A Compelling Cause for Seminary Education

As I look over the landscape of the Christian church in North America I have great concern. The statistics say that two-thirds of our churches are not growing, a little less than half are actually declining. Western culture is becoming less receptive to the gospel, or in the words of Leslie Newbigin “is proving resistant to the gospel.” Samuel Escobar describes our traditional mission organizations with words such as “becoming tired” and “stifling” while spontaneous mission movements of the ‘southern church’ (Latin America, Africa and Asia) as exemplifying a new passion for mission and the work of the Holy Spirit that is breathing life into the church.

Overall, I share similar concerns for the North American church yet I see new churches being planted that are attracting the twenty-something eneration who want to be part of missional movement in their communities and in the world. I see hundreds of thousands join short-term teams for mission ventures to the hurting of the world because they want to make a difference in the world. While I may impugn the self-serving nature of much of those efforts I must recognize that the motivation behind it is good and needs leadership to give it better direction.

So what should be the role of the seminary in cultivating healthy leadership and passionate vision? First of all, I think the seminary must accept the mantle of being the facilitator for leadership development. That is not to say that leadership cannot be developed through other means outside of a seminary. We can all point to wonderful leaders who were shaped by things other than formal education, but the seminary still has a vital role to play as a catalyst for biblical thinking and spiritual renewal. We need to accept that role with humility and determination.

Second, we need to re-examine our model for equipping leaders to be sure we are giving effort to needed areas and not just lip service. It seems to me that key outcomes of seminary education should be:
• Theological thinker
• Cultural analyst
• Relevant communicator
• Missional activist
• Leadership developer
• Spiritual mentor

If those are to be strategic areas of equipping then we need to examine the curriculum of our programs and the praxis of our curriculum to see if it is producing those kinds of leaders. Without each of those areas being addressed with a new determination the church morphs into something traditional and stifling, something less than what the Holy Spirit wants to use.

So what is the compelling cause for our seminaries? It is to breathe new life into Western Christianity by developing healthy leaders and healthy mission movements. It is to re-shape our programs not just to make theologians and preachers but leaders who are able to lead with a sense of mission in a resistant culture. It is to inspire a new generation of Christ-followers who like the ‘southern church’ live passionately live out the gospel of Christ. It is in doing this that we find a compelling cause for our existence.

Vision 2010

'Vision' is a great word. It can motivate when it touches a concern, it can intimidate when it makes one feel that we are not doing enough. But I still like the word. When I was younger I loved to cast a vision and set a path to achieving that vision. Now that I am older the cynical side of me squelches such thinking before the spark even has a chance to fan a flame. That is too bad.

And then I came across the vision statement of "Christ for the City" - a ministry based in Costa Rica and desiring to impact the Spanish-speaking world. It's vision is simple...
__No place without testimony
__No church without vision
__No person without hope

The cynical response is - no church or ministry can achieve that. And I agree. But what a great vision to work at. So I have decided to write my personal vision statement of what I will ask God to let me work at in this coming year (or years). It will be a vision of God building a missions program at Bethel Seminary that will be accessible from any part of the world and taking students to every part of the world. It will be adaptive to the needs of the individual student in terms of personal growth and equipping for ministry. It will be small in terms of full-time faculty but huge in terms of the practical experience contributed by faculty working in their field. It will throw off the caste-system of academic institutions which sets forth a hierarchy of status and in its place will be the status of being the priesthood of believers and the community of fellow pilgrims. It will...

I think I am tired already! Great words, but can we really do it? That's when I realized what the essential ingredient of vision is. It is asking - "What will I ask God to do in the next year or five years that only God can do?" So when he does enable us to reach that goal then he alone gets the glory. Yes! That is what vision is all about. It is getting us into the adventure zone of faith in what God can do and what brings him glory! (I'm feeling young again.)