Truly epochal steps were taken at the recent Cleveland Autumn Council providing advanced ministerial training for our workers along sound, unifying lines. The time was when, without facilities and not yet fully conscious of the need, educational standards were not fixed for the training of our ministers. Some were college graduates, while others were taken into the work without even a high school equivalent. Then came the junior college minimum standard, along with the ministerial internship plan. Next the standard was lifted to senior college training requirement.
With the advancing level of general education and the pressure of accreditation upon our colleges, it has become impossible to give in the regular Baccalaureate Course all that is necessary for the well-rounded training of our ministers in order to meet the growing demands and increasingly complicated conditions of the times. It is simply impossible to crowd within the compass of four years all the content courses and practical training needed. Furthermore, in comparison with the thorough and extensive training of the physician and the teacher, there was a contrasting shortage in ministerial training provisions. This tended to lift the other professional.groups to a higher level, reacting unfavorably by comparison, and having a marked bearing upon the relative appeal.
Our Theological Seminary was brought into being, initially, to meet the need of Bible, Biblical language, and church history teachers who required advanced work. Typical of this is the statement of the 1941 Autumn Council regarding the scope of the Seminary's work:
"We have established the Theological Seminary for advanced and graduate study in Bible, religious history, Biblical languages, and Christian leadership, aiming to strengthen and help our educational work and the work of the ministry in all the world."—Autumn Council Actions, D. 45, 194.
Other ministers and our Bible instructors were also invited to attend the Seminary. But the provision was optional, and the pressure to remain in the field was heavy. Attendance was sporadic, and no integral tie-up between the colleges, the field, and the Seminary had yet been worked out.
For many months this entire situation has been under careful study, and just prior to the recent Autumn Council at Cleveland a large commission of officers, field leaders, educators, and others directly involved—approximately sixty-five in number—met by appointment for serious consideration of this vital question. We believe the Lord very directly led in the study and in the conclusions. The commission canvassed the whole question, then appointed a representative committee to crystallize the plans and to bring back definite recommendations. These were thoroughly discussed and placed before the full Autumn Council, with local conference presidents and a large number of educators present. After full discussion on the floor of the Council, and modification and improvement of several of the provisions, the following actions were passed without a single dissenting voice:
Ministerial Training Program
Whereas, The general level of education in North America has risen in a marked way during the past twenty years; and,
Whereas, The Spirit of prophecy calls for a ministry in the remnant church which will receive a thorough education and training ; therefore,
We recommend, 1. That in addition to the established and required theological courses in the junior and senior colleges which constitute the scholastic preparation in North America for the Seventh-day Adventist ministry, there be offered the following graduate ministerial training:
a. A two-year period of practical field work or clinical training under the supervision and direction of the local conferences; and,
b. Eight quarters of professional training in the Theological Seminary, leading to the Bachelor of Divinity degree.
2.a. That each union conference committee make provision for sending to the Seminary each year its ministerial workers, licensed or ordained, on the basis of not less than one minister engaged in field work for every five thousand church mem bers or major fraction thereof; and that such ministerial workers be granted a full calendar year's work at the Seminary ; and further, that this plan become operative with the summer quarter beginning in June, 1945.
b. That the salary of such workers attending the Seminary be continued and shared as may be worked out by each union conference committee.
c. That the travel expense of the worker and his family to and from the Seminary, together with special living allowance of $5o a quarter, be borne by the General Conference Ministerial Internship Fund, this provision to supersede that appearing on page 102 of the Working Policy.
d. That local or union conferences that so desire, may send workers to the Seminary in addition to those provided for above. In such cases where the worker comes for less than four quarters, the travel expense of the worker himself shall be borne by the General Conference Internship Fund, but not the travel expense of the worker's family.
3. That the Seminary include the course in health evangelism in the first four quarters of its graduate ministerial training curriculum.
4. a. That institutional boards be encouraged to arrange for their academy and college Bible, Biblical language, and church history teachers to take their graduate work in the Seminary, looking toward the Master of Arts degree, thus meeting educational requirements.
b. That the travel expense (as defined by the Seminary Board) and the special living allowance of $50 a quarter for these teachers shall be borne by the Seminary Travel Fund. It is understood that no travel allowance for the teacher's family will be granted unless a continuous residence of four quarters is maintained.
Calling Workers Who Attend Seminary
We recommend, That ministerial or other workers sent to the Theological Seminary under the Ministerial Training Program (see 1944 Resolutions, page 4, line 22 ff.) shall be recognized as members of the working staff of the organization sending them. Unless called to increased responsibilities, such workers should not ordinarily be subject to transfer to another organization, except in case of calls to the mission field, for at least one year following their attendance at the Seminary.
Should such workers be transferred, except to the mission field, before having given subsequent service to the employing organization to the extent of nine months for each quarter spent at the Seminary, the calling organization shall be expected to reimburse the employing organization for a proportionate share of the salary paid such workers during their stay at the Seminary.
The significance of these provisions will become increasingly apparent. Beginning with the June quarter of 1945, at least forty or fifty licensed or ordained ministers will come annually to the Seminary for a full calendar year of four quarters of advanced training. This is on the basis of "not less than one worker engaged in the field work for each 5,000 members or major fraction thereof," the selection being made by the respective union committees. It was apparent that some leaders were eager for a higher percentage to come from their fields. This provision is in addition to the Bible, Biblical language, and church history teachers of our academies and colleges who will come for advanced teacher training, leading to the Master of Arts degree in Religion, based on research.
This advanced training for our ministers leads to a different degree—that of Bachelor of Divinity, a two-year graduate course requiring eight quarters of resident work at the Seminary. The first four quarters of basic training are given in the first year, and later the student may return for a quarter, a half year, or a year, as may be arranged, until he has completed the course. The initial year at the Seminary accumulates credits to apply on the full degree to be granted later. The first year includes the health evangelism classes that will doubtless prove of increasing value as time progresses, as well as advanced, practical courses in public and personal evangelism. And this overall plan, be it remembered, includes a period of field training between the college graduation and the Seminary training.
Nor does this arrangement neglect that large group of earnest and fruitful ministers and Bible instructors who may not have finished the full college course. Provision will be made for such to have access to all classes for which they are prepared, and for special classes and courses that will meet their practical needs. So, in reality, three groups will be helped : first, ministerial graduates taking graduate work (comprising the majority group); second, Bible, Biblical language, and church history teachers, likewise coming for graduate training; and third, ministers and Bible instructors who are not college graduates but who come for the tangible benefits to be received.
Moreover, protection is provided the sending conferences and institutions against loss to other conferences or institutions of those who are sent for such training, making definite financial adjustments, and minimum time restrictions as to calls. Our field leaders will thus feel free to send their very best workers for this advanced training. Thus the Seminary graduate training provisions become the designated capstone on the pyramid of ministerial training for the denomination.
Fellow workers, here is an epochal advance—a unifying, strengthening move that was greatly needed, and has now been provided by unanimous Autumn Council action.
L. E.. F.
