(Blog) Seminary Enrollment Decline: Again Who Will Train our Pastors? - Ep. 996 - October 15, 2026

Seminary Enrollment Decline: Who Will Train Pastors?

Local churches have a responsibility to prepare pastors who understand Scripture and can carry on the work of ministry. As seminary enrollment falls, we believe church-based training deserves renewed attention, along with a clear commitment to Bible knowledge and theology.

If you're considering how your church prepares future leaders, practical experience and theological understanding both matter. Our discussion on The Smith and Rowland Show returned to that responsibility: teaching people the Word of God, preparing them to serve, and sending them out.

Why Pastoral Training Matters Beyond the Church

We connect the preparation of pastors with the influence of preaching itself. In our view, America's history cannot be understood apart from the Great Awakening and the pulpits that helped shape the nation's life.

The military, the economy, and the founding documents all contributed to America's strength. However, we believe preaching helped shape public opinion, social concerns, foreign policy, and even economic life. The pulpit had an influence beyond Sunday worship.

That conviction explains why we take pastoral preparation seriously. When we speak about making America great again, we believe that renewal must include a return to preaching with conviction, anointing, and power.

Training pastors, then, belongs within the church's wider mission. The concern reaches beyond whether a school stays open or a congregation fills a staff position. It includes what future ministers will preach and how faithfully they'll handle the gospel.

Seminary Decline Raises Questions About Calling and Teaching

Declining enrollment creates financial pressure, but schools don't all face that pressure equally. We contrasted the enormous endowments of institutions such as Yale with the more limited resources of many Christian colleges and seminaries. Most Christian institutions can't continue indefinitely without students.

Alan described enrollment losses of 30%, 40%, and even 50% in some cases. Those were the declines under discussion, rather than a single rate for every seminary.

Ministry as a calling or a career

Our concern also involves the reasons people enter pastoral work. We see a difference between responding to God's call and treating ministry primarily as a career.

That concern extends to people already serving. Some pastors approach preaching with the goal of keeping everyone comfortable and satisfied. We believe that emphasis weakens the conviction and spiritual authority the pulpit needs.

This connects with our earlier discussions of moralistic therapeutic deism, which we regard as a false teaching that can displace the gospel.

What declining enrollment may say about the teaching

We also questioned whether some seminaries are losing students because of what they teach. Alan connected that concern with what he called a "woke" stance and with moralistic therapeutic deism. That was our assessment, rather than an established explanation for every enrollment decline.

His illustration was agricultural: good seed contains life and produces a harvest. Seed that can't germinate produces nothing. He used that picture to question whether churches and schools are passing on teaching that produces spiritual life.

How Large Churches Built Other Paths Into Ministry

Beginning in the 1980s, with further growth through the 1990s and 2000s, large churches developed apprenticeships, residencies, and ministry schools. These programs often trained people through practical work within a congregation's methods and culture.

As a result, experience in a growing church became a competing credential alongside formal theological study. Seminary was no longer the assumed center of preparation for every ministry candidate.

Willow Creek's influence on church leaders

Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, developed the Willow Creek Association. Its resources reached thousands of churches and gave experienced megachurch leaders a prominent role in training other ministers.

Alan acknowledged the criticism Willow Creek receives for its seeker-sensitive approach. However, he resisted dismissing its work because of that label. His central concern was whether people were coming to faith in Jesus Christ.

Saddleback's purpose-driven framework

At Saddleback Church, Rick Warren's purpose-driven framework offered an approach to church management and growth that leaders could adopt without first earning a seminary degree.

Both examples changed expectations about preparation. Churches could learn ministry practices directly from other churches, while seminaries faced competition over more than student enrollment. They also faced a challenge to the assumption that extended academic education must occupy the central place in pastoral formation.

Church Size Doesn't Establish Faithfulness

We don't reject a church because it's large. Growth can accompany faithful ministry, and a megachurch can have practices worth learning. At the same time, attendance alone can't settle whether a church is following God.

Jeff put the distinction plainly:

"Being a mega church is not proof you're doing something right. Being a mega church is not proof that you're doing something wrong."

He pointed to the Old Testament arrangement of leaders over thousands, hundreds, and tens. Those entrusted with smaller groups weren't less blessed by God than those responsible for larger ones.

Different callings still involve reaching people

Churches can have different callings and different scopes of responsibility. However, we also believe a congregation should seek to reach people within the vision God has given it.

Jeff connected that conviction with Jesus' instruction to go into the highways and hedges and compel people to come in so that the house would be full. In his illustration, a church with room for 100 should seek to fill that space, just as a church with room for 5,000 should seek to fill its building.

