We tried this in the 19th century. We decided that Princeton worked better.

We've had this discussion many times here. There must be several threads that cover this.

In short:

Much of what you want is already being done at WSC. We required 700 hours of internship for an MDiv. Students are required to enter into a mentoring relationship.

The local church or presbytery, unless it is filled with academics (which would not be a good thing probably) is not prepared to replace the seminary. Even if it was full of qualified, full-time scholars, neither would have the resources -- books haven't been replaced by electronic resources. There are academic journals and other resources that every presbytery or particular congregations simply cannot afford.

In short, the alternative necessarily short changes the academic preparation necessary for ministry.

As I've been arguing for years, lawyers cannot be trained outside of law school -- except perhaps in the most extraordinary circumstances. In that case that would test the rule. Ditto for physicians. The reason that professional/academic schools such as seminaries and law schools and med schools exist is because practitioners realize that they need the training provided by the schools. Even practitioners have to go back to school (law and medicine) for continuing ed. We ought require that of our pastors by the way. Presbyteries/congregations probably can't provide this either.

__________________
R. Scott Clark, D.Phil
Professor of Church History and Historical Theology

"For Christ, His Gospel, and His Church"
Associate Pastor
Oceanside URC
The Heidelblog