Episode 255: What Seminary Cannot Teach You — Kurt Ritsema (Part 1)
“[I found myself] called to more than what I think I’m called to…I think my calling to youth ministry was very specific at the time because I felt it was a very practical thing…youth ministry prepared me for seminary and for…going into senior pastorate work that I didn’t think I was prepared for.” —Kurtis Ritsema
Summary of This Episode
Welcome back to The Messy Reformation podcast as Jason and Willy are joined this week by Rev. Kurt Ritsema, senior pastor at Bethel CRC in Waupun, WI. Getting to know Kurt, he’s a lifelong member of the CRC, a son of a pastor, and grew up in central Iowa and west Michigan. “Home” was Pella. Despite not wanting to be a pastor while he was growing up, he spent over 20 years in youth ministry that shaped and directed him to eventually answer the call to congregational ministry.
Jason backs the conversation up to have Kurt share how the call to ministry happened and how he ended up pursuing seminary. He shares that a girl is what drew him to attend Calvin University, and while that relationship ended shortly after, Calvin sparked the desire to go into youth ministry. He then went to Kuyper College (then Reformed Bible College. Kurt shares he learned a lot over these two decades, including some bumps in the road with how he made decisions early on. Part of his time in youth ministry was full-time but others he was working bi-vocationally in construction and with a furniture store. He and Jason talk a bit about what that’s like with learning to balance one’s passion and enjoyment but also energy and hours.
Kurt’s willingness to go to seminary came out of a trip to Israel with Ray VanderLaan, from which he found himself “…called to more than what I think I’m called to…I think my calling to youth ministry was very specific at the time because I felt it was a very practical thing…I think my calling to seminary was something that I almost felt was impractical,” as it pushed him out of his comfort zone. Due to life circumstances, he spent his first year as a residential student at Calvin Theological Seminary before completing the rest of his degree in the distance program. What he ended up learning about himself was “…youth ministry prepared me for seminary and for…going into senior pastorate work that I didn’t think I was prepared for.”
The rest of the episode focuses on how his CTS experience was and what he wished there was more of. He went to Calvin Sem because it made sense with wanting to go into ministry in the Christian Reformed Church. While he enjoyed both residential and distance paths, he does share that it’s a different experience. You get the same end, but the experience is different. He wished there was more development in pastoral care. He and Jason talk a bit about how seminaries, including Calvin, are in this stage of trying to figure out how to keep the bar high, but still encourage people to enroll, as well as discerning what seminary is for. They talk about the need for on-the-job or internship training, and Willy points out that it does seem there are things “better caught than taught,”—that one can learn from an experienced veteran rather than a book. Kurt also shares that there’s more to grow in when you’re in the pastorate. Often one is a stronger pastor or preacher, and that doesn’t mean you can’t be good at both, but development has to happen once they’re in a church.