Studies from Auburn Seminary

I was recently happy to exchange e-mails with Dr. Sharon Miller of New York's Auburn Seminary, and she brought my attention to some studies Auburn has done on theological student debt and on the funding of theological schools.

I would encourage everyone to visit http://www.auburnsem.org/study Click on "Publications." I was especially interested in "Manna From Heaven," a 1995 study done by Auburn on student debt (and available as a PDF), as well as the 2005 follow-up study, "The Gathering Storm."

For more information on funding of theological schools, check out the studies "Lean Years, Fat Years," and "Seek and Find?"

My thanks to Dr. Miller for pointing out these useful publications.

Interesting report on "Our Common Calling"

I just ran across this document from the UCC on providing resources for seminarians: http://www.ucc.org/synod/resolutions/pro24-1.pdf This is a General Synod document from 2003 which addresses the critical problem of seminary costs and graduate debt load. Does anyone out there know if this document has made any impact on the UCC or its theological schools?

Christian Century Article

Here's an interesting article I have run across concerning this topic. It happens to come from a 2004 issue of Christian Century and certainly describes the continuing financial pressures on our new clergy: http://calbears.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_16_121/ai_n6159321

Introduction

When I was in my first year of the Master of Divinity program at Duke Divinity School, my wife and I met with an insurance salesman to set up a life insurance policy. It turned out that he had attended the Divinity School as well, for about a year, in the early 1980s. As a Presbyterian at a United Methodist school, he had basically no funding, and his part-time work as a UPS driver didn't make ends meet. He told us, "When we got to the point where we were eating one meal a day, I knew it was time to quit."

Theological education can be a prohibitively expensive endeavor. It has crippled many thousands of pastors with debt, driven other graduates away from occupational ministry due to debt, and kept countless more qualified candidates from completing or even starting a program of theological education.

When I first applied to divinity school I assumed that thousands of people had left money in their wills or made other plans to help endow schools like mine. I was wrong. Seminaries and divinity schools of all denominations struggle to make ends meet, find themselves at the low end of funding priorities for churches, individuals, and denominational bodies, and can rarely give their students the financial help that is needed.

This is a major problem because without well-trained clergy and lay leaders, churches suffer from a lack of leadership. Without this leadership local churches are less able to confront the daily ministry needs around them, from spreading the Gospel to caring for the sick and poor.

It is because of this problem that I have initiated this forum for conversation. I believe that we need a grassroots program to raise funding for theological schools. The question is, how and where to begin? I invite readers of this blog to share their ideas and, I hope, their enthusiasm. We'll work from there.