6 Questions For Finding The Right Seminary For You

I’ve had a couple students ask about finding the right seminary. I don’t know any resources that help students find seminaries so I created this resource rather than pushing my alma mater which most people do. Here are the questions you should have an answer for-




1. What Is It That You Want To Get Out Of Seminary?

Pick a seminary that best meets the needs of what you are desiring to get out of seminary. I remember the days leading up to picking the right Seminary. I didn’t know the right questions to ask, so I just asked the opinions of local ministers that I admired. Each minister essentially was a walking billboard for whatever seminary they attended. Looking back I needed much more than an alma-mater push; I needed more than a conservative/liberal choice; I needed personal direction; I needed information that would direct me to the seminary that was tailored personally for my gifts, calling, and conviction.

Make sure your seminary will open up opportunities in the denomination of your choosing and set you up with a network of people that can be your lifetime advocate in ministry.

Regardless of what you have heard, there isn’t a single best option for seminary. The reality is that the right seminary for me is probably not the right seminary for you. For example, if you want to study urban church planting then you probably don’t want to attend a rural seminary. You also want to find what seminary the guru’s of urban church planting are located.



2. What Is Your Calling?

Seminary is more than training preachers. You can study Psychology and Counseling, Christian Education, Chaplaincy, Leadership, Children’s Ministry, Youth Ministry, and so much more according to which seminary you may attend. I realize that many students who begin seminary don’t know the area of ministry they are called; however, knowing your ministerial call can maximize what you get out of seminary. I don’t think it is essential that you must know your calling before selecting a seminary. However, it can be an environment that can clarify, reaffirm, and make you question your calling.

You want your seminary to give you maximum exposure to the best resources available for you to be the most effective minister (or whatever you train to become) possible. I tell people all the time, “Don’t pick a seminary b/c your minister went there or because your friends are going there; pick a seminary that has the expert professor in your area of study and make him/her your mentor.” Meet with your expert professor over a cup of coffee or dinner. Make theological education personal and interactive rather than taking notes in a desk. I have heard horror stories of students picking a seminary merely because friends attended.



3. What Does Tuition Cost?

Seminary choice is also a stewardship issue. Most prospective seminary students are running on a very tight budget and there isn’t a big payoff after your seminary career. However, never sacrifice quality of education for cost of education. Cost versus quality is where you may have to make sacrifices here and there. Find the seminary that is fully accredited in your area and respected amongst scholarly circles, but also won’t break the bank. Accreditation is very important; however, just because one seminary is accredited in theological training doesn’t mean it is accredited in secular circles. This is important especially for Psych and Counseling Majors. Nouthetic Counseling is usually not accredited in secular circles, while Integrative is.


4. Where Do I Stand Theologically?

Some people have horrible seminary experiences because they are outside seminary’s theological orthodoxy. Expect to be polarized over some theological issues. Debates can cause learning to flourish. This is one of the many reasons why you should know where you stand and where the seminary stands on certain issues. If you don’t know where you stand theologically, you will be very impressionable by professors who are much more knowledgeable than you. Knowing where you stand will maximize your seminary learning experience and you be be able to intellectually dialogue with professors who respectfully agree/disagree. It will also allow you to be aware and more intellectually evaluate your professor’s biases. The foundational issues that you should consider theologically are:

eschatology
soteriology
covenantalism vs. dispensationalism
Calvinism vs. Arminianism
Women in Ministry
Alcohol
Priesthood of the Believer
Church Polity
Speaking in Tongues
Role of Cooperative Program and Convention

Make sure you have biblical evidence for these issues. There are so many more areas of controversy to consider, but these are the most polarizing amongst seminaries in Baptist circles.



5. What Is The Theological Fingerprint of This Seminary?

Regardless of what seminary you choose, it will have a theological fingerprint. Every professor’s class you take and book that you read with have a theological agenda whether you recognize it or not. This reality is okay because we are all convicted and excited to share our theology. One common myth is that moderate or liberal seminaries are more theologically balanced. In every conservative seminary that has an agenda, there is a liberal seminary that has an equal agenda. Which agenda do you agree with most? Ideally, you want a non-biased theological education so that you can decide for yourself what you believe; practically speaking, this pursuit is impossible because I have yet to find any theology book non-biased be-it liberal, moderate, conservative, pre-mill, a-mill, reformed, arminian etc....you get the picture.



