5 Things I Wish Were Different About My Seminary Experience - Part 2
In Part 1, I shared 5 insights and learnings my seminary professors gifted me with.
In this post, I’ll share 5 things I wish were different about my seminary experience.
I want to double down on my previous post and make it clear how grateful I am for my seminary experience. If I could do it all over again, I would replicate my experience in a heartbeat.
This post is not intended to knock an institution I’ve benefited from. (Biting the hand that has fed isn’t a sign of maturity, after all.) This post is meant to be a musing on what I wish I received on top of the great things I already received.
So with these being said, here are 5 things I wish were different about my seminary experience:
I wish I was required to take a course on organizational leadership.
There are organizing principles at play at every church size.
Every church is managing staff in a particular way. Every elder board operates out of a set of spoken (and unspoken) values in the good times and especially during the strenuous seasons. Some variation of budget reports, capital campaigns, or clarity on capital expenditure is happening today across many local congregations.
After having helped pastor ministries of 50 to a multi-site church of 16,000, I’ve witnessed firsthand the pervasiveness of organizational realities in a local church.
The question is never “Is a church organizational?” but “In what ways is this church organized?”
I wish there was just one class that was made available as a conversation starter. I have witnessed the precious gifts of health and stability flow from strong organizational leadership and consequent harm from poor ones.
I wish it was required (at least highly encouraged) to do a pre-set amount of therapy or spiritual direction.
This is probably outside of the scope of seminary but while I’ve heard that competency cannot rise above character, I’ve come to experience that character cannot rise above the painful walk through the exposing corridors of assessment to recognize and/or repair the hidden parts of our souls.
Theologically, we know from inaugurated eschatology that our hearts are simultaneously new (Jeremiah 31:33) and deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9). We’re “already” given a new heart that is sensitive to the Spirit, but we’re “not yet” removed from the deceptive capabilities of sin which can so blind us.
I’ve sadly watched gifted pastors step away from pastoral ministry due to immorality. I’ve watched pastors try to heal deep-seated wounds or cover for childhood trauma through church growth or social media influence. And I’ve watched unhealthy work/life balance in my own life that has required outside parties to help unpack what’s driving me.
It’s not to say a few therapy sessions provide the easy solve, but it may be a starting point.
I wish the program was shorter
I did a Master of Divinity (M.Div) which was 96 units.
Like any institution with that many courses, there will always be a course or two that could’ve been consolidated into a one-day seminar.
Considering many students took out student loans to receive theological education, combined with the awareness that these very students weren’t heading into a profitable workforce to make the big bucks, it may have been a more helpful play for a more concentrated experience to drink the best juice for the squeeze.
Needless to say, it looks like my seminary thought the same! They condensed the M.Div program from 96 units to 79.
I’m grateful that they’ll be crediting the extra 17 units of the program I went through into the future doctoral program I hope to do one day. (That may have been a rumor I created in my mind.)
4. I wish there was an environment for grappling with opposing ministry philosophies
I shared previously that adhered-to-theology ultimately plays out practically through a philosophy of ministry.
It’s one thing to believe everyone needs to hear the message of Jesus, it’s how a church decides to equip its people and define success that ultimately flushes out evangelism and missional thinking in real time.
I wonder what it would’ve been like if we were asked to visit churches faithfully serving Jesus with opposing ministry philosophies in a certain discipline. What if we had to interview pastors or a staff member from a topical preaching church as opposed to an expository preaching church? What if I had to write a paper on attractional vs. non-attractional churches from visiting and interviewing?
I wonder how that may have accelerated a posture of humility and appreciation of the broader Kingdom. It is possible to be a sophisticated theologian while being an unsophisticated ministry practitioner.
5. I wish we were directly asked to reconsider church ministry.
As a young seminarian in my mid-20s, a strong warning about the possible pitfalls of church ministry, the deceptiveness of our hearts, and the awaiting future judgment probably wasn’t what I was looking for. I’m not even sure I would’ve had the awareness to heed the warning.
But passages like the one following give me much greater thought today than it did 10 years ago:
“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” (James 3:1)
What a weighty thing! Pastors and church leaders will be asked to give an account one day to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He loves us deeply and He has entrusted us with the very people He loves deeply.
I may not have had the “ears to hear” but I wish I walked into church ministry with an even greater sober-mindedness and weight than I did back then.
Concluding Thoughts
Every organization and institution has its limitations. There is no single entity that can holistically “do it all.”
It’s also worth noting that every institution intentionally chooses its constraints. A wise organization focuses its purpose and scope to bring clarity and energy to match its greatest desired outcomes and values. A theological school, such as a seminary is no exception.
My seminary experience was a formidable time that has shaped me to this very day, even with its constraints and limitations.
