I was reading an article at Presbymergent, which is a website that combines ideas from the PCUSA and the Emerging Church. The article was on Are Seminarians Being trainined to Lead the 21 Century Church?. This is an issue that has been thrown around a lot lately. An issue that we are discussing at one of the Presbytery Committee’s I serve on is the issue of newly ordained ministers thinking or being trained to think missionaly. Granted being missional is the new catch phrase for a whole wealth of ideas. My thinking on increasing the amount on Candidates and Inquirers is DON’T DO IT! Probably because I am in the process and have enough hoops to jump through. Are they going to add more class requirements or maybe another internship. Great, I will add that to the unending list that I need. As it is the list is impressive and daunting to many people, possibly discouraging many from ordained ministry. Personally, it discouraged me for years.

Back to the main subject, are seminaries preparing leaders for the 21st century. I would have to agree in some areas and disagree in others. At SFTS, the theme is Whole Leaders for the Whole Church, which is exciting. I have felt that I am getting more than an academic education. That the professors care about how I am shaped as a future Minister. They care about me BEING an minister. Seminary should be more than reading Calvin’s Institutes, Polity, and Pre-destination. It should be preparing mentally, spiritually, and emotionally future leaders. This includes looking outside the box. Which leads me to the “NO” section. Many times they try to understand some of the issues of the 21st century and they cannot grasp it. This last semester in a class, several classmates tried to discuss issues of Postmodernism. A professors view was that it was only youth focused and perhaps we need to send them to the Presbyterian Youth Triennium. Uhhh. OK… How is that going to deal with issues of other faiths, truth, and the authority of scripture in the 21st century? While we wrestle with the issues of this generation and future generations, our professors are not “in it” with us. This is not to say that they do not care, because they probably do. But they are not the ones trying to answer the questions to congregation members and visitors.

While I believe that we are being trained in the best way that we can, there are still areas that are lacking. We will never be at a place where we are ALL effectively trained by our Seminaries, because of the vastness of the world and its issues. They can only try as best as they can and leave the rest up to God.