6. Do I Feel At Home Here?

Before you declare which seminary you will attend, you should visit at least 2 times. I would suggest visiting your top three choices and then visit your top choice twice. I had in my mind attending a seminary because of friends and ministers who graduated there. I visited once and had a terrible experience. I gave it one more visit and decided I could never go there. Most seminaries have prospective student weekends. Take advantage of these because they will treat you like kings and queens at a very low cost.

Finding the best seminary for you takes time, energy, prayer, prayer, and did I mention prayer? Picking the right seminary is NOT an educational and spiritual decision that you can take lightly and risk making the wrong decision! The seminary of my choosing was a decision that I will always be proud of.

Conversation between Benson Hines and I Relating to First Week of School Campus-Based College Ministry

first week of school
Between Benson Hines and You

Chad Logan
August 22 at 6:10pm
one thing you feel is the most important thing to for campus-based ministry to do on the first week of school would be?...


I want to dodge saying 9 months from now " I wish i knew then what I know now"


Benson Hines:

It all depends on the ministry. :) Do whatever you need to do NEXT.

But, here are some first-week dealies that could be really, really important at a lot of campuses:

One piece of "best advice" might just be to attack the week (whatever you happen to have going on) with full gusto - unbalanced, hard-running, little-sleeping, ridiculous gusto that doesn't end 'til late Friday afternoon.

Watch for what God shows you He's up to NOW. Hopefully you have a finger on the pulse of your campus tribe in general - but each new year means tribal changes. So the first week is a great time to be alert for - and even investigate for - any hint of "climate change," as it were.

Do the same with individual students - especially leaders. It's possible there are students who God impacted this summer in ways that prepared them for a surprising role this year. Likewise, there are some students who plan(ned) to lead but, for whatever reason, need to step back now. Alertness to either possibility is pretty key.

Wrap up anything that's absolutely necessary that didn't get finished this summer. Have you outlined the outcomes the ministry is aiming for? Have you had any tough conversations that are needed to start the year right? Have you updated your supporters? Anything else? While in some cases things can be put off a few weeks, if there are loose ends that shoulda been done last week and shouldn't wait a few weeks, just get 'em done now. Even though it stinks to feel like you're looking backward.

Get core students and/or student leaders "leaning into" the front of the semester with you. That "gusto" idea should apply to them, too - help them join you in being college ministers, especially in the first couple of weeks.

Start like you want to be. Don't let this first week be SUCH a radical departure from what you're doing the rest of the semester that returning students or recruited students get a false vision of who the ministry really is. Obviously, programming may be different. But from vision-casting to recruiting to interactions with campus staff, be realistic and be real.

So... those are some thoughts off the top of my head. If I think of anything major, I'll let you know. But I'm also going to use what I just wrote as the blog tonight, so it's possible I'll get some comments there - you might want to watch for that. (But it's Sunday before the school year starts for many college ministers... so we'll see if people read it.)

Here's a post that I thought was really good, from the Univ. Minister at Belmont:

http://campusministryguy.blogspot.com/2009/08/starting-with-end-in-mind.html

And finally, you're serving with one of the masters of all this, anyway. If HE's got other thoughts on essential first-week activity, I would love to hear what he thinks. Really - if you get a chance to ask Arliss, add it to my blog post or send it to me, at least.

Hope it's an awesome week. Thanks for staying connected!

benson

Nuts and Bolts of Commuter-based College Ministry

Reaching commuter schools is difficult for a variety of reasons. For instance, non traditional students normally attend commuter-based schools; they have jobs, families and don’t have the time to hang out on campus, much less think about involvement in ministry. Last year I invested one year jumpstarting a commuter-based ministry. I essentially started from scratch. I didn’t know but a handful of students. here are a couple ideas and advice that I learned.

