By Paul E. Boatman
Lincoln (Illinois) Christian Seminary (www.lccs.edu)
Seminary students are an increasingly diverse lot. The 88 students entering Lincoln Christian Seminary (LCS) in the fall of 2007 all hold at least a bachelor”s degree from one of 37 colleges or universities. Of those students: 32 (36 percent) are female; 37 (42 percent) are between 30 and 57 years of age; just 33 (38 percent) are age 25 or younger””the traditional age for beginning graduate school; 60 (68 percent) are Bible college graduates; and the other 28 (32 percent) come from universities.
The reasons for entering seminary vary widely, but the overwhelming majority are choosing a path they were not considering when they began college. Even the minority who are fresh out of Bible college are usually making a career decision that differs in specialization or intensity from their goals just four years earlier. Those students who have been in a consistent ministry career track are often choosing to alter their course of ministry by their seminary choice.
Some seminarians enter their program as career pilgrims, making colossal career changes. Trial lawyers and prosecuting attorneys join public school teachers, nurses, pharmacists, accountants, scientists, and career soldiers in pursuit of ministry education. Many of these people in transition are making the change gradually, continuing to earn their living by their old profession while in quest of equipping themselves for a higher calling. This diverse and mature pool of students presents a major challenge for a school desiring to be mission-driven, market-sensitive, and academically accountable.
LCS has responded to the challenge of students in career pilgrimage in three ways: creative scheduling, flexible degree programs, and distance education.
Flexible course offerings is the most obvious accommodation to the mature student. Most classes meet only one day per week, allowing a student to take six semester hours while being off work only one day. Many area employers will allow an employee to work four 10-hour days, freeing one day for school. About 25 courses each year are offered in the “intensive” format, one week of full-day class time, bracketed by precourse and postcourse assignments. Once limited to summer school, these offerings are available in every season. A more recent option is the one-day-per-month intensive””classes meeting all day once a month throughout the semester. Many students find their employers to be flexible with time off for this format.
Degree programs have changed to meet the needs of today”s students. The Master of Divinity””the standard degree for seminaries accredited by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS)””has moved from 90 semester hours to 75 at LCS, in part as a result of giving credence to the students” church-based ministry activities as field education. A surprising number of mature students choose this rigorous program because of its combination of breadth and depth.
The programs they most frequently choose are the Master of Arts with a variety of specializations””Preaching, Worship, Leadership, Missions, etc., and the more tightly professionally focused Master of Arts in Counseling. These degrees include the option of gaining Greek and Hebrew exegetical resources through an accelerated, computer-based, biblical interpretation program. LCS was the first seminary to adapt the Logosâ„¢ Scholar”s Library program to a course format.
Distance education has provided a special challenge in light of ATS”s very conservative approach to nontraditional educational formats. Students in most programs may take up to five classes in distance formats. These distance courses include Internet courses and video-correspondence courses. Through a combination of distance courses and intensive week classes, it is possible for a person to earn a Master of Arts without moving to Illinois. This option has been pursued even by students living outside the United States. In a quest for further options, a professor is assigned this year to develop an online Master of Arts that would meet the rigid standards of ATS.
Another distinct opportunity is in early stages of development. The Doctor of Ministry degree is by nature an advanced degree for the career minister, but the unique Pastor Care track represents a shift in career specialization for most students.
Having welcomed second-career students for over a half century, LCS joins her sister schools in flexing, adapting, and adjusting to serve this growing community of career pilgrims committed to serving Christ and his church.
Paul Boatman is dean at Lincoln (Illinois) Christian Seminary.
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