This story from today’s Monitor highlights the shifting demographic trends along the American religious landscape.  Two quotes in particular got my attention:

“The problem of shrinking churches is one that everyone has to deal with,” Dr. Walsh says. “Evangelicals are just better adapted to deal with it because in their structure they don’t require seminary-trained pastors, pension funds, and all that jazz, which the mainline churches assume.”

Personal educational standing aside — seminary-trained pastors should not be viewed as a luxury, something unnecessary.  Since when has education turned (once again) into something for the elite?  The entire idea of being a disciple is one of learning, growing, increasingly understanding.  Sure, there is much to be frustrated with in the current model of theological education — not the least of which is the complete and utter lack of meaningful financial support from church conferences and local settings when one of their own decides to enter seminary, or the astronomical cost of pursuing the meaningful education.  The solution isn’t to do away with the structure entirely.  The solution is to take a good, hard look at the delivery of education.

I’ll pick on the two denominations with which I am most closely affiliated at the moment: my own United Church of Christ and my seminary’s Presbyterian Church (USA).  Both have some shared history in America (especially in the New England region cited in the story).  Both have some common theological understandings as part of the Reformed branch of Protestant Christianity.  The UCC boasts a little over a million members, the PC(USA) a little over two million.  Both are shedding members, though the UCC’s decline is a little less pronounced than the PC(USA).

Within the UCC, we have seven seminaries, including two in New England, one each in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota and California.  While there are certain “distinctives” of each institution, largely each is recognized as providing an educational program that is liberal to very liberal in theology and traditional in approach.  Combined, these seven seminaries graduate roughly 150-200 individuals each year.  Less than 10% of these graduates are under the age of 30, which reflects strongly in less than 5% of all ordained leaders in the UCC today are under the age of 40.  More on that in a moment.

The PC(USA) has ten officially-related seminaries, including two in Georgia, and the rest in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Iowa, California, and Illinois.  There is a greater theological difference among their seminaries, but for the most part each reflects a denominational tradition that highlights social change, global justice, and a strong emphasis on confessional theological tradition.

The average annual tuition at all of these institutions for the most recent year available (2007-08) is $13,500.  Over three years, that brings the tuition cost alone to $40,500.  Assuming the present average federal loan burden of undergraduates today ($23,200), that brings the potential cost of education for under-30s to $63,700.

Older students, typically, can buffer the cost of seminary with life savings, advances from or cashing in on established company-provided retirement plans, part-time education models, or the support of a spouse that continues to work in their profession.  Some older students sell homes when they come to seminary, and use some of the proceeds to fund their education.  Unencumbered by debt from their undergraduate years, these students essentially save at least $23,200.

Upon graduation, a freshly-minted minister can expect to start at $31,000.  And that $800+ monthly student loan payment younger ministers have?  Better pick up a side job at Burger King.

Most assuredly, there is a problem with this system.  Dare I say we have too many seminaries, established on tired old divisons of denominational life that no longer apply in the same way they once did.  No school wants to be the one that closes, but mergers and joint operating agreements, reducing the number of seminaries serving a shrinking population are necessary.  Abandoning the model is prudent, abandoning education is reckless and irresponsible.

The other quote from the story reminds all of us that education in and of itself is not an end:

“When somebody needs a hand up, it’s great to pray for them,” Steadman says from the pulpit. “But the Bible tells us it’s not enough to say, ‘Go and be clothed and be fed.’ We’re supposed to clothe and feed them.”

There is an old African proverb we all would be good to remember.  “When you pray, move your feet.”