Seminary is Not For Everyone

I have known many good pastors who did not go to seminary. My pastor, Tom Stipe, used to tell me that one of the geniuses of Chuck Smith and the Calvary Chapel movement was that Chuck was willing to take chances on and empower people who, like the apostles, were “unschooled, ordinary men” who “had been with Jesus” (see Acts 4:13). I experienced this myself: I was trained, ordained, and sent out to plant a church within the Calvary Chapel ecosystem without any formal education. I am so thankful that the leaders in my life encouraged me and affirmed my calling rather than telling me to curb my enthusiasm and go to school first.

However, since that time, I did choose to go to school. I now hold a BA in Theology from the University of Gloucestershire (UK) and an MA in Integrative Theology from the London School of Theology.

Over the past few years, Calvary Global Network has developed a partnership with Western Seminary, and many Calvary leaders have enrolled in institutes of higher education. For some, this may feel like a change in culture, and the question may arise as to whether this is a move away from dependence on the Holy Spirit.

While I have benefited from going to seminary, I do not believe it is for everyone. In addition, I believe it is imperative that Calvary Chapel continues to believe in the work of the Holy Spirit through called people, regardless of their level of, or lack of, formal education.

Here is why I chose to go to seminary and what I would say to those who ask if education makes you less dependent on the Holy Spirit.

My Crisis of Faith

I am not sure exactly how it started, but at some point, I began to struggle — then it reached a point that felt like a crisis.

I was living in Hungary at the time. Rosemary and I had just had our first child; he was about six months old at the time. I was pastoring a church, and things were going well. People were coming and growing in their faith. Others were coming to faith for the first time and being baptized.

I was teaching the Bible twice a week, on Sundays and Wednesdays, yet I found myself struggling with feelings of doubt. I began to question whether the things I was saying about the Bible were actually true! I began having doubts about whether God even exists!

Up until that point, I had never struggled to believe, yet all of a sudden my mind was plagued with doubts. The things I was teaching, was I just parroting what I had heard from other people? Was I just taking their word for it, that the things they said about God and the Bible were true? I had not actually researched and studied those things for myself… What if they were wrong?

My Journey to Formal Education

This crisis of faith led me on a journey, which involved enrolling in university, and studying Christianity, the Bible, and other religions, at the university level. And as a result of that journey, having studied these things for myself, I am at a place today where I am more confident than ever that the Bible is trustworthy and the gospel message of Jesus Christ is true.

What the Bible has to Say about Pursuing Education

Here is what Paul said to Timothy, a young pastor:

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

Here is what Peter wrote in his “general epistle” (to all Christians):

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence …

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:3; 5-8).

“Why Can’t You Just Be Self-Taught?”

I have heard people push back against formal education and insist that you can get just as good of an education on your own by reading books. My response is that you probably can — but there are some big benefits to studying at an institute of higher education.

One of the greatest benefits is that you will be forced to read things you disagree with, and you will be required to critically engage with the material and with smart people who hold positions other than your own. This will make you sharper and force you to examine the foundations of what you believe. If you navigate this well, it will lead to a stronger faith.

Furthermore, if you are like me, the rigor and deadlines of a school program will help you actually do your work, and think hard, since you know your work will be examined and critiqued by people who will not let you get away with sloppy or lazy conclusions.

Does Education Make You Less Dependent on the Holy Spirit?

Having spent years in seminary, let me tell you that I have never met anyone who thinks that they no longer need the Holy Spirit now that they have learned more things. In fact, if anything, gaining education affects a person by making them more aware of how much they do not know.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect is the phenomenon that those who are less competent tend to be more self-confident because they do not realize how much they do not know. In contrast, those who are more competent tend to be more aware of just how much they do not know.

This is not always the case, I am sure. Some people probably become proud because they think they know more than others once they have received some amount of education.

“Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies” (1 Corinthians 8:1)

I absolutely agree! However, I have also met people who are proud of their lack of education and look down on those who have pursued formal theological education, as if their choice to not go to seminary is more spiritual.

The key is to keep love (for God and for others, in response to God’s love for us) as the motivating factor, rather than pursuing knowledge just for the sake of knowledge. And we should certainly never seek knowledge in an attempt to assert superiority over others, but instead view it as something to be used to help and serve others.

