Touring Covenant Theological Seminary!

  Throughout the history of the Church, the methods of training and educating the pastors and leaders of the local church has changed and varied.  During the days of Christ, the Apostles had no classroom.  All of their training was done on the road during their travels throughout Judea.  In the medieval times, monasteries and academies were the primary institutions of theological training.  In Geneva, the Reformer John Calvin formed a precursor to the Protestant seminary in order to train men for the ministry and to prepare missionaries.  The famous colleges of Yale and Harvard were initially formed to prepare men to be ministers in local churches here in America.

With all of this history in mind, I consider it a privilege to tour the seminaries that were and are still engaged in the vital mission to educate and train up the next generation of elders and shepherds for the Reformed churches in America.

On January 18th, Pastor Serven took my fellow pastoral intern, Cody Winton, and I to have a look around his alma mater :)  It was a very enjoyable trip and it also gave me an inside perspective of what exactly goes on in a seminary.   

Here are some pictures of the trip!  Enjoy!

The view of the seminary library from the parking lot

One of my favorite places to be is in a book store!  Especially a seminary bookstore!

 At this bookstore, I was able to purchase several of the books that had been placed on the "Clearance" rack.   Probably the best deal I got was a new, hardcover, undamaged copy of Luther's writings on the Lord's Supper.  This book, in mint condition, only cost $9!  I also managed to find a mint condition copy of Francis Schaeffer's, "A Christian Manifesto".  All in all, I left the bookstore feeling very elated over my new purchases :)

My tour guide and my fellow intern

Student housing!

 I didn't know this at the time, but Covenant Seminary tries to make their student housing very accomodating to families.  There is even a play-structure on the seminary grounds for the children who live with their parents on campus can play on.  It looked a little out of place :)

The Goal of Covenant Theological Seminary

The title page of Pastor Serven's dissertation

Dr. Marcus J. Serven

The original seminary building, dating back to 1956

The library, also containing the PCA Historical Center

The sun was shining right in my eyes (hence my squinting expression :)

I'm very thankful for this opportunity to learn more about church history and the continuing legacy and story of how Christian men have prepared for the ministry!  Lord willing, I will have more chances to explore and tour other famous and significant seminaries in America over the next few years!