Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary : 2004 Seminar

Dramatis Personae

• Dr. B - Faculty adviser, 17 years on the faculty
• Derrick - Senior M.Div. Lutheran seminarian
• Shelly – wife
• Erin – 2-year-old daughter
• Kirstin - Senior Lutheran M.A.R., Christian Education
• Beryl - Junior M.Div., A.M.E. seminarian, single parent, one child
• Tim Middler - M.Div., commuter

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Fall term is coming to an end. Dr. B meets with his advisees to discuss class for the Spring term.

Kirstin - Hey, everyone. Sorry I’m late, but the traffic on I-20 is a mess. What’s happened so far?

Dr B - H’lo Kirstin. We’re just reviewing the course offerings for the Spring.

Beryl - As I was saying, what’s to review? In this curriculum, it looks like my life’s pretty well scheduled for the next two years! Have y’all noticed what Tuesdays are going to be like this term? I’m going to be in class from 8:30 in the morning until about 9 at night!

Tim - It’s a lot in one day, but that’s a big help for me. Since I’m commuting from Charlotte, it allows me to get what I need next semester out of the way by Wednesday noon. I can just come in on Monday night and be home for Wednesday dinner.

Derrick - Twelve hours in one day may help you, but it’s going to land me in divorce court! Shelly and I have to juggle her work time and daycare for Erin all over again.

Beryl - Tell me about it. I’m driving in from Florence, going to school, trying to keep food on the table for my boy, and taking care of my congregation, too.

Kirstin - Well, next semester was supposed to be a piece of cake for me, but I’ve got to take two education electives at USC now so that I can fit in all the requirements before I graduate.

Tim - Why can’t you take some electives here?

Kirstin - For one thing, because most everything seems to be required, there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of electives ever offered –

Beryl - Amen!

Kirstin - ... and Dr. M is on sabbatical next semester, so I got left high and dry. Why is so much of the curriculum required anyway?

Dr B - The last time the faculty did a curriculum review, we tried to think about what graduates should look like, what they should be ready for, and what they should know. We tried to design courses that would help form such graduates. When we were done, we had a curriculum with few electives.

Derrick - I must say, the curriculum has worked well for me. The flow of courses has made sense and I felt that I was moving toward ministry.

Tim - That’s fine if you have the luxury of being a full-time student. I take what fits into my schedule; my sequence and the sequence in the catalog don’t have much in common.

Derrick - I haven’t used the word ‘luxury’ to describe my life very often. My wife and I gave up good jobs because we thought I owed the church full-time study if I was serious about being a pastor.

Dr. B - Ok, Ok. Let’s get back to next term’s courses. The heavy schedule on Tuesdays is a function of a few block courses on that day. The President and Dean have been pushing them so that our curriculum can be a bit more commuter friendly. Some of us on the faculty have had our doubts, however. What sort of assimilation can take place in such a course?

Beryl - Time to assimilate, now there is a luxury I don’t have. I hardly have time to go to the bathroom when all I can do is come in, get the work done, and get back to my folks in the congregation.

Derrick - But doesn’t that sort of defeat what otherwise is supposed to happen – to be in a community where in class and out – and maybe the out-of-class times are as important – you have the opportunity to discuss with other students and compare notes. It’s a luxury that isn’t available many places; it certainly wasn’t on internship and it won’t be in the parish.

Tim - I have a community already. My church is already about 3,000 members now, so I come here and, like Beryl says, get the stuff and go back and do ministry, not just talk about it. Also, I’ve taken a lot of classes at the new seminary branch that opened up just 20 minutes from me, so I’m getting as much as I can there.

Derrick - Isn’t that a “Shout for Jesus” place? How in the world do you think they’re going to get you ready for a Lutheran congregation?

Tim - Come on! If being Lutheran means being boring...

Dr B - God’s ‘frozen chosen?’...

Tim - Yea. If it means that, why ask us to do it? What are we doing here to help me minister in my congregation? There’re profs who aren’t even sure how to turn on a computer. I run a Powerpoint presentation at two of the five weekend services. We’ve six bands and 14 praise teams and frankly, there’s not much I’ve done here yet that connects. No one talks about where the real ministry is happening; places like my congregation are exploding.

