What has COVID done for you lately? It has clearly had a global impact, and Westminster is no different. It is safe to say that our entire planet lives in a new normal that has come as a result of this disease, and the online approach to education has become an immediate necessity given this recent history. For Westminster, however, online education was not merely a reaction to COVID, but a strategic initiative launched with prayers and hopes of making our curriculum available globally to those unable to attend in person.
While educational circumstances and venues have changed, the uncompromising conviction of training our students in the depth of the knowledge of God remains welded to the need to know the grace of our God in Jesus. One of the many ‘Warfield Warnings’ in the days of Old Princeton is still relevant today. In David B. Calhoun’s multivolume history, Princeton Seminary, he quotes from Warfield’s classic, The Religious Life of Theological Students. The Lion of Princeton wrote:
Treat, I beg you, the whole work of the seminary as a unique opportunity offered you to learn about God, or rather, to put it at the height of its significance, to learn God—to come to know him whom to know is life everlasting. If the work of the seminary shall be so prosecuted, it will prove itself to be the chief means of grace in all our lives (Calhoun, Princeton Seminary, 2:324).
Spiritual formation is not an option or an elective in our curriculum. It must permeate the entirety of the seminary curriculum. So, the question of our day is whether a student can really have a personal impact online, in such a supposedly impersonal venue? How can interacting on a computer screen ever replace face to face interaction? Online spiritual growth and character development—are these even possible?
Here is just one firsthand testimony to the fact that the Spirit of God can work through any means, no matter the limitations (from our point of view), to do an unlimited work in the hearts of his people. One current student notes:
Only the Lord could use technology in such a sanctifying and uniting way. In a world that’s increasingly cold and divided by social media and tools, he’s redeeming them here for something truly good. . . . I’m grateful beyond words for being part of his church in this way.
God is indeed nurturing and maturing his people, and conforming them to the image of Christ, in and through Westminster’s online programs on a daily basis. But how, exactly?
PROVIDENCE AND DILIGENCE: THE RUNWAY TO NOW
Let us first put all this in the historical context of our sovereign God’s work here at Westminster. It all began several years before COVID hit us. A team of leaders for a new online initiative was established to make sure that we could present an extension of Westminster’s quality and content that would not compromise the integrity of the theology and gospel we have historically stood for in every season. This team included many graduates of Westminster who were gifted in educational technology, as well as creative thinkers dedicated to Westminster’s theological and curricular distinctives. Their task was to determine how best to offer our curriculum in and to a rapidly changing world.
The first fruit of this endeavor emerged when Westminster and CCEF put their heads and hearts together. With the encouragement of Dr. David Powlison, then Executive Director of CCEF, we embraced the true potential for educating biblical counselors in core theology as well as in biblical principles of counseling, and a new initiative was born. Westminster would now be offering a Master of Arts in Counseling fully online.
In addition, the online team saw the potential for others who were not necessarily desirous of a counseling emphasis but had a clear hunger for theological training for whatever career path they might choose. There were those who unashamedly wanted to be more confident as witnesses to Christ in their respective fields, and better servants in their churches. The right program could strengthen the layperson who wants to represent Christ and a biblical worldview more confidently while also better equipping those already in ministry. I still remember several conversations with prospective students who were elders or deacons and interested in theological studies. I told them that, as an ordained pastor, I would have loved to have more men trained in basic Reformed theology, not only to help me, but to keep me in check! This core theological program would offer what many hungered for, a Master of Arts in Theological Studies fully online.
For both the MAC and the MATS, the masters level content would entail a higher degree of learning that would align with the standards of the seminary. The course content and expectations would have to uphold the standards that the history of the institution required. With all the ducks in a row, these programs were launched in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
We do not merely pay lip service to the need to train leaders in character as well as in competency. We must train the heart no less than the mind; in fact, even more so.
