In recent years, the number of seminary students preparing for the pastorate has not increased, despite an increased pool of evangelical college students, a likely source for seminary enrollment. In an effort to change this trend and spur interest in church leadership, the Kern Family Foundation has awarded Bethel University a $689,000 grant as part of the Kern Pre-Seminary Initiative.

The program extends the Kern Family Foundation’s significant investment in the evangelical Church of tomorrow. For example, since 2002, the Foundation has awarded annually at least five competitive, full-tuition scholarships to qualified Bethel Seminary Master of Divinity.students in an effort to support the preparation of exceptional pastoral candidates.

The foundation’s goals for the Kern Pre-Seminary emphasize developing both more pastors and pastors better prepared to serve the church. Bethel’s program aims to triple the number of students who enter seminary from Bethel’s College of Arts & Sciences. It will emphasize building the fitness of students for ministry, strengthening their probability of long-term ministry success, and contributing to their spiritual vitality, leadership skill, and critical thinking ability.

”There’s a growing sense of excitement about the potential we have as a university to make a significant difference in the church of tomorrow,” says Bethel President George K. Brushaber.

Bethel’s planning team, which included Biblical and Theological Studies faculty and Reconciliation Studies faculty, as well as constituent relations, academic affairs, campus ministries, and student life staff recognized that college students often have little realistic understanding of the dynamics of pastoral service—and may not have considered their own gifts appropriate for church ministry.

The College of Arts & Sciences program will emphasize personalized assessment of students, and offer both on- and off-campus mentoring relationships with staff members and local pastors.

A central element of the program is the linkage of classroom and co-curricular educational experiences, including paid internships and practicum experiences. Bethel will help students explore a potential call to ministry, improve their grasp of the dynamics of church leadership, acquire a better understanding of pastoral service, and prepare for seminary enrollment.

Background: The Need for the Kern Family Foundation Seminary Pre-Initiative

While Christian colleges have outstripped enrollment gains in any other sector of higher education since 1990, enrollment in seminaries—a natural next step for students called to pastoral ministry—has plateaued.

Enrollment in member campuses of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities grew 70.6 percent from 1990 to 2004. By contrast, public colleges grew 12.8 percent, and independent four-year campuses and religious four-year campuses grew about 28 percent.

Despite this growing cohort of highly motivated, well-educated evangelical students, from 2000-2006 the 139 American seminaries of all denominations involved in pastoral preparation showed virtually no increase in students graduating with the Master of Divinity, the “first-professional” degree of those in pastoral ministry. Of these seminaries, 72 reported no change or a decline in graduates between 2000 and 2006.

The several colleges invited by the Kern Family Foundation to apply for the Pre-seminary Initiative, however, all are affiliated with seminaries that have shown significant growth in preparing students at the Master of Divinity level. In 2000, these schools reported graduating 53 students in such programs; in 2006, 197 (source, Department of Education Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System [IPEDS]). Each campus was invited to develop a unique program built on its strengths and understanding of students in its region.