Theological education as we have known it will never be the same. The changes that seminaries must adopt are driven by the North American context in which they work and the constituencies they serve. First, the church constituency has changed. The number of Christian churches is in decline. It is not just that many churches are closing their doors. One source indicates that more than 4000 churches close their doors every year, but there are just over 1000 new church starts! The number of churches is not keeping up with population growth. Every year, 2.7 million church members fall into inactivity. In addition, half of all churches in the US did not add any new members to their ranks in the last two years. Those mainline churches that are still active tend to have fewer participants and a lower level of giving. In a recent article , Denise Craig noted that church salary increases are not keeping up with the ...
Comments from a Christ-follower on things that matter to him