Pastoral ministry is a high calling. If you are sensing a desire to serve Christ through vocational ministry, you need a theological education that will blend pastoral wisdom and experience with rich theology. In order to prepare for an effective and enduring ministry, you need serious training in historic Christian doctrine combined with the time-tested insight of a shepherd who is applying the truth in the trenches of daily life and pastoral labor.
At TCBS, our faculty consists of well-trained theologians who currently serve in the local church and who possess an average of twenty-two years of pastoral experience.
With this balanced background, our professors are able to bring that rare integration of pastoral wisdom and theological rigor to each class. Through our M.Div program, you will be equipped to become more than a preacher: you will be trained to be Christ-centered biblical expositor who loves and skillfully shepherd’s Christ’s sheep.
We believe our pastor-professor model provides you with a theological education that uniquely prepares you for a life of fruitful gospel ministry. We also believe this model of instruction is one of the reasons why over 90% of our graduates are still serving faithfully in ministry to this very day. Throughout their education, our students are gathering a set of excellent exegetical tools and theological resources, but they are also learning how to use those tools for their proper end: the edification of Christ’s church and the evangelization of the lost.
By approaching theological education with a distinctly pastoral aim, we are not compromising our attention to sound doctrine. Rather, we are teaching our students to use Christian doctrine the way God intends for it to be used. At TCBS, we prize deep, careful exegetical and theological study, coherent argumentation, and well-structured sermons. But theological study and deliberate sermon preparation is never an end unto itself. Men gripped by the knowledge of God will be men of worship, love, tenderness, and wisdom who know how to use the Scripture and biblical doctrine for the spiritual benefit of Christ’s body.
We are confident that your time at TCBS will equip you for such a ministry.
You can read President Ryan Rippee’s e-book Our Pastoral Training Distinctives by clicking here.