After marriage and children, how does one afford to attend seminary while supporting their family?

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Taylor W. Otwell, Husband to Abigail
Member, Fellowship Bible Church
Fort Smith, Arkansas
Family Blog

You work. And you work. And you work.

I worked two part time and one full time job.

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Fred Greco
Senior Pastor, Christ Church PCA (Katy, TX)
Christ Church Blog

"The heart is the main thing in true religion...It is the hinge and turning-point in the condition of man's soul. If the heart is alive to God and quickened by the Spirit, the man is a living Christian. If the heart is dead and has not the Spirit, the man is dead before God." (J.C. Ryle)

I'm sure this is implied by Pastor Fred, but I would also suggest along with work, work, work that you trust, trust, trust in God's provision. I hope to begin seminary within a few years and these two are my plans.

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Andrew S.
Covenant Presbyterian Church (OPC)
Abilene,TX

I worked two jobs on campus, was an intern at my local church, help a man cut trees on Saturday. All at the same time... Do what you have to do...

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Rev. Andrew J. Barnes
Husband of Dena
Father of Oliver
Master of Bruce
Pastor of Tchula Presbyterian Church

What can I say, I like blogs!

You could do part-time seminary work. That's what I'm doing.

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Jacob
Sovereign Grace Ministries
Covenant Fellowship Church
WTS M.A.R. in Theology student
West Chester, PA

"Grace renews nature; glory perfects grace." ~ John Owen
"Grace tried is better than grace, and more than grace. It is glory in its infancy." ~ John Flavel
Blog - The Strasbourg Inn

Absolutely. There were many months when we were not sure if we could meet expenses, but God always provided.

If you work a full time job, how can you attend all the lectures at seminary?

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Jonathan Hunt

Elder holding forth the word of life at:
Cheltenham Evangelical Free Church (Confessionally Based)
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence.
-- Thomas Elsworth

Night shift.

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Jonathan
Audio Engineer
Reformed Anabaptist
Ohio

Moroni's magical glasses of proper interpretation:

I am doing this right now. I have three children (2 boys under 8 yrs old) and a little girl (21 months old). I work fulltime by stretching my hours on days when I am not in seminary and by working on Saturday for a few hours. I am taking 12 hrs and will finish my Masters of Arts in Christian Education on Dec 18, 2009.

It is not easy. Most nights I am up til 2 or 3am writing papers and studying. But it can be done. One just has to be disciplined and most importantly your family (especially ou wife or husband) has to back you totally.

Being at a good church helps as well. They offer encouragement, support and advice on the journey ahead.

One last suggestion...I would find a mentor early into the process and ask them to be your accountability partner. So often, seminary can turn into "cemetery" and leave one feeling cold and distant from the rest of the world. Its nice to have someone to bring you back to planet earth and talk honestly to you.

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Keith Gorman
Seminary student / ABA
Garland, TX

A minister may fill his pews, his communion roll, the mouths of the public, but what that minister is on his knees in secret before God Almighty, that he is and no more. ~ JOHN OWEN

You have a very gracious employer. My boss requires 40 hours a week. Within reasonable parameters, I'm allowed to make that happen whenever I want during the week. And he doesn't care about over time, so I tag that on too.

So, I leave work at 10, go to class from 11-1, and am back to work at 2. I make up the time during the week

I was an attorney - general counsel for a startup business. I did much work after "business hours" and when I had to, during class. The profs were fully aware of my situation, and when I had to leave class to take a conference call, they understood. It did not hurt that I was an older student (mid-30s) and that I was already an established elder in the PCA.

I worked part-(sometimes full) time, usually evening and night shifts as an RN. We also had church and scholarship support for tuition. It was rough sometimes. But the Lord always provided.

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Patrick
MDiv, RTS Jackson
Pastor, Grace Presbyterian Church (OPC), Lisbon, NY

"He does well, that discourses of Christ; but he does infinitely better, that by experimental knowledge, feeds and lives on Christ." Thomas Brooks.
"Let us not please ourselves that we have deep understandings, but let us shew our understandings by our practice." Richard Sibbes

Given your doctrinal statement (the Abstract of Principles), I'll assume you're Baptisitic. If so, many smaller Baptist churches in and around seminaries will hire a young seminarian as their pastor and sometimes even help them pay for their schooling. I've heard of churches paying as much as half of their tuition! There are actually churches that do this as a ministry of sorts to young men like yourself. This is how my friend got his M.Div. from Southeastern.