Discussion on the CGN Mission & Methods Podcast

In the most recent episode of the CGN Mission & Methods Podcast, we discussed the power, presence, and work of the Holy Spirit, and this topic came up. Here is a clip of our discussion:

You can listen to the entire episode here (or in the embedded player below): What Do CGN Leaders Believe about Charismatic Gifts and Their Use in the Church Today?

May the Calvary family continue to be a place where we prioritize dependence on the empowering and leading of the Holy Spirit, along with diligent study of God’s Word.

Whether you pursue formal education or are self-taught, may the Lord keep us all from becoming puffed up or condescending toward others, and may Calvary be a network in which we sharpen and encourage each other as we work together to build God’s Kingdom and carry out His mission.

^{CalvaryChapel.com does not necessarily endorse or agree with every message or perspective in the diverse links posted. By providing these links, we hope to help you stay informed of important events and conversations taking place in the world that are relevant to the Christian faith.}

The current crisis of the evangelical church in America is being called a “massive discipleship failure caused by a massive catechesis failure.”¹ The ideologies of our age have grown more magnetic and are both infiltrating and fragmenting the church. Even where such destruction is avoided, we no longer have sufficient common ground with our neighbors to enjoy the passive formational benefits of a Judeo-Christian culture.

For some time, I have been thinking about what it would have taken to be a church inoculated against 2020, and I am convinced the church must develop a more robust paradigm for Christian education. I have in mind here, not private K-12 schools or colleges, but Christian education in the context of the church: Christian education as discipleship. Although the format for this type of education can and should be diverse, whether sermon series, Sunday School classes, Bible study curriculum, or more likely all the above, we need a framework to set the agenda for the whole education, as well as help us assess where our individual congregations are currently at and what is still required.

The goal is disciples who are equipped to live out a Christian vision of life in the context of our present world. No matter the topic, be it sexuality, social justice, or faith and work, a complete Christian education has four components, which here we will call Theology, Anthropology, Missiology, and Doxology. We will take each of the four in turn.

Theology

A Christian education must begin theologically. This requires more than chapter-and-verse references to a particular topic and more than just expressing the clear commands of scripture. A theological approach is rooted in God’s character, works and plan. Articulating a theology of a topic means that we present not just the what of a Christian ethic but the why. A theological approach to a given topic helps disciples navigate through the lenses of Creation: God’s purpose and design, the Fall: where sin and the curse interfere with and hinder that design, Redemption: how salvation in Jesus Christ remedies what has gone wrong, and Consummation: the hope we have as Christians that sets the trajectory for our life. Altogether, a theological approach provides a worldview which not only presents the Christian life but explains it as well.

Anthropology²

On top of having a biblical and theological view of a topic, our disciples also need to understand the view of the culture around us. The anthropological component in Christian education makes the theological component conversant with the world we live in. It is here where the core beliefs of our culture should be identified, as well as their history traced. In any given culture, we should be able to affirm what the culture gets right, reject what it gets wrong, and redeem its unfulfilled desires, showing how Christianity better meets their longings.

When our disciples are not equipped with an anthropology of their time and place, they will not be able to identify where their own lives are being shaped by the culture they live and breathe … thus they will be conformed to this world. Without an anthropology our disciples will also struggle to communicate the gospel in all its abundant-life-fullness to the world they live in. Failure here leads to ideological compromise in our churches, as well as the fear-fueled label-making which throws around culture war terms without being able to define or discuss them (and ironically leaves them vulnerable to other sub-Christian ideologies).

Missiology

The context for the faithful Christian life is the local church. Disciples are not called to follow Jesus as individuals but as part of his community, fulfilling the “one-anothers” of the New Testament. This means that a Christian education is incomplete without extrapolating the resources and agenda God has given to the church. I will confess, this is an area where many of us are so weak that it makes it difficult to illustrate, but consider the Christian sexual ethic. The church, by design, is a family (Matthew 12:46-50; 1 Tim 5:1-2). Jesus in fact envisions it as the family for those who are rejected by their own (Mark 10:30), or excluded from marriage by their bodies, or their devotion to Jesus (Matthew 19:10-12). It is this loving community that makes a Christian sexual ethic joyful and possible. Without it, we condemn the single and celibate to isolation and are worthy of Jesus’ criticism as those who lay heavy burdens and do not help bear them (Matthew 23:4). Missiology means casting this vision, designing our ministries in ways that include and incorporate single people, and exhorting all Christians to live out their responsibilities to love their Christian brothers and sisters, not just their biological family. When we disciple our congregation in missiology, we form not just disciples but God’s new community, the church, and in doing so accomplish God’s mission.