Now five years later, our online programs have, by God’s grace, grown in numbers and quality. The reputation of Westminster’s online offerings has truly preceded us when it comes to student interest. Alumni testimony and word of mouth have been a personal influence and invitation to many. That success has enabled us to offer our larger programs online as well. In 2021, Westminster added the MDiv and the MAR to its online offerings, and we now have over 500 students online, with more to come. Today, students may join us on campus for the MDiv or MAR degrees, but they may also remain in their hometowns and at their local churches, close to community and family, or they may continue to serve the global church in the mission field, even while they train at Westminster, alongside colleagues and classmates from around the world.
AGE-OLD WISDOM FOR NEW CHALLENGES
But once again, we must pause and ask: can online students truly be cared for and nurtured spiritually in these programs? It is challenging enough residentially, but is it even possible with all the online limitations? Students are literally hundreds and thousands of miles away, with personal and circumstantial demands that may make them feel unlikely to be cared for.
We here at Westminster are proud that, by God’s grace, we have a legacy of holding fast to teaching and training leaders in a rich, wonderfully orthodox tradition of the Christian faith. Meanwhile, we do not merely pay lip service to the need to train leaders in character as well as in competency. We must train the heart along with the mind. Full and effective training for life and ministry must involve the whole man. Our philosophy and approach hark back to Old Princeton’s emphasis on these very issues. David Calhoun, again in his work Princeton Seminary, reminds his readers often of Warfield’s concern for precisely this crucial balance. It was Warfield’s belief, says Calhoun, that “any proper preparation for the ministry must include these three chief parts—a training of the heart, a training of the hand, a training of the head—a devotional, a practical and an intellectual training” (2:425).
Our pursuit of this necessary balance of life and learning in the seminary context is being used by God to shape the character of our online student ministry. At the danger of sounding overly simplistic, I would suggest that this uncompromising marriage of heart and head that has been at the center of Westminster’s curriculum since its founding is nothing other than the content and context of the gospel itself. No one said it more succinctly than B. B. Warfield when he wrote these words in The Religious Life of Theological Students:
You will never prosper in your religious life in the Theological Seminary until your work in the Theological Seminary becomes itself to you a religious exercise out of which you draw every day enlargement of heart, elevation of spirit and adoring delight in your Maker and your Saviour.
Whether residential or online, we must offer this demanding reality for anyone who seeks to study the things of God in the Word of God. The supernatural presence of Jesus must be married to the knowledge of our Savior. Students cannot and must not grow in the knowledge of Christ without growing also in the grace of Christ. As Peter wrote, we must “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18).
Online no less than residentially, spiritual formation should be the hallmark of any institution and any individual that claims to follow and hopes to honor Christ the Lord. And spiritual formation is indeed happening in the online programs at Westminster Theological Seminary. Hear from another current student:
I live almost 3,000 miles away from campus, so Westminster Online is a dream come true for me! Not only do I get to take courses with the level of depth and rigor that WTS is renowned for, but I am also connected to brothers and sisters in Christ from around the globe.
How exactly does spiritual formation unfold for online students? There is no doubt that students have grown spiritually through their academic work (lectures, readings, and assignments), but the success we have seen in the spiritual nurturing of our students has been more subversive and relational.
DIGITAL SHEPHERDING: THE JOYS OF MY CURRENT ROLE
A foundational principle of the ongoing success of the spiritual care component of Westminster’s online program is the primary and almost exclusive calling of the pastor to be a pastor. The pastor is, as Scripture depicts him, a shepherd. Whether in person or online, a pastor seeks to oversee the personal care of all his flock. As a parachurch institution, Westminster does not have ecclesiastical authority, but the need for someone to set a tone and ethos of genuine care for the souls of our students was clear.
As the one who came to occupy that role, I see my primary job as providing a growing context of planned and spontaneous fellowship for the online community. I hope to create a culture where people seek Christ in all of life, which would be a beautiful complement to the rich content of the gospel that the students will receive in their classes. Though it is not a part of the academic curriculum, it will be a critical part of the DNA of what Westminster online is to become.
The title of “Dean of Online Students” was a further clarification of the purpose of the position. One of my primary callings here is to perpetuate the context of encouragement among the students to help them see that their common calling is not as students of Westminster, but as followers of Jesus.
