Proverbs 19:17 Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward them for what they have done.
The hard work and needs of pastors has been the general concern in the church and Christian institutions at the present time. Of course, there are many dedicated pastors that are unnoticed, but their reward will be great in heaven.
Caring pastors is the responsibility and caring for the poor should be done out of love, then what about seminary students?
Seminary students need our caring. It is not enough to just concern preachers for the status and development of church ministry. The church can't develop and little progress will be produced in evangelism if there is no next generation to continue the ministry. This is a significance reason why the church lags behind society.
What if a country has no young people? One can imagine the terrible consequences resulting to this problem. Regardless of the possible implications of the lack of younger pastors in churches today, many believers and even preachers don't care about the problem. Rarely do people see what seminary students pay for and sacrifice to serve the Lord. Instead, a large portion of adults regard them as children who know nothing and can do few things.
Giving up the chance to make money and enjoy the world, these young theological students even leave their families and study theology alone. They devote their youth and years to God.
Some may claim that it's their personal thing with God, who will provide them, so their devotion has nothing to do with them. But we share one body in faith. In Christ, we are parts rather than separate individuals. What's more, seminary students are like the army of the house of God. Believers are the people of God. If there is a spiritual war, the army who are trained and equipped to guard the truth and give aid to the church should protect the people. They shoulder greater missions.
Secondly, the students have better living conditions in the south than those in the north, because the south is richer than the other parts of China that also falls behind the south in many aspects like the Gospel, the church and theology. The north, and its surrounding areas, has a shallow foundation in the Gospel and the believers there don't attach importance to equipping seminary students. So the students live in difficulties as a whole and have financially disadvantaged families.
Translated by Karen Luo
