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WHY PASTORS NEED A SEMINARY EDUCATION
The More Things Change
Over the years many things have changed at Westminster Seminary
California (WSC). In the most important ways, however, the seminary
has not changed. We still believe the Bible to be the inspired,
infallible, inerrant Word of God. We still believe the historic
Christian faith as summarized in the ecumenical creeds and the
Reformed confessions and catechisms. We are still dedicated to
training men for the Reformed, pastoral ministry.
Though WSC has not changed fundamentally, the seminary business
has changed dramatically in recent years. Today seminaries are
offering their product (education and preparation for ministry)
at a distance through satellites, video, and the Internet. WSC
is enthusiastic about these emerging technologies and is exploring
the best way to use them to advance Christ's kingdom. One possibility
under consideration is finding a way to provide continuing education
to pastors through the Internet and other technologies (see below).
Some folk, however, see the Internet as a way not only to
supplement a pastor’s seminary education and to strengthen
his ministry (it surely is these things) but also as a way to
replace seminaries altogether. This is a worrisome trend, frankly.
The strongest argument which proponents of "home grown"
pastors make is that the church should have a more intimate role
in the training of her ministers. They see the Internet therefore
as a way to harvest the best of scholarship while keeping candidates
for the ministry in their local churches. This program, though
initially attractive, rests on some false assumptions.
Face to Face is Best
Though there are many benefits to be had through the internet
— you and I are using it right now to communicate — it can never replace the sort of community which
exists between professors and students in the classroom, lunchroom
and the office.
The word community is the right one in this context. Most
of the students attend local Reformed churches (many of which
exist because God used the Seminary faculty and students to plant
new churches in this area) in which WSC faculty preach and teach.
Some students live with faculty and there are gatherings in faculty
and student homes regularly which make school and church life
a sort of seamless garment. All this interaction contributes
to the formation of men for the ministry. We regard the spiritual
and theological development of students to be part of our ministry.
So it is not true, as is sometimes implied in the discussion
about the relative necessity of seminary, that men who go to
seminary are somehow in the wilderness.
Would You Trust Your Heart to a Mail Order Surgeon?
At WSC we are still old-fashioned enough to believe, however,
that a seminary education comes only one way: through hard work.
Therefore, while many seminaries are now advertising (quite seductively
it seems!) that one can earn a seminary degree while never leaving
home, at WSC we believe that self-sacrifice is a part of ministry.
Ask yourself this question: Would you choose as your heart surgeon
who learned his skills via satellite and video tapes? Even with
the assistance of a seasoned physician nearby, such training
would clearly be inadequate. There is something about knowing
how deep to cut which can only be learned through hands-on, tactile,
face-to-face training.
Your soul, as our Lord Jesus taught us, is of infinitely more
value than even your heart muscle. Notice that I keep saying,
"At WSC" instead of "through WSC." This is
because Seminary is not just a vehicle, a means to an end. While
students are here, they are students. They are not just passing through
seminary. Their vocation is to study and prepare, in school, with
pastors and scholars, to become pastor-scholars.
By challenging, praying with, and lecturing to students we believe
that we are preparing them to serve in Churches by providing
them with the tools they will use every day for the rest of their
lives in their pastoral ministry.
What we think about seminary is important because, since the
formation of the Reformed Church in the 16th century,
we have always believed in scholar-pastors. This belief distinguishes
us from much of the rest of American and Modern Christianity.
Some might say, "That’s the problem". I respectfully
disagree and for one reason primarily. Preaching is the minister’s
primary calling. He is called to preach from the Bible. The Bible
is, to quote J. I. Packer, a "very big book". More
than that, it was written in three languages in several cultures
over quite a long time. It takes a certain amount of learning
to get to grips with the history, theology, background and proper
application of God’s Word. Nor is the Bible read in a vacuum.
The Church has been thinking about and interpreting the Bible
for a long time. So we need pastors who are not only trained
to read God’s Word as it was written, but who are trained
in the Christian tradition. This is not something done quickly,
easily, or cheaply. It is not something which is done well by
distance (electronic) education to large groups without access
to a Seminary library or faculty. Thus,
such distance-education is not adequate, at least not presently,
for servants of God’s Word and his people.
