Gospel Infrastructure – Seminary

As the gospel spreads into new areas, disciples are made, and churches are established, there will be a growing need for qualified pastors to lead those churches. Indeed, one of the main obstacles to church planting is the need for well-trained men to invest their lives in the crown jewel of gospel infrastructure. Two adjectives in the preceding sentences need to be defined. What does it mean for pastors and church planters to be qualified and well-trained?

First, pastors must be spiritually qualified by having godly character that serves as an example to the flock. Many passages, including 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9, and 1 Peter 5:1-4, clearly underline the necessity that a pastor be like Jesus if his ministry is to be successful. While there are many ways someone may grow in godliness, the local church should be viewed as the primary place for maturation.

Secondly, elders must also understand biblical doctrine. Without some theological education, whether it is acquired in the church or in seminary, elders will be unclear about what makes a Christian a Christian, why the divinity of Christ matters, and the truth of the resurrection, among other essential beliefs that are fundamental to the Christian faith. The health of new churches on the field, as well as the gospel movement in a specific area, is connected to the pastor’s character and theological acumen. 

The Apostle Paul emphasizes the need to pass on the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. In 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul encourages Timothy to take what he had learned and entrust it to faithful men. What was it that Timothy had learned from Paul? In a sense, everything. Timothy heard the gospel preached, observed deep discipleship, and witnessed the planting of new churches. Further, he experienced those churches being trained in sound doctrine, encouraged, rebuked, and pastored by Paul himself. It was both his learned godliness and his theological understanding that he was to pass on to other faithful men.

It makes sense then that elders are called to teach (1 Tim 3:2), “to give instruction in sound doctrine” (Titus 1:9), and to rightly handle the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15). Leaders must be able not only to teach and promote sound doctrine but also recognize and defend against false teaching and teachers (Acts 20:28-29; Titus 1:9). The ability to teach and defend sound doctrine, to encourage and rebuke believers, and in all cases to rightly handle God’s word requires time and serious training.

Who invests the time to offer such training? The New Testament assumes that this training will happen within the context of the local church. Christ gives shepherds and teachers to the church for the sake of her maturity, unity, and health (Eph 4:11-16). Each local church then carries the responsibility to identify and train potential leaders for the work of the ministry. And yet, we might make a distinction between pastoral training and theological education. There is, of course, much overlap between the two, but each requires intentional effort and infrastructure.

Imagine a young man with whom you shared the gospel with. By God’s grace, the man was converted and baptized and is now being discipled as a member of your church. He comes to you and says he wants to prepare for ministry. What next steps will you encourage him to take? He will need to know how to care for the souls of Christ’s people. How to lead with patience, endurance, and wisdom. How to manage ministry and family. He might learn these skills informally from observing or serving alongside a seasoned pastor. He could also receive more formal training through a local church’s pastoral internship or residency program. In either case, it is vital that an aspiring pastor knows what it means to pastor Christ’s flock.

Yet, there is more he must know if he wants to be an effective pastor. He requires a profound understanding of the doctrine of God and the Trinity to avoid syncretism in his context. He will need to understand and defend the Bible’s teaching on the two natures of Christ so that the gospel is clearly proclaimed. He will need to be able to rightly interpret Scripture so as not to misrepresent God’s words to the world.

Namely, he needs serious study of theology, biblical studies, pastoral counseling, missions, and much more. He needs theological training so that he can apply the truths of the faith rightly to his context. Could a pastor of a local church offer such systematic training to aspiring pastors in his local church context? In some cases, yes! And yet, pastors may not have time or expertise to commit to this kind of training. This is where seminaries are helpful. Seminaries are a means that God has used for generations to offer robust theological training in an accessible and organized way.

A seminary education allows aspiring pastors to learn from those who have studied their fields in depth. It ensures that they are exposed to the full corpus of theology in a setting that demands serious study, perseverance, and accountability. Such study demonstrates that not every generation is required to build their theology from ground zero. Instead, seminary training points them to faithful teachers from the past who have faithfully expounded the Scriptures.

Once again, these studies are not disconnected from pastoral ministry. An in-depth study of the doctrine of God helps a man better counsel bereaved parents when they have lost their child. In-depth knowledge of the New Testament allows a man to better discern what is healthy ecclesiology and thus apply it more effectively to his context. A systematic study of church history prepares an aspiring pastor to identify and correct heresies that threaten the gospel and the church.

Let’s return to our scenario from above. In a North American context, we would probably respond to this young man by saying, “Go to seminary!” This is a luxury we have because multiple seminaries are geographically and economically accessible. We have confidence that these seminaries will teach sound doctrine. But outside of the U.S., what will we say to this aspiring pastor? Our instinct to send him to a good seminary is right, but it is not a real option in most places outside of North America. One alternative would be to encourage him to learn English and study online with a faithful U.S. seminary or enroll in one of seminaries’ ever-expanding programs in other languages. Yet, these options are a temporary stopgap at best. What is most needed are indigenous, contextually appropriate, locally led institutions committed to biblical inerrancy and a robust theological offering.

