Just a short post today, not so much because it’s Holy Week as because it’s my work day to get little chores taken care of.
A couple of weeks ago, Dwight DuBois of the Center for Renewal posted that he had been talking with a seminary president about the future of seminary education and inspired me to post a summary of my undergraduate thesis comparing 4 year M.Div. pastors with alternate track pastors in the Lutheran Church.
The long and the short of what I found is that the alternate track (TEEM) pastors tend to last longer in calls because they are better connected with the people they’re serving, and that they tend to feel more comfortable about their preparation in nearly every area but youth ministry and sermon writing.
Dwight also posted in response to his conversation and my comments on the Center for Renewal Blog here.
Check the summary link above or at the bottom of the post for more of my work. I would also love to share the full thesis with anyone interested.
It has been used by seminaries in improving their programs, but I am always a fan of disseminating information more broadly.
I would love to hear anyone’s personal experience too!
Executive Summary: http://ow.ly/1n6gX
Four-year MDiv for pastors going the way of the Dodo?:
http://centerforrenewal.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/four-year-mdiv-for-pastors-going-the-way-of-the-dodo/
Faithful Change Blog 
As an ELCA pastor, that by the way went to Luther Seminary, I think that Theological Education for Emerging Ministries
(TEEM) ministry is the right answer for all the wrong reasons. In my context Texas, except for the northern part of the state known as the panhandle, the state is booming. You can literally find growth in just about every demographic except for Lutherans. So much for the idea that only some parts of the context are “emerging.”
The use of the word “Theological” doesn’t help either. Ministry is not an academic degree. It is hands on, “vocational education”, if you will. I would argue out of my graduation class, the issue wasn’t book smarts but people knowledge. I see that time and time again as I work to clean up issues found in the church.
“Theology” has another problem and it is this. Are there some areas of the world that are not “good enough” for a “real” pastor. In other words, do we need to have a “separate but equal” class for some people. The continued failures found in our education system in the USA points out that folly.
Finally, if we are in a crisis that only TEEMs will solve, answer me these questions. If the time between calls is increasing, and it is (in my case we are approaching 2 years), then where is the need for TEEMs? A dirty little fact that we don’t like to share is the cost of seminary that must be picked up by the student. When I graduated in 2006, the debt load was typically around 100k. This debt forces new pastors to choose places where they can pay this off. Fully 1/2 of the churches in my synod cannot afford a full time pastor. (By the way, I’ve spent most of my time in churches that have less than 30 people in worship on a Sunday, more like 15). TEEMs typically are in locations where it is difficult to fund a pastor. Sounds like a self fulfilling prophecy to me. How about you? We also don’t like to say that 1/2 of our pastors leave the ministry after 4 years. That isn’t a good use of resources at all. Why will TEEMs work when pastors fail?
Honestly, if we are in a crisis, and I fully believe given the declining numbers that are seen in Lutheran churches of all stripes, that we are something must be done. I’m for an apprenticeship model. Either the student find the teacher or the teacher the student. They work together until the teacher fills the student is ready. Ordination occurs and off the new pastor goes with frequent check in with a mentor. Mentors change but one always has one. One day you become a teacher and start the process again.
This puts people in churches now. It follows a model that worked for thousands of years. It provides immediate feedback. And one can study if that is the road they want to take.
I agree that TEEM has at least some of the good points of an apprentice model, even if it comes from mixed motives and can engender some first-class/second-class feelings among leaders.
Your idea of a more radical apprenticeship model piques my interest, at least for Lutherans. For many denominations, this is still a primary model (or the Bible school + apprenticeship model), and it can work well.
I am cautious, however, about removing too much of the “theological” from preparation for church leaders… That said, I’m hoping for a new frontier where the theological leadership can come from more than just the pastor and substantial workshops/courses/etc can be more available for all Christian leaders, not just those who intend to get paid by a church.
Your style is so unique compared to other people I’ve read stuff from.
Thanks for posting when you have the opportunity,
Guess I will just book mark this blog.
I’m glad you appreciate this blog. Future updates will be posted at my new homepage (which retains copies of all past blog posts). You can find the blogs, including faithfulchange, here.