It Takes One to Know One
Quite understandably, most pastors (like most physicians,
lawyers and accountants) are far too busy to be able to keep
up with the latest literature in any one field (e.g., New Testament
studies) let alone all the fields required for seminary
preparation. Staying abreast of academic developments is a full-time
calling. Only recently one of our New Testament professors presented
to the rest of WSC faculty a highly technical, but most interesting
paper on recent developments in the study of the grammar of the
New Testament. Most of the faculty, even though they are full-time
scholars, were unaware of these changes. If full-time scholars
struggle to keep up with the changes in the various fields, how
could even the most skilled and industrious pastor fulfill all
his parish responsibilities and do the sort of reading
which would prepare him to train men for ministry full-time?
Clearly this is highly unlikely.
Why Seminary Indeed?
One might say, "who cares if seminary professors know
the latest scholarship, is it not all a waste of time anyway?"
The answer is no, its not a waste of time. To use the medical
analogy again, do you care if your physician reads the New
England Journal of Medicine or are you prepared to do without
antibiotics? Certainly there is much foolishness in Modern scholarship.
Yet it will make its way into the Church and our pastors and
elders must be ready to address it. More than that, there are
benefits to recent scholarship. For example, one of our professors
has made use of some newer educational techniques to make his
Greek instruction even more effective. Its still hard work, but
the students will leave seminary with the ability continue to
improve their Greek skills, instead of putting the Greek testament
on the shelf. In my field (theology) there is some very good
scholarship being done which has brought back much of our 16th
and 17th century tradition to life again through essays
and translations. The church will reap many rewards from these
sorts of studies.
Seminary and the Church
"But", some object, "doesn’t sending men
away to Seminary take them out of the local church?" The
answer to that question is yes and no. Yes, sending men to seminary
does take them out of one local church, but, of course, sending
them to WSC, for example, means that they will find themselves
them right back in another local church. It does not take men
from "the" local church. Rather, sending men to Seminary
shifts them temporarily from one local congregation to another.
"But", someone says, "isn’t the local
church the primary place for the training of ministers?"
Of course the church has the central role in the calling and
forming of ministers. The question is not whether, but
how? Remember, seminary is a three and sometimes four-year
commitment. The local church, if she is raising up future pastors,
has young men for twenty years or more.
If our local churches are really concerned about the welfare
of their seminarian sons, they can do many things to help. First
they can pray for them. Seminary is a challenge. The academic
demands are high. Think of those whom you know who have gone
away to medical school. The demands of a WSC education are comparable
to those of the best professional (law, dental, medical) schools
in the nation. The local congregation can also support the student
financially. It is a simple equation: the less time the student
must spend working, the more time the student can spend studying.
The more time the student spends studying, the better prepared
he will be for ministry.
It is wrong to assume that a local congregation or even a
Classis can replace a seminary. Which of our local congregations,
or any combination of them has the necessary time, money, human
and capital resources to train men for ministry? The WSC library
holds tens of thousands of books and dozens of journals and thousands
of back copies of magazines and journals. Few local congregations
could support such an endeavor. This list doesn’t even mention
the computer hardware and software which (which needs upgrading
almost constantly) and the valuable resources constituted by
a learned faculty, all gathered in one place.
Seminary: A Place for Reflection
The home-grown-do-it-yourself-learn-as-you-go model neglects
another very important fact of education: time. Seminary is a
time to come away from the typical schedule of ministry demands
to think, learn, reflect on the Scriptures and pray. Any
pastor will tell you that if there is one thing he misses from
his days at Seminary it is the luxury of time away from the telephone
(or email), and access to the latest journals and books, or even
access to some of the very oldest books and time to read and
meditate on them.
Follow the Money
In the discussion over "whether seminary" it is
frequently objected that Seminary is "too expensive."
The assumption here seems to be that professional training for
our ministers is could be done less expensively by frugal folk
who know what they are doing. Those who say this have probably
not tried to offer outstanding graduate level education in the
USA. The administrative overhead at WSC is quite low. We employ
a very talented staff, some of whom have given up lucrative careers
in order to advance God’s kingdom serving at the seminary.
