Posted on 02/07/2010 8:07:25 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Should local churches support and equip young men in their congregation who feel called to ministry, or should they be sent to seminary?
It's a rare church that would be able to provide all the training that, I think, a pastor needs in our day, alone in their church without the help of a seminary.
So, yeah, I really believe in seminaries. I believe in what seminaries offer. I believe in systematic theology, I believe in church history, I believe in Greek and Hebrew, I believe in preaching, and other kinds of courses: apologetics, philosophy of religion, etc. I think these things are good and important.
How much of that a church can offer depends on the church. I love the idea of church-based, theological, ministerial education. We just started Bethlehem College and Seminary for that very reason. But it wasn't in reaction to seminaries. We are one! So I want to benefit tremendously from what they have to offer.
One last thing, maybe, is that today the possibilities of combining seminary training and church are almost endless. There's so much online stuff.
David here is working on his MDiv at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, but he never lives there. So he'll go down there 2 or 3 times a year for a blitz course, and then he has done online stuff and courses at Bethlehem. So when it's all said and done, I guess he'll get his degree from Orlando. But he's done a lot here.
So you probably don't have to leave your church or leave home in order to get a good theological education. You just need to be creative and flexible, and get all the input that you need.
Human reasoning here used by John Piper, but no Scripture.
former pastor chiming in - ....seminary - if only for the reason that a strong pastor teacher/mentor could propogate theological nonsense
They don’t call seminary “cemetary” for nothing...
Some of the weirdest stuff I ever heard came from the mouth of a seminary professor.
Have you seen what's been coming out of seminaries the last few years? Talk about nonsense. PC cesspools--"abortion is a blessing...and our work is not done."--Lesbian Dean of Episcopal Divinity School.
Seminary yes. John Piper is questionable in his theological views. he believes that a pastor should be trained through the church. Excuse me I have seen the caliber of people trained through the church. Youth Ministers that state to the Youth “i am not here to teach, I am here for the money.” A youth/music ministry pastor whom went through a divorce from his wife, married the woman of the wife of of his ex-wife’s new husband (wife swapping). A pastor whom started his own school, has no accountablity to anyone else. Yes this pastor later came out of the closet that he was a homosexual. Look at the caliber of pastors connected with Willow Creek Association. A Seminary teaches leadership theology and same morals and values. The ministers from church teaching have laxed morals and values, no accountability and are more concerned about money than winning souls for Christ. Some may see this as a bias coming from someone with a seminary training. There is a view that seminaries are actually cemetaries> (Lets admit there are seminaries that lack substance, just like the are law schools that do not teach law).
John Piper believes in dumb downing Scripture. How has that worked for public schools? How has it worked for Law Schools? How has that worked for Medical schools - pass fail and extended time to finish medical school to 5 years.. There is an intellectual movement going through churches. Dumb-downing is spreading throughout all of society. How will that work - liberal progressivism.
an intellectual = anti intellectual fingers seem to move faster than the brain.
Here’s a question that no one has ever answered for me...
Where did the Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson receive their theological training ?
For that matter, where did the Rev. Jeremiah Wright get his ?
School-trianed vs. OJT?
A good percentage of seminaries today seem to be gay-dominated “semenaries”.
yeah - i expected sucha response - lets just say - the homogenous aspects of a multiple educator teaching setting is perhaps less likely to allow for theological variances to the degree youd see with a limited mentor system...there are some good ones...DTS comes to mind
There is a problem with many seminaries, in that they are places where faith is lost.
That, and the expense is often so high it limits those who will go into the ministry. Face it, high loan bills for a low paying job will make it very hard for many men to enter in.
Good questions — LOL on all three of them.
From the point of view of a Catholic — a seminary. There they are immersed, not only in the educational line of theology, philosophy, psychology, but they are also immersed in a spiritual lifestyle with a spiritual adviser.
The discipline encountered in a seminary, not only with studies, but with prayer times, etc. are bedrock training for any priest or minister.
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