Especially in these days of “economic downturn,” the idea that Christians should financially support seminaries is a hard one to sell. Most people believe it is the duty of the seminary to raise all the money it needs through various means – including the tuition. Many people would say it is the job of the alumni, the professors, the administration, the students, God, and the pope to financially support seminaries, but not Joe and Mary Christian.
Let me suggest that it is good and right for all Christians to financially support seminaries. Of course, it would be most helpful if one person or family helped support one seminary that he or she believes is a biblical and God-honoring institution which functions to produce ministers who can preach the whole Word of God accurately and well, rather than giving a small amount to each and every seminary.
Now, one may ask why ministers need a seminary education or why ministers are necessary at all. After all, most denominations allow elders to preach, whether or not they have had any formal training, and Jesus and most of the Apostles had no formal training. So, why should ministers receive a seminary education?
Ministers should receive a formal seminary education for at least four reasons: (1) to be exposed to the variety of Christendom, (2) to be humbled by the fact that none of us knows and/or understands everything, (3) to be able to recognize heresy and other false teachings, and (4) to be able to rightly understand God’s Word and preach it clearly to God’s people.
Understand, I am not denying that the Holy Spirit reminds us of what God said, helps us to understand what God has said, and makes us able to preach the Word. God certainly does those things in all believers, but that does not negate the fact that ministers ought to be a people who spend many hours in study of God’s Word and in the reading of others – commentaries, books of theology, etc. – who have studied the Word of God and written down their conclusions. This type of communing with the saints across history helps us to understand what is True and what the Church has always believed.
But cannot anyone fulfill the role of minister? No. The minister has a specific call to be the minister, and the minister is necessary. As Paul wrote, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of service, but it is the same God who empowers them in everyone. To each is given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who appoints each one individually as he wills. ... And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues” (I Corinthians 12:4-11, 28, ESV).
“But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news ’ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?’ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of God” (Romans 11:14-17, ESV).
If the office of the minister is a specific call that not everyone receives and a good seminary – with the Holy Spirit – helps the minister to be able to be an undershepherd of Christ and lead a flock, it would seem that the whole Church would be concerned that there be biblical and True seminaries – seminaries whose professors believe and teach the Whole Word of God.
If that is so, then the whole Church ought to be involved in making sure that the seminaries that our ministers are coming out of are the godly institutions we desire them to be, for the good of the Church and the furtherance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One way we can help to preserve and influence such institutions is through the giving of money to help the work of a seminary to continue.
If we support a seminary financially, we will have the opportunity to have input into what and how the teaching and training of ministers occurs. If we are not satisfied with what is happening in a seminary, we can cut off funding – which will get the seminary’s attention. It may not bring about the change that we desire, but it will be noticed.
If we support a seminary financially, we will also have the satisfaction of knowing that we are helping a minister who is called of God to enter the ministry, but who may not be able to afford such an education without help. We can even specify that the support we give be used for scholarship or other aid.
With these things in mind, let us all consider whether we believe it important to have good and biblical seminaries. If we do, then let us each find one that we believe is doing the work it should be, and support it financially. Any amount would surely be appreciated. And if the Lord is willing, it will help to increase the number of called and biblical ministers in our churches.
[This article is being published in Dnyndharama Issue #2, 2009 (Pune, India), due in August.]
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