For generations, seminaries were primarily designed to train people for pastoral ministry. Today, less than half of all graduates of the typical seminary degree for pastors (master of divinity) plan to engage in full-time church ministry.
According to the Association of Theological Schools the shift has taken place in just a few decades. At that time, over 90% of students planned to enter full-time church ministry. The percentage has declined ever since, reaching 52% by 2001 and now standing at 41%.
So What?
With declining enrollment and fewer graduates planning to enter church ministry, the role of seminaries is changing.
- What do you understand to be the purpose of a seminary education?
- Is a world in which most seminary graduates will not seek full-time church employment one that will help bring about a reformation for the postmodern age on or near the scale of the Reformation for the modern age? How might this new and quickly growing group of seminary educated persons contribute positively toward re-visioning the church on this level?