a noble task” (1 Timothy 3:1). Seminaries should hold the line with high standards as they prepare pastors, and the church should deepen its investment in faithful seminaries. While online and hybrid programs have their place, there is also a place for the argument that those aspiring to shepherd embodied congregations should seek out rigorous in-person seminary education with intentional mentoring by godly pastors and professors and friendship with fellow students. Those who invest in such formative, face-to-face pastoral preparation will testify to its value for decades to come.