What Can I Do with a Degree in Theology and Ministry?

Higher education represents a sizable investment of energy, time, and money. As students (and often their parents!) contemplate these costly expenditures, the question of the return on that investment can loom large. If I put the time and effort and tuition dollars into the educational enterprise, will the results be worth it? Some people are more concerned about the financial cost. Others might not be less bothered by the tuition price tag than they are the calendrical requirements of a college degree. And others will be more concerned about the workload of a collegiate enterprise. But in the end, the question remains: Will it be worth it?

This question holds for all higher education endeavors (and perhaps for all human endeavors, period). But my task here is a bit narrower in both scope and in particularity. In terms of scope, I want to address the question of Will it be worth it? by addressing the question usually asked immediately after the worth-it question: What can I do with that degree? And in terms of particularity, I want to address this second question for those contemplating a degree in theology and ministry.

Here at Northwestern, we are most interested in helping students grow in their faith in Christ and relationship with Him so that they are able to discover the interests and passions that He has created them to utilize. And Northwestern is concerned about this for every student in any major. We want to provide the educational grounding that will help our students to be the godly people Christ has meant them to be in whatever field or endeavor they enter. This is no less true of Northwestern’s School of Theology & Ministry.

In the realm of the theological disciplines, it is useful to note a bilateral set of dimensions. On the one side there is an emphasis on theological content and on the other side is an emphasis on ministerial skills. These two dimensions are not in contrast to one another (and there is nothing but trouble when a person pits the two dimensions against one another!). Nevertheless, we can sketch sample lists of some possible careers in two different tracks based upon whether a student has been designed by God to lean toward the discovery and explanation of theological content or has been designed by God to lean toward the utilization of ministerial skills.

I trust that those reading these two lists can recognize the people skills emphasis of the one track and the theological content emphasis of the other track. But I also hope that it is equally obvious that it is desirable for those in the ministerial skills track to have trustworthy content and for those in the theological content track to have capable skills in working with people! Afterall, who wants a pastor with poor theology or a Bible teacher with poor people skills!

And so, at Northwestern’s School of Theology & Ministry, we want to prepare people in such a way that they can pay attention to the emphasis the Lord has given them with responsible training in the other dimension as well. Furthermore, these are the kinds of faculty we have as resources for our students: faculty mentors to help our students discern and develop the gifts and passions our Lord has granted to them.

Come to UNW, and we will be glad to help you discover God’s calling for you and help you live into it with truthful knowledge and skillful wisdom.

PS: Along the road of discovering his gifting and ministry passions, Dr. Huffman has served as a summer youth pastor, in various positions at Christian camps, and in a variety of other ministry roles. He has been working in Christian higher education jobs for almost 40 years, teaching Bible and theology courses and serving institutions in administrative capacities. He is a licensed and ordained minister in the Evangelical Free Church of America and serves as a script consultant for the worldwide hit streaming television show The Chosen.