 We
often say in our advertising that we are a seminary for your head,
your heart, and your hands. For more than 100 years, North Park
has worked to make sure this was not just a slogan but also a guiding
commitment.
At the same time, a seminary education is not simply personal,
spiritual, or intellectual development. A degree from North Park
is more than an open door to career advancement. Preparing for
ministry is not just about you; it is about God and what God is
doing through the church. You don't pursue a seminary degree to
improve your status but to be God's servant. Seminary education
is not an end in itself but a means to an end of engaging this
culture with the gospel of Jesus Christ. North Park Theological
Seminary is open to women and men who want to prepare to be servants
of Jesus Christ in the many and varied settings to which God calls
them. But we are quite intentional about preparing people for ministry,
formal or informal, professional or lay. North Park is an institution
of the church and its mission. Specifically, we are the seminary
of the Evangelical Covenant Church, but we intend to serve the
whole church of God and, in fact, have students and faculty from
many different Christian traditions and denominations. We share
with the whole church the mission of reaching all men and women
with the gospel.
An education for your head...
A seminary community is a community of scholars. We gather in classroom
and office, in library and lecture hall to engage in rigorous academic
investigation. We believe that in a post-modern world when the
Christian faith is less and less understood, when the Bible is
for many people a closed book, and when aberrant views of faith
abound, it is crucial that our students be thoroughly trained in
biblical studies, church history, and theology. Techniques for
ministry and skills for pastoring and proclaiming are important,
but without the intellectual foundations, you will fail. Our scholarship
is always in the service of the church, but it is scholarship!
Our faculty have been trained at some of the most prestigious academic
institutions in the world and have impressive lists of publications
and academic achievements. Most of them also have extensive and
ongoing experience in the local church, on the mission field, and
as hospital or military chaplains. They engage you in classes that
average only 16 students. North Park's students receive a great
deal of personal attention from faculty as they mature intellectually
and spiritually. Our graduates have gone on not only to posts in
ministry, but also to doctoral programs in outstanding institutions
in the United States and around the world.
Your heart...
Seminary education, however, is more about formation than information.
It is more about who you are becoming than what you know. Spiritual
formation is at the heart of a North Park education. Each student
in our master's degree programs is required to participate in a
spiritual formation group. In these groups, students and faculty
challenge one another to grow in understanding of themselves, the
Scriptures, and God. The prayers, reflections, and conversations
in these groups engage the student regarding who they are becoming
in Christ. A tender heart is as important for ministry as a finely
honed intellect: a heart for people who need Christ; a heart for
those suffering and struggling; a heart for justice and peace in
a broken world. The closer we grow toward God, the more God's concerns
become our concerns, and God's heart becomes our heart. At
North Park, we want you to learn how to worship and pray and listen
to the God who passionately reaches out to this world.
Your hands...
Having said all this, you must do more than prepare for ministry—you
must do ministry. A store that was always taking inventory, training
clerks, and stocking the shelves but never opened for business
would soon be bankrupt. And however well-prepared we are, there
must come a point at which we open our Bibles with a seeker or
pray at the bedside of a sufferer or stand in the pulpit for a
listener. North Park wants its students to have hands-on experience
of ministry. Within this web site, our field education and internship
program is explained and the opportunities for service in the Chicago
area and beyond are explored. We are committed to students leaving
North Park not only knowing how to minister, but having been engaged
in personal evangelism, pastoral care, teaching, and preaching.
A wide variety of individualized ministry experience is possible
for the student who has a special calling.
Our community
Throughout the years, North Park has placed a very high value on
life in community. Communal activities—whether weekly times
of worship, prayer, and Holy Communion, potlucks and informal gatherings
for socializing and support, or the practical help of moving in
or out, helping with the kids, or sharing a skill—are the
heartbeat of the school. At its best, the local church is a community
of care, faith, worship, and accountability. Those things can be
learned in the Seminary community along with the formal learning
of the curriculum.
Our community also includes Chicago and its rich resources of learning,
working, worshipping, and serving. One of the great advantages
of Chicago for seminarians is the Chicago Association of Theological
Schools. This consortium of 11 Chicago area seminaries provides
North Park students with a rich opportunity for cross registration.
Special joint offerings provide unique ecumenical opportunities.
The library and research resources in the Chicago area are without
peer.
Our community also includes the Evangelical Covenant Church. The
denominational offices are just a few blocks from the Seminary
and members of the denominational administration teach, preach,
and share their gifts with the Seminary community. The Evangelical
Covenant Church was formed from three principal influences: the
Protestant
Reformation, the Lutheran Church of Sweden, and the great spiritual
awakenings of the 19th century. The church has emphasized that
new life comes through a personal
relationship and encounter with Jesus Christ. It has insisted that
the Bible is the word of God and the only perfect rule for faith,
doctrine, and conduct. It has also valued a tradition of freedom.
Covenanters have wanted to be open to all those who love Jesus
Christ. While firmly committed to the central tenets of historic
Christianity, the Covenant Church has been open about issues that
have often divided Christians. Various views of baptism, of eschatology,
or spiritual gifts, of the atonement, and of church order are to
be found among us. It is not that we think these things are unimportant—they
are vitally important—we recognize that many wonderful believers
in Jesus differ on such things and we are unwilling to separate
from them, even if we disagree. This makes communal life both a
challenge and a joy.
I hope this has given you a better idea of North Park Theological
Seminary. If God is leading you to ministry or even just to explore
what serving God might mean for you, I hope you will consider us.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
May God bless you in your search for his will.
John E. Phelan, Jr.
President and Dean of North Park Theological Seminary |
