I have taught since 1982 in a theological seminary. This experience of necessity has molded and shaped my outlook on the Church and on the task of preparing leaders for ministry in that Church.
A Christian theological seminary is one place where Christians prepare for ministry in the Church. There are several things that a seminary is not, or that it cannot do. For example, a seminary cannot guarantee that its graduates have effective ministries or even that they are persons of sterling Christian character. Furthermore, a seminary is not the only means by which God chooses to raise up Christian leaders; it must recognize that God enormously blesses the ministries of many people who do not have seminary training. A seminary is not a hospital. That is, it is not the place to which hurting or searching people should look in the first instance for their spiritual healing, nurture, or direction, which is more properly the Church's place. Even in those areas where a seminary does legitimately function in training students, it cannot train them for every eventuality and circumstance that they might face in the ministry of the Gospel, whether it be theological (e.g., knowing the best Scripture to apply in a given situation or the "correct" theological answer to give), administrative (e.g., how to organize a Junior Boys' Sunday School department), relational (e.g., how to deal with a problem deacon), or something else.
Rather than being like a hospital, a seminary is more like a medical school, where people are given skills and tools with which to pursue ministry. These are skills and tools that need to be used and sharpened through the process of a lifetime. One hopes that a seminary graduate is better at ministry after 20 years of engagement in it than s/he is immediately following graduation.
Like medical degrees, most seminary degrees are professional in nature, for practitioners, and the core of a seminary's mission should be to train practitioners. It must keep the Church always in mind, and work in conjunction with the Church, just as the medical school does with the hospital.
A seminary is a place for a broad, generalist grounding in many areas for most students, and a place for more in-depth grounding for some students. The generalist grounding for students seeking church-based ministries certainly should include exposure to the contents of the Scriptures and proper methods of interpretation, theology, history of the Church, evangelism (both within and across cultural boundaries), and many of the myriad aspects of modern church life (e.g., preaching, worship, leadership, administration, education, pastoral care). A seminary should teach students how to think, how to solve problems, how to apply Truth to life, how to lead and care for people. As a servant of the Church, a seminary should also aim to provide more in-depth opportunities for study and training in at least some areas; the combined offerings of many Christian seminaries, working together, should guarantee that all areas that would serve the Church at large are adequately provided for (e.g., some seminaries are called to offer terminal doctoral degrees in order to provide the Church in the U.S. and around the world with competent teachers).
A seminary should not offer a "disinterested" education. That is, it should not function as a mere dispenser of knowledge or skills, but it should be "interested" in its students' development as Christians and as workers in the Kingdom, as well. Many ways can be found to accomplish this, both curricular and co-curricular, such as chapel services, mentoring and spiritual development programs, or opportunities for Christian fellowship and service. The ideal seminary graduate is one with a vital faith that makes a difference in his own life and in the lives of those round about him.
The ideal seminary graduate will be broadly competent in all the areas represented above, and, beyond these, she will be a well-rounded person. People from all walks of life and backgrounds can function effectively in church ministry, bringing their backgrounds, experiences, and interests to bear in their ministries; thus, seminaries should welcome all such people. Such people will recognize that seminary education is not an end in itself, but rather that it is a means to an end: that of furthering the cause of Christ's kingdom. It is but one step in a series of steps, part of a life-long process of learning and growing.
Thus, a seminary is fulfilling its mandate when its graduates are engaging in effective Christian ministry in all its multi-faceted dimensions. They will be people who love God, who love his Word, whose passion is to glorify God and to be more like Christ, who love people, who care about the lost, who want to show them the face of God himself by what they do and say. God willing, a seminary education will facilitate this, and not hinder it.