Should I Go to Seminary?

Many of the prospective students I meet are wrestling with the question, “Should I go to seminary?” Some of them are looking at this question in terms of direction. They are trying to discern whether God wants them to go to seminary or to do something else. Others, however, are wondering whether it is worth the resources that will be required to graduate. They are looking at this question in terms of return on investment and are generally asking it this way: What will seminary do for me? What will I get out of it?

In this article, I will be addressing the first category of prospective students—those who are wrestling with what God wants them to do. I will address the second category in a subsequent article. My goal in this article, then, is to speak directly to those who are asking whether they should go to seminary. If you were able to meet with me in person, this is the advice that I would offer you.

First, I would encourage you to consider your desires. Do you want to go to seminary? Do you have a desire to study and to grow in your knowledge of the Bible, theology, and church history? Are you interested in the idea of spending the rest of your life teaching or writing about the things of the faith? Do you look forward to the opportunity to shepherd God’s people through the ups and downs of the Christian life and to walk with them as they pass through “the valley of the shadow of death” (Ps. 23:4)?

These are a few of the questions that I was asking myself many years ago as I was wrestling with what God wanted for me. I can remember reading my Bible one morning and coming to the realization that I wanted to spend the rest of my life studying God’s Word and teaching it to God’s people. If you sense these same desires within yourself, then you ought to consider going to seminary. Having such desires is a necessary first step in evaluating what God would have you do.

But what if you are unsure of how you feel? Then I would encourage you to take a seminary class to see whether you like it. Take it in person and for credit if you can. This will give you the fullest picture possible of what it will be like to be a student and of what it will take to finish a degree. Do you enjoy the assigned reading and the research? Do you look forward to the lectures? Do you come alive when discussing the class material with your classmates or your friends and family? And, perhaps most importantly, does the class make you want to take another one?

Second, I would encourage you to talk to those who know you best. Ask them what they see in you. Do they see a desire to study the Bible and to teach it? Have they noticed an uncommon ability within you to understand, apply, and communicate the Word of God? Do they see a gift for making difficult Bible passages easy to understand? Have they witnessed a tenderness within you toward God’s people?

This was one of the most helpful things for me in my own journey. My wife and close friends all told me that I should go to seminary. Whenever I taught Sunday school or led a Bible study, people frequently came up to me afterward and encouraged me to go. My pastor was instrumental in this process as well. The collective testimony from all these sources was confirmation of what I was already feeling within myself. It helped me to see that I wasn’t crazy for thinking of leaving a well-paying job with a great future in order to go back to school.

If you are sensing a desire to go to seminary and those closest to you are encouraging you in this direction as well, then I think you should go. You don’t have to have everything all figured out before you do. God will answer all your questions in good time, and He will use your classes, your classmates, and your professors to do it. You also don’t have to have every detail sorted out before you start. God will provide for you as you move forward. Pray, and step out in faith. Ask largely or, in the words of the psalmist, “open your mouth wide,” because the Lord promises that He “will fill it” (Ps. 81:10). Take Him at His word. Walk by faith and not by sight. And, as you do, my prayer will be that our great God and King will use you mightily for decades to come, all for the praise of His glorious grace.