Alan emphasized that a lack of growth deserves examination. Jeff's qualification remains important: a smaller assignment doesn't mean a lesser calling.

A Church Must Remain Faithful to Its Calling

Alan described a congregation's particular calling as "the word of the Lord" to that church. He presented this as something he has observed through ministry, while acknowledging that he wasn't laying out a complete biblical argument for the phrase.

His example was Peter walking on the water. Peter stepped out in response to Jesus and continued while his attention remained on the Lord. When he took his eyes off Jesus, he began to sink.

Alan used that account to explain what he believes happens when a church moves away from the direction God has given it. A congregation may attract people through social appeal or by catering to their interests. However, he argued that lasting ministry must remain connected to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This understanding of calling also extends to individual believers. Salvation begins the Christian life, but we believe every believer has a place in ministry. Our commitment to the priesthood of the believer means preparing people to serve throughout the body of Christ.

The Biblical Pattern Is to Train and Send People

Churches that bring people in, disciple them, and prepare them to carry on ministry follow a pattern we see in Scripture.

Jesus appointed the twelve to be with Him. They learned through time in His presence, practical assignments, successes, and failures. He also sent them out two by two.

Jeff compared those years with Jesus to a three-year education. Their preparation involved direct participation in ministry, and their later work carried the gospel far beyond the places where they had first followed Him.

That is why we support churches that mentor people and send them out. A congregation's life should continue through others who can take responsibility for the work.

What deserves to be reproduced

Sending people out raises another responsibility: examining what they're being taught to carry forward.

Jeff asked:

"The question would be, are you doing something worth reproducing?"

A program can reproduce a church's habits, worship practices, or methods. The deeper concern is whether it also passes on spiritual life and a sound understanding of Scripture.

We support the model of church-based training. However, the quality of that training still matters.

Hyles and Falwell Illustrate the Church-and-School Model

Jeff pointed to Hyles-Anderson College as an example of a school that grew out of a local congregation. First Baptist Church in Hammond, Indiana, came first; the church then established the college. That order matters to our understanding of ministry education.

He also recalled a story he heard Jack Hyles tell about a young pastor in Virginia. The pastor wanted help developing his Sunday school and building his church, so he asked Hyles to visit.

Hyles agreed and shared practices from his ministry in Hammond. However, he also told the young pastor that the town wasn't large enough for him to achieve comparable growth.

The pastor was Jerry Falwell. Hyles later used the story to laugh at his own lack of prophetic insight.

Falwell went on to build a church, establish a school, and begin a Bible college that grew into a university. His stated vision was "training young champions for Christ."

For us, the point of that story is the connection between a congregation and the people it prepares for future service. A church establishes a work, teaches others, and equips them to continue it after the current leaders are gone.

Bethel Shows the Reach of Nontraditional Ministry Schools

Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, connected with Bethel Church in Redding, California, provided another example of church-based preparation.

The two-year charismatic ministry program drew applicants from across the United States and other countries. By the mid-2010s, enrollment exceeded 2,000 students, more than many accredited seminaries.

What attracted students to Bethel

We identified Bethel's emphasis on the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit as a major part of its appeal. The church believes God works supernaturally and gives substantial attention to practicing those ministries.

Alan also pushed back against dismissing Bethel through denominational labels. He noted that critics in dispensational circles may condemn charismatic churches, while charismatic believers may dismiss other Christians as lacking the Spirit. We don't believe those exchanges settle the value of a ministry.

How its program differed from seminary

The program charged tuition and provided housing. However, it wasn't regionally accredited, didn't award an academic degree, and didn't follow a traditional seminary curriculum in biblical languages and systematic theology.

Graduates nevertheless entered pastoral and ministry positions, including roles in churches that had previously expected accredited degrees.

That development carried a message beyond charismatic congregations: formal academic theological education could become optional. Some churches chose internships or apprenticeships instead, while others hired people who demonstrated practical ministry ability without requiring another training program.

Church Authority Comes First in Our View of Ministry Schools

Accreditation prompted one of Jeff's strongest responses. His first concern was who grants approval and whose authority a church recognizes when it accepts that approval.

He questioned whether a church should need the world's stamp of approval before recognizing work it believes God has called it to do. He also raised concerns about another church assuming authority over a congregation's own discipleship program.

Our preference is for local church authority to guide a ministry school. If a church establishes a college, that school should remain under the congregation's spiritual covering even if it eventually becomes larger than the church.

