Training: who pays? | Mark Barnes

It costs £5.7 million to train a fast jet RAF pilot, and almost £250,000 to train a doctor or dentist. Financial consultants KPMG spend £92,000 training a graduate. It even costs up to £30,000 to train a guide dog for the blind. On the other hand, a typical Bible college receives just £13,500 for two to three years full-time training.

As will become clear when we investigate costs later in this piece, an obvious question arises. How does it cost less to train a man for the pastoral ministry over three years than it does to train a dog for a little over a year-and-a-half? And how do you train a pastor, missionary or evangelist for a twentieth of what it costs to train a doctor?

Most students at Bible colleges will be men in their 20s and 30s. Most will already have studied at university, and probably still have the debt to prove it. Many will have young families. Living expenses are not inconsiderable.

Estimate of costs

We can calculate a rough estimate of their costs by adding college course fees to government ‘minimum living costs’ (that is, what families would receive in benefits if they had no income). To give some examples for a married couple with children: Free Church College (£19,700), WEST (£20,290), LTS (£24,500), and Oak Hill (£29,900). Of course, living costs for singles are lower (Oak Hill provides free accommodation for singles, for example). But even single men will need to find at least £13,500 per year for accommodation, fees and living expenses. That doesn’t include any books, a computer, or other materials.

All this means that studying at a Bible college for three years costs somewhere between £40,000 for a single man in Bridgend or Edinburgh and £90,000 for a married couple with children in London. So where is this money going to come from? Where would you find that money if you felt a call to the ministry or mission field?

The options

Some suggest that in-church training is the answer. But even when a student is based in his local church, training for the pastoral ministry is not something to be squeezed in to a few hours a week around a full-time job, church responsibilities, preaching, and looking after your wife and children. Surely a student should devote a major portion of his time (and hence his income) to training? Even without course fees, living expenses for a two-to-three-year training period could easily top £25,000 — more for those who are married.

Many churches will support the men and women they send to college. But few churches are able to find anywhere near £40-90,000. For many churches even a few thousand pounds is a considerable sacrifice — but it leaves the student with a lot of money to find.

That means that many students are going into debt in order to fund their training. Many others are forced to ask their wives to work (sometimes full-time) during their training period. Others spend years employed in secular work, simply saving up money. Still others don’t go to college at all, or take a much shorter course than they really need. Can this be right?

Role of the denominations

This is a more serious problem now than it has been for many years. Once, Local Education Authorities would pay a grant to degree candidates, even at independent Bible colleges. With the introduction of student loans, that avenue has closed.

Previous generations often found funding from their denomination. In the Church of England, ordinands have their tuition fees and college maintenance fees paid in full, as well as a personal grant. This means a married student is likely to receive over £45,000 during a three-year course, single students a little over £30,000. In 2007 the church contributed a total £16.5 million towards ordinand training. At a time when many Free churches are struggling to find trained men to pastor them, the Church of England anticipated having more ordinands applying for training in 2008 than at any time in the last 40 years. But where is the help for the evangelicals who are no longer in denominational churches?

The responsibility of churches

It is primarily the responsibility of churches to ensure that the men who will be leading the church are sufficiently well trained. Within independency, at least, that is happening only rarely. Gifts from churches to LTS, for example, totalled just 8% of their income for 2007. In 2006, it was 6.5%. Even assuming that much more was given to individual students from their sending churches, these are frighteningly small amounts.

Prayerful consideration

If all our churches gave just 2% of their annual income to support colleges or students, that would almost certainly ensure that lack of finance never prevented students getting the training they need. Churches could also support colleges by using their expertise to help train elders, ladies’ workers or youth workers, possibly by distance learning. Or churches near a college could help support a student, and in return get his involvement in the church. Perhaps at your next church or elders meeting your church might prayerfully consider how it can help ensure those preaching the gospel are well-equipped and well-trained.