Training Faithful Disciples to Meet the Challenges of the Church in the World: Applying Bonhoeffer’s Seminary Vision to Hybrid Education

This article will first examine Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s philosophy and practice of theological education to train faithful ministers of the gospel for the service of the Church. Particular attention will be given to Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship and Life Together which he wrote while directing one of the underground seminaries for the Confessing Church in Nazi Germany. Second, this article will explore Paul House’s argument for a personal, incarnational, rather than a distance learning, approach. Using a small seminary for a global family of churches, Every Nation, as a case study, this article will present relational discipleship as a central, integrated course to train leaders for the church. It will conclude by suggesting why and how principles of relational discipleship can be integral to a hybrid seminary approach for training leaders who can meet the challenges of the Church in the world