IS SEMINARY NECESSARY

If the first seminary didn't come into existence until 1563, it does make me wonder how pastors were being trained before that.

And if the church survived (and spread across the globe) for 1500 years without seminaries, are they really necessary now?

I loved my time at Asbury Theological Seminary back in the late 90s, but I'd have to think real hard to list things I learned there that turned out to be indispensable to any ministry I've been involved in since. 

Though I suppose my seminary classes may have been slightly more useful to my ministry work than my college education classes were for my teaching of high school English. (But that's a pretty low bar.)

Not only that, but I also don't feel like I was ever forced to wrestle through any of the big issues of theology personally. 

And I certainly didn't learn much about human nature there - or all the things that can go wrong within the walls of a church.

Two of my best friends from my Asbury days are no longer involved in full-time ministry. They both got burned by churches pretty badly. I have to wonder if they had been better informed about human psychology, if they might have been better equipped to weather the storms.