Protestant pastors put high value on their seminary education and regularly integrate their learning into the way they lead and serve their congregations, newly released information from LifeWay Research shows.
The telephone survey of more than 1,000 Protestant pastors shows two-thirds have obtained at least a master’s degree. Eighty-five percent say they have taken seminary classes, and 96 percent say they would repeat those seminary classes if “they had it to do over again.”
Seventy-one percent of seminary-educated pastors strongly agree with the statement, “I regularly use things that I learned in my seminary classes.”
Pastors with a doctoral-level education are more likely to agree that they regularly use the things they learned in their seminary classes, with 82 percent strongly agreeing with the statement.
A smaller percentage of pastors of small churches have been to seminary, the survey showed. Only 74 percent of those at churches with an average worship attendance less than 50 have attended seminary classes, compared to 88 percent of pastors in churches with attendance of more than 50. – LifeWay