The best seminaries in the world seek to train men and women for ministry in their local cultural context. While theology and biblical truth do not change from culture to culture, their application can vary. Whereas materialism and individualism might be an obstacle to the gospel in one culture, in another, it might be witchcraft and ancestor worship. The same biblical truth will speak to both, but a trained minister should know best how to do so in his specific context. So, as much as possible, seminaries should be indigenous and culturally appropriate. This applies to who teaches, how they teach, and the aim of their teaching.

First, professors should generally come from the local context or have ample experience serving there so they can understand the issues each theological discipline should address. My preaching class in seminary was beneficial to me because I could identify with my professor and the examples he gave from his own ministry. Outside experts are helpful, and we should rejoice in the great wealth of knowledge in the global church. But the best professors are those who speak the local language and know the local context.

Second, how they teach should be contextually appropriate. Cultures around the world have diverse approaches to education and learning. Even advanced theological degrees in the U.S. and U.K. vary significantly. Some cultures value age and experience over credentials, while others respect well-trained teachers, regardless of their age or background. Some cultures appreciate abstract or linear thinking, while others value concrete examples or stories. One institution centered in one culture cannot speak effectively to every culture. The best training offers contextualized academic programs, teaching styles, and delivery.

Third, seminaries should be committed to biblical inerrancy. Perhaps there are more things we want seminaries around the world to be committed to, but they cannot be committed to less. In the last century, missionaries in various contexts around the world have faithfully established seminaries. Yet, as strategies changed and personnel left the field, these seminaries took a liberal turn and abandoned the doctrine of biblical inerrancy. In my location, a seminary, planted by Baptist missionaries decades ago, now trains more psychologists subsidized by government funds, rather than pastors for ministry. There is a strong connection between abandoning biblical inerrancy and mission drift. If an institution is not committed to the Bible, it must not be surprised when churches no longer send their people there to be trained for faithful, biblical ministry.

Finally, seminaries should be committed to robust theological programs. Some missiologists have reduced leadership training to a series of brief lessons that are completed quickly, allowing the missionary to move on to the next unreached group. Often, these lessons teach leaders how to plant churches but offer little on theology or pastoral ministry. In these cases, the need to reach new places determines the speed and depth of leadership development. As a result, new believers and churches are left with leaders who have not been tested or properly trained to teach and defend sound doctrine. The church may indeed persevere, but it will be weak or deformed.

Other well-meaning seminaries have offered programs in different languages, but with standards and content that are significantly below what is offered in English. This kind of paternalism does not aid in building long-term gospel infrastructure. Shallow theological programs will produce shallow pastors and theologians. That will hamper the ongoing health and growth of the gospel in a given context. Seminaries around the world should have high standards and offer rigorous academic programs while teaching the great truths of the Christian faith.

Like most of the other aspects of gospel infrastructure, seminaries are dependent on other structures. There must be healthy churches that model faithful gospel ministry and raise up new leaders. There must be good translations of the Bible in the local language so that students can understand theological nuances. There must be local Christian publishers so that books can be acquired and read and so that seminary graduates can publish theological works appropriate for their culture.

Where should we start?

In the U.S., most seminaries have a long, rich history of training pastors. They have the physical and economic infrastructure to train men and women for ministry at scale. They have access to a wide base of well-trained and experienced professors who can teach and model healthy ministry. With years of history, they have expansive libraries that offer students access to the best works of the past and the present. This reality means that seminaries in the U.S. can train thousands every year. Churches can then be reasonably sure that a graduate of one of these institutions has a solid foundation of theological training. Yet, most of this is unavailable in most places outside of the U.S. So, how do we get from a pioneer missions setting to a robust seminary that is producing thousands of well-trained graduates every year in a contextually appropriate way? Perhaps, for a season, theological training will be informal. The seminary where I serve started when a young man, wanting to prepare himself for church planting, met weekly with the pastor to read through a systematic theology. Perhaps, for a time, the only way to offer robust teaching will be by relying on outside professors via translation or missionary professors who speak the language but come from other contexts. For a time, it might be necessary to send students with the most potential to a seminary in the U.S. to be trained and then return to teach in the field seminary. Nevertheless, I would contend that the long-term goal should be for the local seminary to train not only future pastors and leaders but also future professors. Just like our aim is for self-propagating churches, we should desire self-propagating seminaries.

Once again, we don’t have to start from zero in each new field. Instead, we can rely on the experience and expertise of existing seminaries in other parts of the world. Faithful seminaries can partner together, not primarily to expand their own student base, but to see contextualized seminaries started in pioneer areas.

William Carey saw the need for robust theological training when he wrote, “Another part of our work is the forming [of] our native brethren to usefulness, fostering every kind of genius, and cherishing every gift and grace in them. … It is only by means of native preachers that we can hope for the universal spread of the Gospel throughout this immense continent.”¹ Therefore, the spread of the gospel in a given area depends on pastors being trained in both ministry and theology and then sent out to the next area. Seminaries are a vital infrastructure for the ongoing health of gospel work around the world. May we be diligent in starting contextually appropriate and theologically robust theological institutions around the world.

1. William Carey et al., “Article 8,” in Serampore Form of Agreement, 1805.