The supernatural presence of Jesus must be married to the knowledge of our Savior. Students cannot and must not grow in the knowledge of Christ without growing also in the grace of Christ.
All new students are introduced to our Pastoral Care Team during their first week of orientation, and I explain my role and desire to meet. I also send personal invitations to every new student to meet with me face to face.
The initial meeting is designed to build some relational bridges and assure each student that my role is to track with them during this season those things God is doing to them as well as through them. Students often share with me their own spiritual pilgrimage of how they came to Westminster. Although they are not required to meet with me, students are reminded at different times of my ongoing availability and my desire to connect. A vital pattern already evolving in this ministry is the fact that I connect with over 30 students one-on-one per month, with almost half being new and the other half follow-ups from our initial connection.
We also promote monthly coffee houses which are held at four different scheduling options to accommodate our students’ busy schedules and time zone differences. Each month features a relevant topic, such as procrastination, honesty, and remembrance, with questions sent out in advance. Since our coffee houses are not a part of the academic curriculum, students are not expected to participate, but they are welcome just to listen, and to come and go when necessary. The underlying purpose is to see the blessing that arrives when God’s people come together to share together the common call and pilgrimage of what it means to follow Jesus.
Here is just one example of the effect these gatherings can have on students:
Thank you so much for yet another wonderful coffee house. These catch-ups are always so timely, in the midst of our intense study schedules and normal (and not so normal) pressures of life. Our group’s honesty, friendship, and growing trust in Christ is such a highlight of this entire Westminster experience. Thank you all so very much!
Clearly, the Holy Spirit directs the discussion even though there is a facilitator guiding it. Students are surprised at how relaxed it is and how easy it is to share if they want to. And although they are with fellow classmates, it clearly is not a classroom environment. There is a number of regular attenders, who love the monthly connection with others and even follow up with fellow students they have met at the coffee house. Several new friendships have been established that have carried on beyond graduation. One student said:
It was so encouraging to hear from fellow students. Being a seminary student can be difficult because most people don’t understand the struggles that go with it. So I’m thankful that even online there are ways to connect with peers going through the same things!
Another significant piece of the puzzle of developing the online community is found in the Core Advisory Team. This group consists of 6–8 current students and alumni who meet monthly with the Dean of Students. They are a kind of thinktank tasked with finding ways to promote the online community and strengthen relationships. It was their idea to develop coffee houses and more recently to establish regional, in-person gatherings to enhance those relationships geographically. The history of this group was a direct result of my ongoing ministry as the Dean of Online Students in sharing my own vision. Many of the original members took the initiative to say they wanted to partner with me in order to own the call to develop a vibrant community with fellow online students.
This, I trust, has been a pleasant taste of what the Lord is doing with our online community in growing them in the sweet grace and knowledge of Christ. There is much more to be said and done, but there is much to thank our God for in his ongoing redeeming grace in preparing these students for life and learning.
MATURITY IN CHRIST UNTO THE GLORY OF GOD: OUR MISSION ALWAYS
Indeed, much of this is happening in the lectures and small groups, but spiritual care and formation must also transcend institutional formalities and remind students that we are all in the perpetual “school of Christ,” which calls us to a daily life that confidently reflects and honors the one who has given us “everything we need for life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3).
In many ways, I believe that our best years are ahead. Westminster is now out there, in the world, more than ever, and having, perhaps, a greater impact than ever before. In my hyperbolic moments of what I want this ministry and work to do for the glory of God and the work of Westminster, I have a dream. This dream is that whenever the online program of Westminster Theological Seminary is mentioned, people would immediately know, by way of reputation, that here is one of the richest pictures of the beautiful marriage of piety and learning of the orthodox faith. A place where the uncompromising Bible-centered curriculum is taught by a faculty of character and competency but in a context where students are vibrant and alive in their own pilgrimage and want the fullness of the gospel personally and professionally. And I am grateful and humbled, to the point of being overwhelmed, that the Lord has blessed me with this opportunity to serve and love the students of Westminster.