The First Leg
As we pulled away from Indianapolis, I was excited and terrified. We had just said bye to our family and friends. Two weeks before I had quit my job, moved out from our rented house, sold one of our cars, packed what little we had in the bulkhead of a semi-trailer and the rest in our used Cutlass Ciera, and struck out for Dallas, Texas. My bride of a year and a half and I were effectively jobless, homeless, and heading to Texas. My heart raced as we merged onto the highway. I was more than apprehensive, I was scared. We were on the road to seminary.
The roads to pastoral ministry are many but often begin with academic studies. A recent survey in 2010 by Lifeway Research found that two-thirds of 1,000 surveyed Protestant pastors had obtained at least a Masters degree. Among the same population, 85% had taken seminary classes. For non-Protestants or Catholic clergy, seminary training is an assumed part of the journey.
The first leg of the ministry journey often begins with some degree of destabilization. Finances as well as proximity to family and friends are often the first upfront sacrifices for those pursuing ministry. Some will enter into ministry roles later in life thereby potentially leap-frogging over academia due to their unique life experience. Often those without a theological education may struggle with insecurity because of their lack of education.
Yet for most, a ministry calling signals a season in academia. Increasingly perspective ministry candidates are seeking on-line education which squeeze resources, eat up time, and demand extra emotional energy. Whether pursuing brick and mortar or an on-line education, the shift into academia for the sake of ministry will often require personal sacrifice. For the majority, these sacrifices seem to pale in the light of being called to ministry, but some may find that they wrestle with these sacrifices later down the road.
For many, heading to seminary requires moving across state-lines and leaving family, friends, and potentially careers. These careers may have provided comfortable lifestyles as well as funding for theological education. Economically those who serve in ministry can expect to earn far below their peers in others fields. This fact is well known to the ministry student, but confidence of being the exception to the rule can cause this reality to be dismissed.
For two to four years, depending on the degree track, the ministry student will join others whose call have led them onto a similar path. Seminarians will often make new friends quickly centered on their shared proximity, study, and mission. The camaraderie is similar to the collegiate undergraduate experience or the life long friendships that can be forged in the military.
For older students with families, forming new relational bonds is more challenging. Families demand time and energy and decrease the ability of a newly transitioned student to connect relationally. As finances are a necessity for academic pursuits and family provisions, many will take up a part or full time job on top of a full time academic schedule. The sheer demand of hours required to meet academic and financial needs will produce strain on the ministry student. To combat fatigue there are many positive emotions in this academic season which outweigh the strain. These positive emotions stem from seeing God’s provision, a shared calling and experience, new friendships and common belief, and a shared mission with a future vision for ministry impact. In addition valuable theological, pastoral, and specified or niche training is being gained.
For many ministry students financial instability, the sacrifice of old friendships, and the redefining of family bonds are a small price to pay for the high call of ministry. Old friendships get placed on the back burner as academic responsibilities, financial demands, and the necessity for new friendships reduce relational capacity. Familial bonds are redefined by distance, time apart, and the realities of living in two separate worlds. While peers and family members’ lives move on as they climb the corporate ladder, upgrade their home, and spend time with family, the ministry student’s life feels suspended and frozen in an academic tunnel where little forward progress is made in the way of life change. They survive in this continuum until graduation day arrives. Often these losses are minimized and even go unnoticed by the ministry student who is excited to begin, follow through, and finish the first leg of their journey into ministry.
