20% of seminarians are over 50. Is this a good thing?
According to a decade-long study of enrollment by the Association of Theological Schools released in 2009, the fastest-growing group of seminarians include those older than 50. In 1995, baby boomers made up 12% of seminarians, while today they are 20%. ...“Many of them felt a call early in life, maybe in their teenage years or college, and set that aside to be the bread winner for the family or do what the family expected them to do,” said the Rev. Chip Aldridge, admissions director at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington. ...
For many of the boomers who went to college in the analog age, they have to get up to speed in a hurry to learn in the digital era. ...
"Yes, the baby boomer may have had a career, two careers, has raised a family, but millenials are coming from these colleges where almost all of them have some overseas studies, almost all of them have been on some kind of volunteer mission; they speak a second language. So in some ways those two sets of life experiences complement each other, and it becomes a very rich conversation," he said.
If I am hearing anything from inside the church right now--especially among young clergy--it is how sick people are of baby boom leadership. (I say this as a baby boomer.) Is this trend a hopeful thing?
