THE CALL TO PREPARE By Dr. Mark Olson AT THE FREE LUTHERAN Seminary we absolutely love serving students who are sensing God’s call to prepare to serve Jesus and His Church. For most of our students this will lead to calls to pastoral ministry, yet for others this may be missions or other Kingdom endeavors. We do not expect seminary students to fully understand or discern God’s future plans; however, we do ask that they would be humble and open to preparing for a life of servant leadership. Dr. Phil Haugen, in the October 2014 issue of The Lutheran Ambassador, affirmed that “the call of God to serve, in whatever capacity, is always a gracious call. The call of God to prepare for ministry is also a gracious and beautiful work of the Holy Spirit through His Word.” Our central resource used to prepare students is the Word of God, and it is so exciting 12 THE LUTHERAN AMBASSADOR
to witness the impact that the Bible has on our seminarians. During their years of training at the seminary they grow in wisdom and maturity as God teaches and uses them in the present even as He prepares them for the future. Our seminary program has been crafted to foster these attributes, depending fully on the “gracious and beautiful work of the Holy Spirit through His Word.” The four-year Master of Divinity program (three years of classroom instruction followed by one year of internship in an AFLC congregation) is primarily designed to lead to the ordination of men who have both received and accepted calls to serve in congregational ministry. There are six outcomes that we prayerfully desire will be experienced by each of the students during their time of preparation. It is our prayer and goal that
