by Monique Champeau

Enrollment in Council for Christian Colleges and Universities member colleges grew by more than 70 percent from 1990 to 2004, more than six times that of public colleges and three times that of other private schools. But seminary enrollment nationwide has stayed the same or dropped over that same period, raising concerns that an increase in educated evangelicals has not improved the number of students going on to seminary and church leadership.

Dale Durie, Director of Antioch Way

This trend, in part, is why Robert and Patricia Kern and the Kern Family Foundation began an initiative to spur undergraduate students on to seminary study and careers in pastoral ministry. When they sold a branch of their company, Generac Power Systems, in 1998, they began a series of programs that carry out the belief that by “investing in the future through values, education, and innovation, they can help preserve the tradition of private enterprise, which has enabled the American nation and, in a larger sense, the entire Western world, to flourish intellectually and economically,” according to the foundation’s website and mission statement.

Bethel, along with Azusa Pacific and Ashland University, has been chosen to receive $689,000 from the foundation to help young students identify ministry-related strengths and then receive special coaching, on- and off- campus pastoral mentorships, and paid internships to further their understanding of the breadth of pastoral ministry.

Dale Durie is the newly appointed director of Bethel’s Kern implementation program, called “Antioch Way,” named for the church in Antioch, where the first Christians joined together to explore God’s call on their lives, work with mentors, and eventually go out to be part of kingdom work.

“As a Bethel community, we are all seeking to help students understand God’s call on their lives and equip them to go out and be world changers,” said Durie. “Antioch Way provides an intentional place for students who sense God may be calling them into pastoral ministry—to come explore that call and the realities of it without having to change majors or make a high-level, possibly life-long, commitment.”

As part of the initiative, all sophomores in Bethel's College of Arts & Sciences will be offered an opportunity to take Clifton’s “StrengthsFinder” test, an online ability assessment that normally costs up to $75. Though not written specifically for Christian ministry, the test offers students a way to identify natural affinities that may lend the student toward a career in pastoral ministry. Instead of focusing on improving weak areas, this approach keeps in mind that God gives natural gifts to people and that they should “really go deep with those—in terms of focusing energy and developing their strengths,” said Durie.

Antioch Way then selects 30 cross-disciplinary Bethel juniors to participate in a two-year track as a special cohort. They will take recommended courses, meet with mentors who have ministry experience, and complete two paid internships: an on-campus experience during their junior year and an off-campus experience in an area church during their senior year.

“The goal is to create a larger pool of students who are leaving college and going on to explore pastoral ministry,” said Durie. “God’s call to ministry can happen anywhere,” which is why, he said, Bethel has chosen not to connect the initiative to a specific major or minor as the other two universities have done. The goal of Bethel’s program is to allow students to explore God’s call without having to change majors or commit solely to pastoral work.

Durie ’85 received a Master of Divinity degree at Denver Seminary and a Doctorate of Ministry degree at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. A former pastor and professor at a Christian college, Durie says he has “always sought to equip the next generation of leaders and communicators for the church.” That passion, he said, led him to his current position at Bethel, where he is continually seeking out potential Christian leaders and giving them tools to pursue a future in pastoral work.

In addition to clarifying God’s call, explained Durie, he hopes “students will leave Bethel with a better understanding of vocational ministry.” More information is available at http://cas.bethel.edu/antiochway.