Supporting Students So They Can Pursue Their Calling

The core of our mission is to equip leaders for meaningful lives of ministry. We want leaders to flourish alongside churches that flourish. Biblical, theological, and pastoral training are essential to this mission. Yet, there is also an important financial component to ministry training.

Transformative education requires a substantial financial investment. Unfortunately, student loans incurred from seminary can be a significant burden that follows leaders well into their careers. Ongoing financial stress from burdensome educational debt can be a drain on leaders and their ministries.

Notre Dame researcher Dr. Matt Bloem has found that financial stress can play a big role in negatively impacting the daily well-being and resilience of pastoral leaders. Educational debt can loom large, resulting in stress, shame, and even burnout for pastoral leaders and their families.

At Calvin Seminary, we are committed to helping students finance their training for ministry without taking on unmanageable debt. We award nearly $1.5 million in scholarships each year so that students can plan for a life in ministry, study without financial setbacks, and serve without limits.

Together, Calvin Seminary, individual donors, and local churches invest in emerging leaders so that they can be un-hindered to follow God’s call wherever He is leading them.

Scholarships enable students to graduate from Calvin Seminary debt-free or with low levels of debt. This joint investment is making a difference. In recent years, 60% of our students graduate without taking on educational debt while in seminary. But we aim to do even better. By investing in our new Covenant Scholarship, we hope to further reduce the number of students that incur debt as well as the amount of debt incurred by students who cannot finance their seminary training without accessing loans.

In sensing a call to seminary, prospective students have a common underlying question: How can I make this work financially? As the following stories demonstrate, God works in different ways to open doors – financial and others – to clear the way for those who God calls into ministry.