The cost of seminary at WSC is ranked almost exactly in the
middle of seminaries in the USA. Given the quality of the education
at WSC, we think that the tuition is quite reasonable. Costs
do rise, but some of them are uncontrollable, such as the cost
of books which have risen considerably over the years. What should
the seminarian-pastor do? Go without books? Would you visit a
mechanic who had no tools?
One should not assume that the proposed electronic alternative
is cheaper. Electronic-Distance education does not promise to
be any less expensive, in the long-run. Daryl Hart, in the October,
1997 of New Horizons, noted that there are hidden costs
to distance education. For example, some complain that they do
not want to move to where the seminaries are. In that case, one
wonders, in reply, if they ill want to move where the churches
are? Some complain that they will have to meet the cost of living
while at Seminary. Is there no cost of living where the prospective
student now lives? If not, let us all move there. Of course that
would raise the cost of living would it not?
Then there are the seminary facilities. Each distance-learning
student must have a suitable PC (let us say about $1500.00) and
the associated software, which will need nearly constant up-grading.
More than that, the long-distance seminarian will need his own
seminary library, since the equivalent does not yet exist online.
A decent library for such an enterprise could easily cost $10,000.00.
In this scheme, one has made a substantial investment toward
becoming self-taught, but there are less tangible costs as well.
When, in this scenario, will the stay-at-home seminarian study
his Greek and Hebrew? Who will mark his papers? Evaluate his
sermons? With whom will he compare notes? Will he really memorize
his Greek and Hebrew vocabulary or will that also be too much
bother? Will he really spend the late hours necessary to do the
reading and writing for class? A computer terminal or video screen
is wonderful, but its not human fellowship.
No Easy Way
All this is to point out that there is no easy route to the
ministry and we delude ourselves if we say that there is. It
is the Church’s obligation to make certain that the seminaries
to which she sends her young (and older!) men is worthy. What
constitutes a worthy place? One which continues to confess the
historic Reformed faith, which not only keeps up with the questions
and criticisms offered by the culture, but which offers biblical
and intelligent answers to those criticisms. That is, a worthy
seminary is one which understands the times in which we minister
and who equips her students to face those times, which equips
her students to stand in the pulpit week after week and tell
the truth, all of it, regardless of the consequences. WSC, was,
is, and shall, by God’s grace, remain such a worthy place.
The Old Fashioned Way: They Earn It
WSC is old-fashioned in other ways as well. Unlike many seminaries,
we still require students to learn to read God's Word in the
original languages. This was the vision of our founder, J. Gresham
Machen, that Westminster would produce men expert in the Bible.
For this reason, students spend much of their first year learning
Greek and Hebrew. They're expected to attend their other classes
in Systematic, Practical and Historical Theology with their Bible
open as well. They also attend more advanced courses in exegesis,
i.e., the explanation of the biblical text. More than just biblical
study, they learn what to do with the Bible in the Church. They
learn the biblical theology of the Church, her offices, and the
theology and practice of pastoral ministry.
The Proper Role of Distance Learning
The new technologies cannot and should not replace face-to-face
seminary education. What they can do, however, is to extend our
ability to help pastors continue their education. Having laid
the foundation of life-long learning in the classroom, we can
help pastors keep up with theological, intellectual and academic
trends email discussion lists, web pages, interactive seminars
via the Internet or satellite uplink.
Concluding Thoughts
Our seminary has been entrusted with a tremendous responsibility. At
WSC the faculty takes this responsibility with the greatest seriousness.
No seminary, or any human institution is perfect and we are profoundly
aware of this fact. Nevertheless, the Lord has given us this ministry of
training men for ministry. Our slogan (in the Greek text on our seal)
says, "The whole counsel of God". That is the mark we aim to hit: to
train men to preach all of God’s Word. It is no easy task, but it is
joyous one. I hope that you will pray for us as we pray for you and the
prosperity of Christ’s Church. |
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Email Dr Clark: rsclark at wscal dot edu
760.480.8474
Office Hours:
Wed 10:40 AM-12:40 PM
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