Ministry Training with Bible Doubters: Questions & Counsel

You might be a young brother wondering where you should get trained for ministry. Maybe you're a seasoned pastor, but you feel led to pursue formal education. If you're anywhere in between, it's natural to wonder where should get trained and why. How do you discern what type of training will best equip you for the ministry? When should you go about pursuing this training? Should you categorically oppose all non-evangelical schools? What do we even mean by the term, "evangelical?" Seeing as how brothers are faced with many options when it comes to formal theological training, I thought it'd be helpful to chat with my man Steven Harris. 

Steven is a graduate student at Yale University, which was founded by Puritan clergy for theological training. He studies black religion in the African diaspora. A Vanderbilt graduate, Steven received his Master of Divinity degree at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and has formerly served as assistant pastor for a Kentucky Baptist church. I brought him up on the porch to discuss what training at a non-evangelical school is like. What effect will training at a non-evangelical school have on the future of the black church? What's it like to be a minority training for the ministry in a program that is predominantly white? Pull up a chair, come up on the porch, and join the conversation