1.Make Sure Students Know You Exist!

Go to churches, contact Youth ministers to find their students attending,
Make the Student Activities and Admissions office your best friend. Go to Orientation and earn as much leverage as possible. Offer to put fliers inside incoming freshmen orientation notebooks. Lead orientation group.
Create Religious preference cards for incoming freshmen.
Write personalized notes to incoming freshmen that you have made contact with.
Set up an info table the first week of school and spread the word with appealing marketing tools around HIGH trafficked areas. (Try and spread out)
Utilize social networks ( i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Blogging etc.)
Offer big events during the first couple weeks of class. (On campus concert, Cookout,)

2. Invest in Christian Leaders to Lead Other Components of Ministry

Find the students who are willing to lead and disciple them.
Make sure you are intentional about leadership responsibility.
Create leadership according to competencies and ministerial needs.
(These will be the students who will reap most from the ministry.)
Get to know where your leaders went to high school and minister according to those social networks.


3.Limit Events to Less than an Hour

Commuter students don’t hang out after class, so create events between classes.
Don’t create Bible Studies to fill the week. Get to know students' schedules and ask them to be a part of study their time will allow.

4. Always Offer On Campus Service Projects

Breakfast bars with event labels. Frisbees with event times.
Coffee on cold days, popsicles and water on hot day.
Clean windshields and leave a letter (if school allows)
Have a free weekly lunch. Disclaimer: you may want to charge $1.00 for commitment purposes. (Cultivating your relationship with the local churches will help provide great homemade lunches. I am a #1 fan of WMU.)
Eat with students at the Cafeteria. This will allow you to meet other students. (not every commuter school has a cafeteria so find out where students lounge.)
Help with other school activities.
Serve the faculty and staff anyway possible. (bake brownies)

5. Audit or Teach a Class

This will obviously give you respect on campus and get to know faculty, staff, and students on a deeper level.

6. Connect with Faculty and Staff

You never know how advantageous the faculty and staff are until you know them.
Find the staff and faculty that are involved in churches and get them to join the vision.

7. Connect with Local Pastors and Associational Leaders

Have a pastors luncheon with student testimonies.
Offer “how to parent collegians” seminars at local churches
Invite pastors to speak at weekly luncheons.
Create music/drama team to lead Sunday night Worship services.
Involve students with church-based mission trips.
Send a monthly newsletter of prayer needs, campus events, and serving opportunities to local churches.

Characteristics of A Growing Collegiate Ministry

Information by Mike Woodruff of Ivy Jungle Network based on surveys nationwide.

Disclaimer: Numbers in a college ministry may be misleading. Just because a ministry has numbers doesn’t mean the ministry is spiritually healthy. If all you want is numbers on campus, offer free Beer. Certainly, numbers aren’t everything, but they are often an indicator of the relevancy of college ministry and its impact on reaching the student body with the gospel.

1. Staffed by people who Love God and Students/University
2. located close to campus or in the pathways of student life.
3. Evangelical or Pentecostal theologically
4. Led by strong, passionate leader- capable of sharing the vision
5. Has a vision for growth never accepting the status quo. Always looking for ways to reach more students.
6. Growth happens in the Fall, especially the first month of classes. Major and many outreach projects the first month of classes. Make it easy and desirable for students to attend first group meetings. (Typically, the number of students attending in October can be multiplied by .8, which will give you the end of the year attendance.
7. Ethnic specific- speak the same language and sing the same songs
8. Provide authentic community. Create a sense of group identity.
9. Don’t make a big deal out of denominational affiliation. They are open fellowship
10. Strong musical worship component- must be quality, up to date.
11. provide opportunities for students to serve
12. Already big-first 25, 50, and 200 is the hardest growth barrier.
13. Have experience pushing through growth barriers that exist.
14. Have a great relationship with the University
15. Find multiple ways for students to lead and take ownership.
1. Cultivate students who lead others
2. Student leaders keep ministry style from being antiquated
16. use adult volunteers matched with student needs.