Christian formation within North America Protestant Christian seminary education

This study sought to evaluate and provide a summary and insights from empirical studies that are related to the implementation of Christian formation programs or interventions in North America Protestant seminary education. Most importantly, this study tried to identify the means that can nurture the Christian formation process of seminary students and how they can be integrated into seminary educational processes in order to effectively prepare students for the work of ministry.;A biblical grid related to Christian formation was developed in order to evaluate empirical studies from a biblical perspective. The established grid included: (a) the two main aims Christian formation: develop relationship with God and others, (b) six fundamental elements Christian formation: word of God, prayer, self-examination, discernment, fellowship, and good works, and (c) eight desirable outcomes for Christian formation: develop an relationship with God, grow in godly characters, knowing and obeying God's word, develop a life of prayer, grow in self-examination, grow in discernment, develop a relationship with others, and grow in services.;The literature review included a brief historical overview of seminary education in North America starting from the 17th to the 20th century was summarized. The second section provided a review of literature of major research done in the 20th century that assessed the effectiveness of seminary education in addressing spiritual development of students, and articles that are related to the integration of spiritual formation into seminary curriculum. Means that could help nurture seminary students' formation process were identified from empirical research that had an experimental component in spiritual formation programs or intervention.;An analysis of the reviewed studies using the biblical grid was provided in order to establish a connection between the means used in Christian formation programs and the suggestive guidelines derived from the biblical text. A summary of important implications for seminaries' higher administration and educational practices were provided. Recommendations to improve research design and quality for future research in spiritual development were also provided.;One of the limitations of this study was the lack of empirical research related to seminarians' spiritual development in various disciplines. Thus the literature surveyed in this study is limited in its scope to include the effect of various spiritual exercises.