UMC affiliated seminary experiences?

[DeFyYing]

Which of the 13 would be considered the most academically focused? I live in NJ so Drew is close but am curious about the other 12 seminaries

 

[Rawtheran]

I'm affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene and am currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry at Northwest Nazarene University but before that I was apart of the United Methodist Church and knew several Pastors who attended a UMC seminary or a seminary that was approved by the denomination. Where I live in Ohio there are two seminaries which are the Methodist Theological School in Delaware, OH and United Theological Seminary in Dayton, OH. Both have a reputation as being excellent schools and are very good at helping students to prepare for ministry and their provisional member and eventual ordination interviews that will have to undertake. United Theological in particular has a really good program for students which they call their Contextual ministries in which every student is assigned to a group that they have to meet with every semester and they help each other out as well as praying for each other. United Theological I know tends to lean more conservative and MTSO leans more liberal. Outside of the seminaries I've mentioned, I would say that the Duke Divinity School, Garret-Evangelical School, and Asbury Seminary are the best seminaries that someone could attend. Outside of the United Methodist Church, I would highly recommend Indiana Wesleyan University as they are a top-notch school as well.

 

[Rawtheran]

This is a complete list of seminaries approved by the UMC, check it out! GBHEM - List of Approved Seminaries

 

[DeFyYing]

I'm affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene and am currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry at Northwest Nazarene University but before that I was apart of the United Methodist Church and knew several Pastors who attended a UMC seminary or a seminary that was approved by the denomination. Where I live in Ohio there are two seminaries which are the Methodist Theological School in Delaware, OH and United Theological Seminary in Dayton, OH. Both have a reputation as being excellent schools and are very good at helping students to prepare for ministry and their provisional member and eventual ordination interviews that will have to undertake. United Theological in particular has a really good program for students which they call their Contextual ministries in which every student is assigned to a group that they have to meet with every semester and they help each other out as well as praying for each other. United Theological I know tends to lean more conservative and MTSO leans more liberal. Outside of the seminaries I've mentioned, I would say that the Duke Divinity School, Garret-Evangelical School, and Asbury Seminary are the best seminaries that someone could attend. Outside of the United Methodist Church, I would highly recommend Indiana Wesleyan University as they are a top-notch school as well.

Thank you so much for this, I know this is a late reply but I was wondering if you could tell me a little about the Church of the Nazarene (I know, kinda vague haha). Is it Wesleyan or more charismatic?

 

[Rawtheran]

Thank you so much for this, I know this is a late reply but I was wondering if you could tell me a little about the Church of the Nazarene (I know, kinda vague haha). Is it Wesleyan or more charismatic?

Yeah of course! The Church of the Nazarene is a denomination within the Wesleyan tradition that split from the Methodist Episcopal Church in the early 1900s based on the Holiness movement. The major difference between the UMC and the Church of the Nazarene I would say would be that the Church of the Nazarene tends to be more conservative in its beliefs and lean more evangelical otherwise the doctrine of the COTN and UMC are pretty much the same

 

[DeFyYing]

Yeah of course! The Church of the Nazarene is a denomination within the Wesleyan tradition that split from the Methodist Episcopal Church in the early 1900s based on the Holiness movement. The major difference between the UMC and the Church of the Nazarene I would say would be that the Church of the Nazarene tends to be more conservative in its beliefs and lean more evangelical otherwise the doctrine of the COTN and UMC are pretty much the same

Thank you! I really appreciate you taking the time to introduce me to your denomination, I've been kinda lost lately. I'm Orthodox and while I love the tradition and theology I can't help but feel discouraged at times with the political drama and find myself looking westward sometimes, and I find the Wesleyan tradition to be similar in many ways to Orthodoxy. Sorry to ask another question, but could I ask your rationale for choosing the Nazarene church versus, say, the Wesleyan church or Free Methodist church? I feel hesitant about the UMC with what's going on lately but am still learning my way around the various associated denominations

 

[Rawtheran]

Thank you! I really appreciate you taking the time to introduce me to your denomination, I've been kinda lost lately. I'm Orthodox and while I love the tradition and theology I can't help but feel discouraged at times with the political drama and find myself looking westward sometimes, and I find the Wesleyan tradition to be similar in many ways to Orthodoxy. Sorry to ask another question, but could I ask your rationale for choosing the Nazarene church versus, say, the Wesleyan church or Free Methodist church? I feel hesitant about the UMC with what's going on lately but am still learning my way around the various associated denominations

Many of John Wesley's ideas and teachings actually came from the Eastern Orthodox tradition especially the theological concept of Entire Sanctification. The reason why I chose the Church of the Nazarene over the UMC mainly came down to 3 reasons which for the most part didn't really have to do with theology but mainly the politics and semantics of the church. Where I'm from in Ohio, many churches in the Annual Conference that I was a part of was very corrupt and was more interested in numbers than they were seeing lives impacted and saved for Jesus. I also thought that their ordination process was completely way too long and ridiculous and many actually switch denominations just for that reason alone. Finally, as I grew closer to God and really began to study theology that is not taught in your traditional Sunday School but at the college and seminary level, I realized that in my own beliefs I preferred a more evangelical type of service then the more traditional ones you would see at a UMC. The reason why I never chose the Wesleyan Church or the Free Methodist Church is that there aren't any FMC churches in my area at all and the nearest Wesleyan Church is about 30 miles away whereas the Church of the Nazarene has more of a presence where I'm from. I personally would trust either denomination because they all believe the exact same things as the Church of the Nazarene and the only literal differences between us are church polity.

Since you come from an Eastern Orthodox background you probably would be more comfortable checking out a Free Methodist Church or a United Methodist Church worship service since they both lean much more liturgical and sacramental. I'd also maybe even throw out the Lutheran Church that is associated with the Missouri or Wisconsin Synod they also are very close in belief to the Eastern rite.