Seminarians 'More Creative' in Use of Divinity Degree
Studies show that protestant seminary enrollments are increasing throughout the nation, but a smaller portion of graduates want the title of pastor.
The Director of Vocation at Princeton Theological Seminary, the Rev. Victor Aloyo, spoke to The Christian Post on Mar. 22 about his response to the statistic and the potential effects of the lower proportion of divinity school graduates becoming pastors.
A recent New York Times article stated that protestant seminary enrollments are increasing throughout the nation, but a smaller proportion of graduates want to be a church pastor. In your experience working at PTS, along with your knowledge about other seminaries, do you feel this is true?
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I believe in some ways it is true and it has to do with a wide variety of factors. One thing is economic; I think that more and more churches are unable to meet minimum compensation packages. As a result it becomes an obstacle for many individuals who are contemplating family development and providing for a home.
Secondly, I think that there are individuals who are examining a lot of creative forms of utilizing their degree preparation or their theological preparations for fields and avenues that are outside the box based upon what society is looking at in the sense of its spirituality. So more and more individuals are looking at chaplaincy, social service or even the work place and how they can provide a more holistic approach to their sense of call.
I believe that individuals are just being more creative in how they are going to be presenting their preparations theologically. Not to relinquish the pulpit – because everything is based upon that – but I believe that individuals are looking at more creative forms from which they can reach out to the masses in a different approach.
What benefits can you see resulting from this statistic? What harm?
The benefits are individuals will be able to provide substantial ethical approach to their decision-making processes. Given the fact that more and more individuals in this country are trying to get a deeper approach in their sense of spirituality – which really touches every component of their lives including work place, family, social, and spiritual – people are realizing that all those are connected one to the other. We can no longer separate these components of our lives by which each one has a particular effect towards the other.
As a result, theological preparation has to do with ‘How does one practice one’s faith?’ – understanding the history of church that permeates every component of society.
So I think that the benefits and challenge is how to put that into practice in a way that will be beneficial for the common good.
Do you think that seminaries will change their curriculum to accommodate the growing number of divinity students entering the work force and non-government organizations?
I believe there will be a kind of awakening to how the curriculum can be more relevant. But there will be still certain foundation precepts that cannot be compromised such as biblical literatures and the history of the Church, be it from a Euro, Latin America, or Middle East approach.
Will the decrease number of seminary students deciding to take on pastoral duties affect the church? Meaning will there be a shortage of pastors?
I don’t believe there will be a decrease in the resources of pastors. The article mentioned, for example, the United Methodist Church has licensed ministers. In other words they take a particular program for a period of time and they licensed these particular ministers to a particular congregation.
The Presbyterian Church also has commissioned lay pastors as well, and they are to receive formalized training in particular disciplines. I don’t believe that there will be a shortage of pastors in the Church, but I believe that the Church is going to be challenged to understand what ministry in the 21st century will look like.
At this moment, the challenge is to define within the Church where ministry looks different because the needs are different. That leads me back to my first statement that I think people are looking at a wide variety of ways by which the message can be presented so it is relevant to every component of life. How that is determined – classified as ministry challenge – is something that the church needs to examine.