If you were interested in going that route, I would advise you to submit your resume to seeking churches and also the Baptist associations in the area where you want to attend.

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C. M. Sheffield - Pastor
Smith Street Baptist Church
Vidalia, Georgia
www.sacredsimplicity.org

I attend LAMP Seminary and hold an estimating position for a home improvement firm. I schedule stops at coffee shops during the day to listen to lectures, read early mornings and have class on Tuesday nights. I have a wife, two kids a mortgage and two car payments, but the Lord has provided for all my needs.

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Michael P Doyle
Waukesha WI
Member of http://www.cornerstone-pca.com/
Attending http://www.lampseminary.org/

While I've not attended seminary, my wife and I both went to grad school after we were married. For a couple years prior to leaving we saved as much as we could (we were both working) and lived ultra cheap when we got there (like our first visit to a restaurant was 18 months after we started grad school). We both worked two jobs while in our schools. Security-type jobs can be pretty good as they usually allow a good bit of time to study. If you don't have children, your wife can work to help support your household.

Since you're a professed young believer, and fairly young in years, taking some additional time isn't going to hurt. If anything, it will allow some additional time to pray about it and cement your desire to attend seminary.

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Michael Masztal
Ruling Elder, Chapel By The Sea, ARP
Melbourne Beach, FL

I'll just say...

to the sacrifices you all make, when called into the ministry.

Both before and after I might add...

Thanks.

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WWW.SURFWRITERS.BLOGSPOT.COM
Trevor
Christian/Husband/Father/Writer/Teacher--
--In that order.
Bethany Church
CALIFORNIA
God is my King
Love God--Live Large

First of all, have you asked your church for support? The "ye have not, because ye ask not" principle can apply to a lot of things, you know!

At Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary) they have a distance education M.Div. and I got all the tuition paid for by my church, but I wouldn't have if I didn't ask them!

Second, what kind of seminary are you going to? Seminaries can be expensive: anywhere from a few hundred/credit hour to $500+/credit hour. Don't assume that the more expensive it is, the better it is (although the more expensive one may very well be better). Just make sure you check out all your options before closing in on a seminary. Pray about it a lot.

If you do know what seminary you're going to, I just suggest asking your church to help you out a little bit (yearly offering perhaps?).

Also, if your budget is going to be tight, I'd suggest to cut off most things considered "extras" (starting now) which are not necessities. You can save a TON of money doing things like that.

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Nathan Riese
Under Care, PCA
Trinity Presbyterian Church, Aledo, Illinois
Current student at MBBC
Future student of Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
www.gpts.edu

I've always wondered this myself. I plan on teaching Martial arts while working my way through seminary. This way, I can have a flexible schedule while earning income for my family.

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JD Ketterman
Member of Grace OPC, Vienna VA

In addition to the other good advice, prepare.

1. Avoid debt (and clichés!) like the plague.

2. Save as much as you can.

3. Work to have a good vehicle in running order, debt free.

4. Start learning the languages, working esp. on vocabulary. Get the grammar in school, but work at learning the most frequently used words before you head off to school. Learn about 250 words each in Grk. & Heb. and save a bunch of work later. There are a couple of cheap guides that will point you to which words to learn (Metzger, etc.)

5. Sell the TV.

6. Consider raising support

7. Oh, and stay out of debt!

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Wayne Sparkman, Th.M.
Director, PCA Historical Center, St. Louis, MO
Blogs: The Continuing Story and PCA History Blog

That's why the Church "ordinary" should send men to seminary for training.

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Gil Garcia
Rehoboth Reformed Church (RCUS)
La Habra, CA

"Ignorance of this distinction between Law and Gospel is one of the principal sources of the abuses which corrupted and still corrupt Christianity." - Calvin's successor


"By the words of the law man is admonished and taught, not what he can do, but what he ought to do. How is it that you theologians are twice as stupid as schoolboys, in that as soon as you get hold of a single imperative verb you infer an indicative meaning...?"
-Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will

Personally, I receive a scholarship from my seminary as well as Presbytery and denominational support. I also work several part-time jobs. I mean I wash windows for the church and my church also extended another paid staff position to me and my wife. I also recently learned I could sell my plasma for $200.00 a month. I have 2 children (6 and 4), a mortgage, and a car payment. We sometimes don't know what is going to happen month to month, but the Lord is good and we have not lacked for anything.

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Jeff Wyman
Man Under Care
Little Farms Chapel OPC, Coopersville, MI
Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary

"Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other." - Isaiah 45:22 (ESV)