Developed by Matt Bloom, the Flourishing in Ministry Wellbeing Assessment is a free self-assessment designed to help seminarians, alumni, clergy, and other ministry leaders reflect on their well-being. Participants receive scores across four dimensions—Daily Wellbeing, Resilience, Thriving, and Authenticity—along with resources intended to help them sustain or strengthen their flourishing.

KEYWORDS: assessment instrument; authenticity; burnout; clergy well-being; Daily Wellbeing; flourishing; leadership; ministry formation; ministry leaders; resilience; seminarians; student well-being; thriving; well-being

Using data from the 2022–23 Mapping the Workforce Study, the article explores how ATS alumni describe their work several years after graduation, including how ministry identity, employer-required credentials, and work settings intersect. It highlights graduates whose vocations fall outside traditional congregational ministry and raises questions about how theological schools can better support vocational discernment and alumni formation.

KEYWORDS: alumni; career discernment; clergy; congregational ministry; credentials; employment; ministry identity; non-congregational ministry; theological education; theological formation; vocation; vocational discernment; workplace fulfillment; workplace support; Mapping the Workforce Study; Alumni Questionnaire

Drawing on interviews with 10 experts across fields including chaplaincy, education, nonprofits, entrepreneurship, and advocacy, the article identifies formation, religious literacy, critical thinking, interpretation, and the ability to navigate difference as distinctive strengths of theological education. It also highlights areas where graduates may be underprepared—including leadership, organizational fluency, adaptability, communication, financial literacy, and technology—and encourages theological schools to make transferable competencies more explicit in curricula, learning outcomes, institutional partnerships, and recruitment materials.

KEYWORDS: theological education; non-congregational vocations; vocational formation; spiritual formation; religious literacy; transferable skills; leadership; critical thinking; pluralism; communication; financial literacy; technology; curriculum; educational effectiveness; career preparation; chaplaincy; nonprofit leadership; entrepreneurship

The definitive introduction to the Seminary Formation Assessment (SFA)—a 50-item suite of assessments measuring spiritual dwelling, seeking, struggle, and emotion regulation in seminarians.

KEYWORDS: open access / free access; assessment instrument; Colloquy article; emotion regulation; psychometrics; Relational Spirituality Model (RSM); Seminary Formation Assessment (SFA); seminary students; sense of community; spiritual dwelling; spiritual formation; spiritual seeking; theological education; training resources; virtues

A 2026 ATS Colloquy research spotlight that offers the most comprehensive overview to date of the ways that seminaries, theology departments, and divinity schools assess student formation.

KEYWORDS: open access / free access; assessment practices; Colloquy article; institutional mission; personal and spiritual formation; student formation; theological education; seminary; spirituality

Person-centered analysis using the Relational Spirituality Model (RSM) identifies four seminary student subgroups, with "regulated seekers" showing mature alterity, flourishing, and stable balanced spirituality over time.

KEYWORDS: open access / free access; flourishing; mature alterity; mixture modeling; relational spirituality; spiritual formation

Empirical study of 452 emerging religious leaders documents gender disparities: women report higher character strengths and social justice values but lower mental health than men.

KEYWORDS: character; gender differences; mental health; religious leaders; social values; spirituality

The SEM Study is the first major longitudinal study examining divinity school education, aiming to identify promising, data-informed policies that promote clergy well-being.

KEYWORDS: empirical research; formation; longitudinal; mixed-methods research; seminary; theological education

Nonprofit organizations, Healthy Seminarians – Healthy Church, shared about cultivating well-being in theological institutions, emphasizing pastoral health and student support.

KEYWORDS: open access / free access; ATS Student Data and Resources Consultation (2025); congregational health; ministerial formation; pastoral health; seminaries; slide deck; student well-being; theological education