M.A, Christian Education, Part 2.

In my last post regarding my choice of seminary degree, I laid out a few basic reasons as to this choice. I’d like to talk more about it, but not in systematic fashion. My purpose here is to lay my thoughts out bare and see whatever comes to mind. Simply said, I’m going to write as words comes to me.

The degree fits my career ambitions. I want to be a pastor, associate or senior. This has been my goal since I was 16, and I have no plans of abandoning this. Sure, there have been times when I have had severe doubts regarding this call, but overall, the Lord keeps pushing me back in this direction, regardless of how I feel or how far I stray. This being said, a pastor must have a thorough understanding of how people learn, intellectually and spiritually. Many of the courses in Christian Education deal with human and moral development, life-span discipleship, teaching the Bible to different age groups, and mostly, what education looks like when it has a solid biblical foundation. Many of the classes featured in an M.Div program teach men and women how to exegete biblical texts, preach, and have a thorough theological understanding. This is wonderful, and I applaud those in M.Div programs, but frankly, when we survey the church today, the deepest need we see and feel is not that they don’t understand Greek or Hebrew, or that they don’t get solid Bible teaching. The main problem is a lack of Christian education that engages the mind and spirit, leading to a deeper relationship with God and an environment severely influenced by godliness . Thus, a Christian Education degree will help me achieve my goal as a pastor, to shepherd people from the moment they believe in the Lord, to the moment they see Him.

Along with my desire to be a pastor, I also want to be an administrator in a Christian university. I have been deeply affected by Christian higher education in a positive way. The environment of being around like-minded spiritual people, the Christ-centered classes, the chapels, the emphasis on ministry and loving with your hands, and the spiritual accountability that so many of my peers gave me is an experience which I will never forget. Many students would benefit from this type of education. My hope is that more Christians would consider this type of education, seeing as the potential for advanced spiritual development is great. For me, having an understanding of Christian education will be beneficial in this type of endeavor. Maybe not in a direct manner, but after serving years in ministry focusing on educating the laity, my background in Christian education will no doubt help me transition to this type of academic ministry.

I don’t have the mental capacity to focus on one type of discipline. In other words, my interests are various, including psychology and theology, ministry, higher education, culture, and educational leadership. The MACE blends all of these studies into a program that will give me a well-rounded education. I’m so excited.

Anyways, time to go to bed and talk to my fiancee soon.

M.A, Christian Education

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I have chosen (or have I? 😉 to attend Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, KY, on a full-tuition scholarship. This scholarship is a major answer to prayer, and I am wholly grateful to God for enabling me to attend seminary to study ministry and His Word.

When one ponders the various degree programs offered by seminaries, the MDiv is arguably the first degree which comes to mind. The 3-year degree covers all topics that could ever be of interest to a seminarian, from Hebrew and Greek, to preaching, to church history, to counseling. The degree is intended for those who have not attained an undergraduate major in Biblical studies or theology, and for those planning on a life of pastoral or academic ministry. However, I have not chosen to pursue this avenue for various reasons, many of which I would like to discuss here.

My first reason is practicality. In pastoral ministry, an abundant and working knowledge of Greek and Hebrew verb conjugation is an invaluable help. However, taking close to 12 credits of languages is excessive when personal study and situation sensitivity can give a pastor all the knowledge he needs to explain a passage to his congregation. To be sure, learning original languages has its uses in ministry, but for me personally, I don’t feel a conviction to study linguistics in depth or in a seminary class. I’ll still take at least one class of each just to take up the challenge 🙂 Another example applies to learning church history. Pastors should be reading the history of Christ’s church to understand the unfolding of God’s plan for His new covenant people. Therefore, taking classes in church history, unless one is going to teach the subject at a higher level, isn’t absolutely necessary to be a good pastor.

My second reason is career path. I envision working a few years in ministry (pastoral, preferably), and then moving into Christian higher education as an administrator, or even a professor of Christian education. Thus, taking the above mentioned classes would be fun and excited, but almost unnecessary to my chosen career path.

My third reason is immature…I’m just impatient 🙂 I’d rather go for two years as opposed to three.

Because of these few reasons, I have chosen to pursue the M.A in Christian Education. I love to study psychology, theology, education, and ministry, so why not pursue a degree that would allow me to study all of these disciplines and integrate them together? I have a feeling that carrying a B.A in Biblical studies (such as I) and then getting an M.Div would make me appear one-dimensional, unless of course I was content with working in either pastoral ministry or academic ministry. I want to be able to pursue my loves of education, psychology, theology, and ministry and use this in pastoral, academic, and administrative roles.

Who knows though, maybe I’ll get an M.Div after all 🙂