Doxology

Christian education is never complete until it is lived out. Disciples are not called to merely know Jesus or his will but to follow him. Therefore, our paradigm is incomplete without doxology: worshipping God by growing in his ways. The doxological aspect of Christian education requires a slight shift in posture. Whereas the above components are primarily instructional, doxology requires dialogue. It also requires wisdom and even creativity as we seek to apply God’s word in our specific lives at this specific moment.

Because sanctification is a lifelong process, this part of Christian education is open and ongoing, asking again and again what is the next step in following Jesus. Even where this requires repentance, creativity and support is often necessary to pick up the pieces and pursue obedience. Doxology is also the pinnacle of the growing specificity across the aspects of a Christian education.

Theology is universal and unchanging. Anthropology focuses on the unique culture of a particular church’s time and place. Missiology narrows the field to this local church. And doxology moves to the individual choices and context of each disciple.

As leaders and pastors, we must expand our understanding of discipleship to include the four categories above. Jesus has appointed us to bear fruit (John 15:16). To make fruitful disciples, we must help them lay deep roots in Theology, help them to understand the soil in which they grow through Anthropology, help them see themselves as branches of God’s tree the church in Missiology, and bear the specific fruit for this season in Doxology. Lord willing, doing so will create disciples who live robust and distinctively Christian lives of joyful obedience and present a witness that is winsome and worthy of Jesus and his gospel.

_NOTES:

_{¹ James Ernest quoted in The Atlantic, “The Evangelical Church is Breaking Apart.”}

_{² For a great example of this on sexuality see Jonathan Grant’s book Divine Sex. On Social Justice see Timothy Keller’s article, “A Biblical Critique of Secular Justice and Critical Theory.”}

Vision

Calvary Chapel University desires to be a premier, Christian higher education community loving God, loving others and making disciples of Jesus Christ.

“Go ye therefore and MAKE DISCIPLES of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

Mission Statement

Calvary Chapel University exists to serve lifelong learners and the ministries of churches worldwide by offering undergraduate and graduate programs in a Christ-centered community.

We foster an environment characterized by:

. Simply Jesus

. Superior Academics

. Servant Leadership

We would love to hear from you! To learn more and contact us, visit calvarychapeluniversity.com.

As the Director of Admissions for Calvary Chapel Bible College, one of my great joys is introducing prospective students and parents to our beautiful campus and Biblical studies programs. Inevitably the question comes up, “What can I do with a degree in Biblical studies?” Fair enough, students and parents want to know what benefit they will receive from their investment of time and money.

The first benefit, and in my mind the greatest, is that the time spent at CCBC provides “preparation for life.”

That is, we believe that the best foundation for success in life is to know what the Bible actually says about God, people, and how we ought to live. A solid foundation in the Scripture provides the necessary tools for living a life pleasing to God and the apologetic weapons for defending one’s faith from the onslaught of this corrupt world system. My point is that no matter what God has called a person to do in life—to be a pastor, firefighter, mother, missionary, nurse or to transfer on to an engineering program at an Ivy League university, establishing a firm Biblical foundation at CCBC will prepare a person for the challenges of living in a fallen world.

I often remind parents that, “Studies have shown that between 60% and 80% of previously engaged Christian youth become disengaged from their faith as they transition into college.”¹ The reality is that most college and university campuses are not friendly to the Christian faith. That’s putting it nicely. The truth is that the majority of academic institutions in America are hostile environments bent on dismantling the Christian faith of our young people. High school graduates entering those battlegrounds unprepared become confused by and hostages to the competing worldviews of humanism, Marxism and the false religion of Darwinism. It is essential then that we prepare our young men and women for the battle they will face in life. Calvary Chapel Bible College provides such training!