Cooperation should respect local responsibility

Churches can choose to work together. In that case, they have invited one another into a shared training effort. Jeff distinguished that voluntary relationship from outside control over a congregation's ministry.

His language about accreditation was forceful; at one point, he called the system "demonic." That statement expressed his objection to authority imposed on a church's work.

At the same time, rejecting accreditation as the final measure of a school doesn't mean rejecting serious study. Jeff said that if he established a ministry school, systematic theology and proper Bible understanding would be central to its training.

Why Jeff Brought Up Lester Roloff

Jeff connected his concerns about outside approval with Lester Roloff's conflict over government oversight of church-connected children's homes.

In his account, Roloff's church in Corpus Christi, Texas, established a home for children who needed care and discipline. Roloff understood teaching them the Word of God as part of his calling.

Jeff described Roloff's refusal to accept government accreditation or control, along with the jail time that followed. He used the story to illustrate the tension between a church's understanding of its mission and an outside authority's demands.

He also connected that history with independent Baptist leaders such as John R. Rice, Lee Roberson, and Jack Hyles.

The reason for raising the example was church autonomy. Jeff believes churches must recover responsibility for educating and preparing people rather than turning that work over to outside systems.

In his view, restoring the church's influence requires more than gathering for worship. It includes teaching people the Word of the Lord and preparing them to carry responsibility.

Practical Training Must Include Bible Knowledge

We support practical ministry training, but pastors need to understand the Bible they intend to teach and preach.

That was Jeff's reservation about a program focused mainly on reproducing one church's practices. Using Bethel as the example, he distinguished learning how a congregation worships and conducts ministry from receiving a substantial education in theology.

Practical experience has value. However, someone preparing to teach Scripture also needs theological understanding. Jeff made clear that systematic theology would be a requirement in a school he established.

Credentials don't replace the responsibility to teach

We don't believe a person must hold a particular degree before helping someone else learn Scripture. Each church has a responsibility to teach its people according to its understanding of God's Word.

This also means a church can't treat its own methods as the whole content of ministry preparation. Training that reproduces a worship style or ministry culture must still answer to the larger responsibility of teaching Jesus and the Word of God.

Our support for church autonomy carries that expectation. A church may direct its own program, but it remains responsible for what future ministers learn.

Recovering Regular Bible Teaching Within the Church

Jeff identified a loss of Bible knowledge as one of the problems facing congregations. He connected it with the disappearance of the Sunday school hour and training union programs.

When those teaching settings disappear, worship services can become the congregation's main gathering. He expressed concern that services may then focus heavily on how people feel while leaving too little time for sustained biblical instruction.

In-house preparation can be substantial

Alan supported churches offering their own ministry training, including classes on Saturday or Sunday evenings. He saw no problem with a congregation providing two years of seminary-style preparation and then considering a student for ordination if the church approved.

We agreed that churches should take this responsibility seriously. A lack of extensive facilities or resources doesn't remove the possibility of teaching. Jeff's point was simple: people who want to learn and someone prepared to teach provide a place to begin.

The resources a congregation does have can support the preparation of future workers. That includes helping believers understand Scripture and giving them opportunities to serve within the church's life.

Outside Schools Also Pass On a Church's Spiritual DNA

Sending someone to another church's school involves more than selecting a curriculum. Students also encounter that congregation's habits, convictions, and ministry culture.

We described that influence as a church's "spiritual DNA." An outside seminary may know little about the student's home congregation or the particular life of that church.

That doesn't make outside education wrong. It does mean a home church should understand that another ministry will leave an imprint on the student.

The Shepherds example in Cary

Near the end of our discussion, we considered Shepherds, a school connected with a Baptist church in Cary. Based on what we had read, we understood it to operate under that church's authority and to teach systematic theology.

We spoke positively about its theological teaching and said we would recommend it, on the basis of what we knew, to someone seeking a college where they could study the Word of God.

The qualification was the same one we applied elsewhere: a student would also receive the influence of that congregation. We didn't describe that as harmful, but it wouldn't necessarily be identical to the spiritual culture of the student's home church.

For that reason, Jeff emphasized that each congregation has a responsibility to prepare its own people to serve and carry its work forward.

Pastoral Preparation Remains a Local Church Responsibility

Seminary enrollment decline brings renewed attention to work that belongs within the church's mission. We believe congregations should prepare people who know Scripture and can carry responsibility in ministry.

Theological understanding and practical experience both belong in that preparation. Whether a church trains people directly or works with another school, it remains responsible for helping its people grow into faithful service.

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