If Seminaries Are Broken, How Do You Fix Them?

Christianity Today has an article entitled "What Is the Biggest Change Evangelical Seminaries Need to Make Right Now?" with three responses by as many writers.

The first response is given by Dan Kimball who contemplates that "If seminary professors could teach preaching and other skills more passionately, seminary students would more completely develop a passion for evangelism" without adversely affecting academic excellence.  This is all fine and good, but passion and academics without truth make a seminarian twice the child of hell as the professors.

The second response is given by Cheryl Sanders who posits that seminaries need to be more innovative with the idea of building a more ethnically diverse student body.  I agree that changes have and can be made to brick-and-mortar schools to take advantage of technologies and financing.  Be creative with academic offerings to instruct those who want the education but have difficulty with traditional course structure because of real world constraints.  Leave ethnic diversity out of this.  When that becomes the goal, the seminary can quickly become entangled in the mess created by Affirmative Action legislation with minimum demographic requirements.  The goal is teach how to handle the word of God.  If the student population is diverse, so much the better, but do not force an issue where none exists.

The final response is by Winfield Bevins who reminds us:

But what good is it if you know everything about theology and the Bible yet don't know about the one thing the resurrected Jesus called us to do: make disciples?

The discipleship model he proposes is that used by the ancient Celtic monastic orders, especially Saint Patrick.  I greatly appreciate his call for seminaries to have more of a discipling focus, but why go to the Celts?  I bear no ill will against Patrick or any who spread the gospel in that area, but would we not have better examples in someone like Peter or Paul or other names I could give?  Not that those people found in the Bible are any more holy or less sinful than Patrick or anybody else who spread the gospel over the centuries, but what we have of the apostles' exploits are retold by the guiding hand of the Holy Spirit, and that counts for something

If these three are examples of the mindset that can be found in seminaries and Bible colleges amongst the faculty and staff, the church is causing its own problems.  I do not disagree that evangelical seminaries could use an upgrade—even a complete overhaul—but those improvements should begin with Christ and the gospel, not dance around them.

Expecting the Wrong Thing of Seminaries

Marc Cortez has a post on what we, the church, expect of seminaries based on notes he took from a Leith Anderson lecture.  The seven points are standard offerings, but one in particular struck me.

3.  Leaders who can lead
This one seems obvious, but its among the hardest to address.  The trick here is that the church doesn’t need people who know about leading; the church needs people who can actually lead.  Those are two very different things.  And, since many students enter seminary with little leadership experience, seminaries need to give students opportunities to start and lead something, anything.  The classroom provides the necessary time and distance to reflect critically on leadership experiences, but real leadership only develops in the field.

As the quote states, this one seems obvious, but on further reflection the emphasis is all wrong, because it is based on a faulty concept of assembly leadership principles.  What the church and the seminary began doing several centuries ago is incorporate secular leadership styles into the local assembly expecting similar organizational efficiencies.  Such thinking was and is wrong-headed.  The thesis point should be Leaders who can follow.

The church is Christ's body with Him as the head.  As such, those placed as shepherds over the local flock are to be those who can follow and apply the Scriptures through careful  discipleship and instruction.  They are given the task of feeding and caring for the flock, ever pointing to the Lord Jesus.  Scripture is clear on what to teach, how to teach, and what the collective role of overseer is intended to be.

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (2 Tim 2:1-2)

This is a far cry from being a "vision-caster."  Seminaries are to teach that leading is by example:

Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. (1 Tim 4:12)

Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. (Titus 2:7-8)

(See also Philippians 3:17; 2 Thessalonians 3:9; 1 Timothy 1:16)

This living example (commonly called servant-leadership) is performed under the scrutiny and direction of the triune God according to His plan and purposes, which, again, have been clearly stated in His Word.  Instill these precepts properly in the local body and the self-imposed stress caused by vision and planning will diminish greatly as people naturally walk in those good works that God has prepared for them to do.

What One Thing Would You Change about Seminary?

I found a link to The Gospel Coalition with the title, What One Thing Would You Change about Seminary?  The responses from four current and former seminary professors—two well-known, two not—are interesting and telling.  D. A. Carson, and Jeff Louie give input which maintains the status quo of academic training with some adjustments.  Albert Mohler addresses the attitude of the seminarian.  Richard Pratt gives the most provocative response by noting how seminaries are largely impractical training institutes by dwelling on academics and sacrificing practical application.  Christian ministry training should have the former and but dwell on the latter in a hands-on format.

I like it.