Graduates of CCBC are prepared for life through the life-transforming study of the Bible. This includes an overview of the entire Bible with pastor Chuck Smith via recorded sermons, eight required core Bible books that dig into the essential doctrines of our faith, four semesters of practical Christian ministry, as well as dozens of additional Bible classes and courses such as “how to study the Bible,” theology and apologetics. Anyone who has completed a Biblical studies degree at CCBC can say with confidence that they have gone cover-to-cover through the Bible—something less than 11% of professing Christians in America have done!²

The second benefit of earning a Biblical studies degree from CCBC is that time invested here will prepare a person for vocational ministry.

Over the last 43 years of our history, hundreds of young people have gone forth from CCBC to plant churches, serve as missionaries and to join church ministry teams as worship leaders, youth workers, assisting pastors, etc. I like to encourage parents and prospective students to visit our website where they can hear firsthand from graduates about how the Lord is using the education gained at CCBC in the real world.³

Another benefit we are now seeing is that some of our graduates have been selected to take up the pulpit from that first generation of Calvary Chapel pastors who are now retiring. Guys who came to faith back in the 60s and 70s under pastor Chuck Smith’s ministry, who then went out to plant churches, are now turning those churches over to a new generation of CCBC graduates!

A fourth benefit of a degree earned at CCBC is that it prepares students for ministry where an advanced degree is required.

We have articulated agreements with a number of Bible colleges, universities and seminaries that accept our degrees in full or part where students can earn a graduate degree in pastoral counseling, theology, education and chaplaincy.⁴ As we move toward full accreditation, the number of post-graduate options will continue to grow for our students.

So, back to that prospective student and his or her parents sitting in my office who asked, “What can I do with a degree in Biblical studies?” My answer—a lot! A Biblical studies degree from Calvary Chapel Bible College will prepare a young person for life, vocational ministry and lay the foundation for an advanced degree path, if that’s where the Lord is leading.

…

¹ “Campus Ministry Link: Connecting Youth to College Ministries“
² “LifeWay Research: Americans Are Fond of the Bible, Don’t Actually Read It”
³ “Alumni Testimonies”
⁴ See pages 32-35 in our catalog.

Have you been praying about joining a Bible college to deepen your relationship with God? Are you looking to grow in your faith in a cross-cultural setting? At Calvary Chapel Bible College Ireland (CCBCI), we aim to disciple believers into a deeper relationship with Jesus, while equipping them for ministry.

Our heart for the school is summarized well by Ephesians 3:17-19, “So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

As a smaller campus, the pastors and Bible college staff are able to get to know the students in a way that really captures the heart of this verse.

We get the privilege of discipling, praying, teaching, serving, laughing and walking alongside each student. Each term we see God move and work in unique and specific ways within each student as they experience the love of Christ at work.

It’s our sincere hope that those who spend time at our campus will go on to use the discipleship and training they have received to fulfill the call of Christ in their lives to serve Him and His people, and to reach the world with the good news of Jesus Christ in whatever form or capacity He desires.

In Ireland attending Bible college is not a common thing to do, and for this reason, we open our classes for the local believers to come, attend and audit classes, free of charge. This means that many local people come and take a class or two alongside our full-time students, creating a fantastic mix of students of all ages and people at all different stages of life.

Waterford itself is the oldest city in Ireland with a lot of history attached to it, a country historically steeped in Christianity, but today, only 0.05% of the population profess to be evangelical Christians.

Our anchoring church, Calvary Waterford, is an extremely diverse church with over 20 nationalities represented. One of the unique aspects of CCBCI is our “adopt-a-student” program. Each student is assigned to a Calvary Waterford family who will be a point of contact for the student for their whole semester. Host families will be actively involved in students’ lives in a variety of ways – praying for them, bringing students to their homes for dinner, going out for coffee or bringing students out on adventures. This helps battle any feelings of homesickness, and many students keep in touch with their host families long after they’ve left Ireland.

Discipleship is an important and central part of what we do here at CCBC Ireland.

So much so that we shape our courses each term around what each student might need. With our term capacity set around 10 students, we are able to spend more time pouring into and praying for the needs of each individual student. Our staff is honored to be a part our students’ spiritual development.

Whether through our weekly prayer and worship nights, serving in the church, sitting under incredible teaching in the classes or meeting up for coffee and a chat, our hope is that each student would be filled with the fullness of God’s love, and from that place, would seek to share the gospel with the world.

We would love to have you join us this or any term.

Apply Now!