In the three years since we each began our respective presidencies, we have attended numerous conferences, gatherings and meetings as representatives of our seminaries. At these conferences, seminary presidents are frequently presented with data highlighting the challenges facing theological education: declining enrollment, diminished church participation and waning interest in traditional graduate-level theological programs.
While the presentations vary, the overarching message rarely changes: Participation is declining, denominational vitality is weakening and many mainline congregations and associated institutions face significant challenges.
At a recent conference on the West Coast, a small group of leaders representing a diverse array of theological schools from Canada and the United States heard something surprising. Instead of the usual bad news about the North American decline of Christianity and the dread consequences for theological education (again, a throughline at many conferences lately), the speaker – someone from outside the theological education multiverse – began by emphatically saying: “What seminaries do is the most needed form of education today. What you offer to students by engaging questions of meaning and how to be human in the world — that is what is crucial for society right now. This is your moment.”
Many who come through a degree program … in any of our Presbyterian seminaries often speak of being transformed by the experience.
Say what? This claim was startling in light of the conventional wisdom that theological education is on the ropes, no longer deemed important or useful in many sectors of our society. (This point is only underscored by recent rulings from the U.S. Department of Education that are detrimental to seminaries).
This countercultural speaker went on to speak of the coming impacts of AI, whose ethical and societal consequences have only begun to be examined, to say nothing of being understood. What theological schools do is crucial because AI has raised deep questions about what it means to be human. But the speaker was not talking just about AI. Even before AI crashed into our collective consciousness, we all had a deep confusion about how human beings understand ourselves and how to think of our fellow humans, our fellow nonhuman creatures, the world we all inhabit and our purpose on this planet. Theological education directly addresses those questions, drawing on the depths of religious traditions to promote human and creational flourishing in the mid-21st century.
Even before AI crashed into our collective consciousness, we all had a deep confusion about how human beings understand ourselves and how to think of our fellow humans, our fellow nonhuman creatures, the world we all inhabit and our purpose on this planet.
The speaker’s message was rather different from the usual depressing statistics about church decline and the implications for theological education. Instead, his words reinforced our mutual conviction that the Reformed stream of the Christian tradition that we Presbyterians embrace is a gift to the world: one that we must carefully steward and share to be faithful to God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Uniquely positioned to explore struggles and challenges
Divisiveness and an inability to congregate in unity are the defining characteristics of our current political, social and, yes, theological landscapes. Our inability to live together despite differences fractures communities that desperately need belonging, trust and shared purpose. This division seems less rooted in a systematic Reformed theology and more closely related to contemporary politics, fear of the unknown and an inability to recognize a shared purpose for being together.
Our seminaries are uniquely positioned to explore these challenging questions about meaning, purpose and God’s call to be together through hermeneutical lenses rooted in the ongoing narrative of an inviting Holy Spirit who draws us into the work of reconciliation.
The struggles of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – and of North American Christianity more broadly – are certainly real. But our speaker at this conference offered a different perspective worth exploring. Many who come through a degree program (and many who come through non-degree programs) in any of our Presbyterian seminaries often speak of being transformed by the experience. Their faith, the orientation of their very lives, has dramatically changed. Many, perhaps most, do not experience just a tweaking of their faith or simply acquire some skills for ministry. Rather, they emerge from seminary perceiving God and themselves at work in the world in ways completely different from their former understandings: ways that clarify how they might live lives of joy and purpose for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Spirit transforms people for the sake of the gospel. Our seminaries exist for a purpose broader than simply preparing ministers to fill pulpits (though that work is critical). Rather, they were founded at particular times and places to prepare people for ministry in a variety of ways in a dynamic world. In theological education, our constant has been the ability to ask questions about today’s realities and answer them through experiencing our God, who is constantly forming and reforming the church.
At one time, the humanities performed some of this work in higher education: forming and transforming lives, albeit in a secular key, and offering students a robust understanding of what it means to be human and how to live lives of joy and purpose. But the humanism at the heart of a classical understanding of the humanities has lost its north star. It has fractured into sometimes competing and irreconcilable perspectives.
Is there an opening here for theology? Theology as the “queen of the sciences” may seem like a quaint and nostalgic longing for a golden age (that was, in reality, not so golden). But the truth is this: for the days we are living in, most people would benefit from a high-quality theological education for the sake of the common good.
Collaboration, partnership and shared mission
This past summer, we attended the biennial meeting of the Association of Theological Schools and the 227th General Assembly of the PC(USA). These events are usually among the largest and most meaningful gatherings we attend as leaders of PC(USA) seminaries. The final round of meetings had a unique tone that piqued our interest. A marked emphasis on collaboration, partnership and shared mission emerged throughout these gatherings. These encouraging developments align closely with the vision we share for Presbyterian theological education.
