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.

For the Sake of Ecumenism….and Love.

I am a Calvinist-leaning, congregational, baptistic, Christian who will be attending a solidly Arminian, paedobaptist, methodist school that would seem to be contrary to my aforementioned theological beliefs. I have gained a little friction for this, and, in a sense, rightfully so. Why attend a seminary which seems to be contrary to my doctrinal beliefs? Well, for a few reasons, which I hope to briefly explain here.

From only a surface-level study of methodist and baptist doctrinal beliefs, our similarities outweigh our differences. Both conservative methodists and baptists affirm the “essential” doctrines of Trinity, the necessity of personal conversion, the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture, the second-coming of Christ, and most importantly, the exclusivity of Christ and His wide-open gift of salvation to the entire world. Our differences lie in smaller, second-tier, “non-essential” issues (which, are debated within our camps), such as baptism, church government, the nature of salvation, eschatology, and the role of women within the church. Thus, when looked through theological as opposed to denominational eyes, we can see that attending a seminary that is not taught within your personal tradition is not a bad thing. In fact, learning theology from another perspective than your own can be enriching and mind-opening. That is one of the reasons I have chosen to attend Asbury Theological Seminary.

Another reason is simply because I believe that the church is much bigger than a mid-sized baptist denomination. The scope of the church is much bigger than any denomination or any small doctrinal issue. I have no objection to joining hands and working with methodist brothers and sisters to advance the Gospel and God’s love to all creation. Why should we continue to spar over non-essential issues when there are people in the world who have no idea of God’s burning love for the world? Out of my desire to be ecumenical and look at the church as a massive organization, I’ve chosen to go to a seminary outside of my denomination.

Many of the graduates of my alma mater, Cedarville University, attend seminaries that are within our theological framework, namely Dallas Theological Seminary, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. These schools are producing men and women who are full of the Spirit and a reckless desire to reconcile the world to God with the Gospel. My concern is that we sometimes neglect the work that our methodist, presbyterian, and lutheran brothers and sisters are doing in the world. We lock ourselves into a bubble by which we only associate with people within our own traditions and fellowships.

I think my final reason is that given my desire to work within Christian Higher Education, having a wider view of the church’s role in society is almost a necessity. Christian Colleges tend to attract many students from a wide array of denominational backgrounds. Cedarville had a good handful of presbyterian/reformed, nazarene, and lutheran students while I was there. Demonstrating a love of the ENTIRE body of Christ is important if one wants to work in Christian education.

One time, I had a conversation with an intern who was an admissions counselor within my denomination’s seminary. I told him about my choice to go to Asbury, and he didn’t understand it. This, of course, stems from his own understanding of essential and non-essential doctrines. But it left me wondering, “why don’t we have a robust understanding of the universal Church of Christ?”

I’m ecumenical, and I believe in unity of believers. Asbury…..here I come.

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 🙂

Seminary: Financing

Recently, I was awarded a full-tuition scholarship to attend Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, KY. The school is of the Wesleyan/Arminian persuasion, and offers many unique programs to a seminary, including Christian Leadership and World Mission and Evangelism. I am looking into both the Christian Leadership and Biblical Studies programs. The former, because of my interest, and career path, in leadership and administration, and the latter for the option of teaching a college or seminary.

Attending the seminary would be a vital enablement in my chosen career field. Seeing as I would love to lead a Christian organization, seminary would be a great training ground by which to build my understanding of Kingdom growth and God’s Word.

I am so thankful to the Lord for this generous scholarship and confirmation of His Will in my life. Even though I have many options I am pursuing (particularly a position as an admissions counselor, and as a senior pastor of a small congregation), God has been shutting doors for the past few months and seems to be saying, “I’m not going to let you do anything until you go to seminary.” What choice do I have but to yield?

Many seminarians find themselves struggling to make ends meet. The demands of family, bills, rent, tuition, books, insurance, and other small things tend to choke out many young people who would otherwise be excellent pastors and teachers for the Kingdom. The sky-rocketing price of tuition and the general life costs of attending seminary discourage people dearly from even considering seminary.

Many seminaries, I have found, do an excellent job of providing either low tuition, or generous scholarships. Asbury is by no means cheap ( $505 a credit hour), but they do offer several large scholarships on the basis of merit or need. The Southern Baptist Seminaries (Southern, Southeastern, Golden Gate, Southwestern, Midwestern, and New Orleans) all offer a 50% tuition reduction to students are already members of the SBC, or are committed to serve in an SBC church upon graduation. The Kern Family Foundation offers full-tuition scholarships to eight seminaries for those who intend on becoming a pastor upon graduation. Needless to say, there is no shortage of financial aid in seminaries. It’s just a matter of where you go, what your career path may be, and whether or not you’re a picky person. I am a solid baptist and calvinist who plans on attending an arminian school. This is for other reasons, which I will discuss later.

The point is that seminary costs money, but proper research, a diligent work ethic, and a sacrifice of preference can yield much fruit. I pray for all the people out there considering seminary, that they would not be discouraged from attending if it truly is God’s will. I have heard several stories of people who worked full-time and succeeded academically. I have also heard stories of people from impoverished backgrounds recieving significant financial aid from seminaries. Pray, and do your research!