Derrick - Well, excuuuuuse me, but even George Barna says that while there are about 400 really big mega-churches out there, people – and younger ones at that – who are wanting to be in relationship with God are far more likely to desire a smaller group, where folks know each other and feel connected. They don’t want to be entertained – they want to be in relationship with God. And, since most Lutheran congregations are small to medium size, most of us aren’t going to be called to Stadium Lutheran Church.

Beryl - Well, I don’t know where y’all are getting the big bucks for Powerpoint for the thousands, but my little group of 38’s not big enough for two bands, let alone getting a computer – but frozen they’re not, even though they can just barely pay me enough for the rent. Still, they know everyone who walks in the door – and, they rock – unlike some chapels I know. Y’all sing some weird stuff!

Dr B - Maybe you just need to speak up when your worship-planning group is here for the week? We have at least two worship books full of Gospel and contemporary Christian music.

Beryl - Be serious, Mr. B! I’m not going to have much luck getting a bunch of white folks to move!

Kirstin - Well, in fairness to everyone, it’s hard for folks from other traditions to impact worship life here because so many of you commute or are here only part time, so you can’t always participate.

Beryl - That’s true, and Dr H at least seems open to a lot of possibilities. And, don’t get me wrong – I know this is a Lutheran place and I’ll get a good education – that’s why my bishop is pushing Southern. I just don’t hold my breath that Christ Chapel’s going to ever be mistaken for an AME congregation.

Derrick - I’ve really had a good experience here, though, and I think that you who have to commute do miss out on some opportunities.

Tim - But we’d also miss out on food on the table if we didn’t work.

Derrick - I’m not saying that everyone has to be a full-time student to be prepared for ministry, but I know that my understanding of the call has radically changed partly by day-to-day talking with other folks here about their experiences. My home congregation in Indiana is over 2,000 and has a bigger budget than the government; they’ve been very generous. However, my internship site was a small, rural parish in Virginia. Shelly and I fell in love with that type of ministry and hope to return. I wouldn’t have known about those possibilities had I simply been driving in for class then disappearing.

Tim - That’s great for you, but I have a ministry I’ve been doing at home. I’ve a place on the staff and after sensing God’s call I hope to do more and the pastoral team is encouraging me. The problem is, if I want to be rostered in the ELCA I’ve got to jump through the seminary hoops.

Dr B - The one concern I have, though, Tim, is a question about formation. Are you really formed for ministry in the church if you focus so much on one congregation and see the seminary as a necessary evil? What if the Spirit should blow in a different direction and call you elsewhere? Would you be prepared, especially if it were a spot more like Derrick’s internship?

Beryl - ...or my crowd of 38?

Tim - But I know I’ve got a call to be pastor where I am now. Looks like the seminary should be the place where I can get the skills I need, and then get back to real ministry, not just talking about some vague notion of call to the whole church.

Dr. B - We have consciously preserved here a rather classical model of theological education. We stress languages and the classical disciplines: theology, church history, pastoral care, biblical interpretation. We can’t be sure which detailed practical skills a pastor will need in 20 years, but we know these skills will still be necessary. The feedback from the survey by the national church indicates that our graduates feel better prepared for ministry than those from other ELCA seminaries, so we must be doing something right.

Kirstin - Sure, but for who? Maybe for full-time Lutheran students, but those who don’t fit that pattern feel left out. And the longer we have talked, the more y’all have fallen back into talking as if we were all M.Div. students preparing for ordination. Well, I’ve got a real clear sense of call, too, folks, but it’s sure not to be a pastor. The curriculum caters to the M.Divs, and all the rhetoric is devoted to getting them through the mill. What really gets me are students who say, “Come on, Kirstin, do the real degree! Why don’t you just go all the way?”

We’ve got to hack out our fieldwork on our own with little support from the church or this place. I’ve even heard there are “protected” local M.Div. internship sites that are off limits for MARs. What are we? Mistakes in the system?

Dr B - I’ve been taking notes; some of this I’ll bring up in the Curriculum Review Committee next week. Meanwhile, get your registration forms filled out so I can sign them. I’ll be in the office the rest of the day as well as tomorrow morning to get these things signed.


After the students had left, Dr. B. stared out the window and thought about next week’s committee meeting. He had been an advocate in the committee for the present curriculum, with its orientation to the full-time residential student, its carefully considered sequencing, and its emphasis on foundational disciplines, but he understood those who stressed the need for a more flexible program more open to the part-time student and more keyed to contemporary ministry and diverse sites. Was there a balance that would meet the needs of his diverse advisees? As he left his office for chapel, he was not sure.