The post-COVID landscape of theological education in our denomination has included new presidents at nearly all our PC(USA)-related seminaries. This generational change has provided us with an opportunity, eagerly embraced among us, to establish a strong network of mutual support and genuine care for one another. In this newly minted presidential collegium, we often compare challenges related to the headwinds of theological education, and we realize our similarities far outweigh our differences. Moreover, these challenges seem far easier to address when we view them together, as a collective, with a shared mission to develop new leaders in and for the church.
Our efforts to develop leadership for the church are not limited to those seeking a traditional degree-based education. Rather, our schools recognize the need to equip learners of all backgrounds, abilities and capacities within the church. Our shared resolve is mirrored in recent gatherings of leaders in theological education, as many of us turn away from models of competition and rivalry and instead engage in shared ministry, connection and community building beyond our campus walls.
Rather, our schools recognize the need to equip learners of all backgrounds, abilities and capacities within the church.
While nearly everyone would benefit from a theological education, the two PC(USA) seminaries we represent – Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (LPTS) and Union Presbyterian Seminary (UPSem) – have traditionally prepared people to be leaders in church ministries across a wide variety of settings. That preparation continues to be the focus of our work, though how we do the work has changed. We must not ignore the opportunity to embrace this educational ministry together. The distinct characteristics of our schools should not be used to promote one school over another. Rather, we hope a relational, unified approach among partner seminaries might strengthen our collective efforts in theological education.
Proposed changes to theological education
Here we outline and advocate for a few changes to how we offer theological education.
- First, as we think about how theological education might benefit more people, we can enhance our non-degree offerings to serve two audiences: (1) ministry leaders who hunger for compelling, germane, high-quality professional development opportunities and (2) learners of all backgrounds who are hungry for theological education but whose circumstances do not permit enrolling in a degree program. The Spirit transforms lives through theological education. Seminaries can be powerful partners in that work, especially when schools share and unify behind that effort.
- Second, to that end, theological education would be well served by deeper collaboration across schools. LPTS and UPSem are working together (along with Eastern Mennonite University) to implement a $10 million grant from the Lilly Endowment, the purpose of which is to actively encourage institutions to collaborate. As part of our grant, we will share faculty, courses and a DMin program in adaptive leadership, in addition to strengthening congregations through programs of accompaniment. We wrote this article together to reflect the approach we believe is essential for the future of theological education: meaningful collaboration in service of a shared mission. To fulfill their missions most effectively, seminaries would do well to explore the manifold possibilities for working together in previously unimaginable ways. Similarly, we must encourage and foster collaboration between congregations and ministries. Our seminaries have the opportunity, in their specific contexts, to model these partnerships and provide space for learners to experiment. We also offer the framework necessary for evaluating cooperative pathways to inspire and guide others toward similar creative efforts. Seminaries exist to serve the church, so this framework is a prime way for us to engage deeply with our ecclesial community, share our learnings and offer supportive consultation to those seeking authentic relationships between institutions. We are excited about the many ways our three schools will work across traditional institutional boundaries, and we profoundly hope that what we learn will lead us into even deeper forms of collaboration.
- Third, seminaries must discern how to make theological education more accessible and more affordable for more potential students. How seminaries do so will likely vary from school to school. Fully residential? Entirely online? Low-residency hybrid? There is no one right answer. In fact, we who lead the PC(USA) seminaries might think about how our schools, as a group, can offer diverse options for the sake of the students and congregations we serve. Our admissions directors are already approaching their work with this in mind; as appropriate, some of them happily refer students with particular needs to another PC(USA) school that might be a better fit for them.
We are heartened by the excellent rapport among the current PC(USA) presidents. We are well poised to foster a consortium-like approach to how we serve the PC(USA) as well as other denominations, given that most PC(USA) seminaries have significant numbers of students from other Christian traditions. Thinking of our seminaries as a system of Presbyterian seminaries strengthens our capacity to collaborate more deeply for the sake of the church and the Gospel. The Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities recently invited the PC(USA) seminaries to join their organization, which previously limited membership to undergraduate schools. We must engage with our sibling schools who are dedicated to education with a Reformed ethos to strengthen all our students, not just those who attend our specific institutions. This approach is not limited to graduate schools, either. We have space to dream creatively and experiment with hope as we emphasize our shared vision of Reformed theological education that begins well before matriculation in seminary.
The General Assembly in Milwaukee offered a glimpse of what becomes possible when shared mission eclipses institutional competition. What we can accomplish together – as seminaries, congregations and communities of faith – is far greater than what we can achieve alone. It is a courageous thing to set aside one’s personal banner, school of choice or regional bias in service to the body of Christ that exists for, with and through a multitude of people. We hope our seminaries’ collaborative work inspires congregations to imagine new partnerships and creative uses of their own resources.
We want to walk alongside you in that work, offering theological education, leadership development and networks of support. Just as importantly, we want our students to learn from your experiences, so they are prepared for the realities of ministry in a rapidly changing church. The church of tomorrow will not resemble the church of yesterday. If we are faithful to our calling, theological education can equip folks to thrive in a future church that is relational, interconnected, collaborative and rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ for the sake of the world God so loves.
