Or, at least, it does not prepare you in all the important ways you need to be prepared. How many times have you heard pastors remark about some issue they’re facing, “They didn’t teach us that in seminary?” You’ll be saying it yourself soon.

Preparation for ministry is YOUR responsibility, not your seminary’s. When you get into the real world of ministry and find yourself unprepared, don’t blame the seminary. And don’t blame us, either, because we’re warning you now.

For example, a seminary degree does not guarantee:

• That you have a genuine, divine calling to ministry. There are many working in churches without the call. I’ll say more about that in a later post.
• That you love people. There are many people who get into ministry, strangely enough, excited about God and his word, but not so much about people.
• That you are living holy. Degrees won’t help you repent or be humble. I remember my seminary roommate, who was in the counseling program, talk about how many sexual addiction groups there were at the seminary’s counseling center, full of seminary students. And that’s just of the ones who reached out for help!
• That you can lead. A degree won’t help you learn to lead. You’ll have to learn that somewhere else, mostly by doing it and seeing it done.

Does seminary have value? Absolutely. But don’t make the mistake of thinking it will do everything for you.

What could we add to this list?

We hope you will. Frankly, we want you not just to survive seminary, but to survive ministry, too. But the statistics aren’t good.

• Half of all seminary students drop out before they complete their degrees.
• The protestant clergy divorce rate equals that of the general population.
• The average seminarian in 2001 graduated with $25,000 in debt
• Of those who begin a career in full-time ministry, only one in ten makes it to retirement.

No one wants to become a statistic.

Seminary is hard—primarily because of all the things you must balance at once. You have multiple demands on your time and energy, and the unspoken expectation is that you’ll be perfect in every area. It’s a lot like ministry in a local church.

We believe that people entering ministry develop their self-management habits in seminary, for better or for worse. This is the moment you need the best counsel you can find, to increase your chances of success.

So who are “we,” anyway? We are a group of friends in ministry who are contributing to what we hope will become a book on the subject. Most of us are seminary grads, and all of us are in full-time ministry. Three of us serve on staff at the same church together. Our church has four young men in seminary right now, with more on the way. We want them to survive. We want you to survive, too.

Our heart is to pass on to current students the wisdom that comes from having been there, done that, and made it through. We’re not always right, of course, and some of our suggestions won’t work for you. We trust your judgment. But wisdom calls out in the streets, and we hope by giving a good listen hear, you will hear her voice.

So we’re working together on what we hope will become a book on the subject. This blog is a place for us to test-drive ideas, and for you, hopefully, to glean helpful bits of wisdom as we put it together.

We’ll be posting regularly on a number of topics, including:

• Time management
• Spiritual life
• Emotional health
• Financial matters
• Marriage and family
• Friends and dating
• Calling
• Exercise, rest and nutrition
• Ministry during seminary
• Ministry after seminary
• Stories
• Random ideas

We’d love for you to be part of this community. Leave comments, share stories, share ideas. We welcome your praise and your good-spirited criticism. Your participation can only make our work more effective.

And pray for us. We’re hoping this effort will help you be wise, strong, encouraged, and fruitful.

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