The Local Church: Headquarters for Formal Pastoral Training!
Before I go much further, I want to state the following:
- I am a graduate of a seminary, having benefited greatly from my seminary years.
- I am a current student in a seminary, enjoying very much the Doctor of Ministry format allowing me to study while in the context of a full-time ministry position in a local church.
- I believe there is great value in what seminaries (and undergraduate colleges) can offer when it comes to the training of men for ministry.
- There are probably some other caveats I should make before I proceed. If so, I’ll make them later.
Why is it that there are virtually no verses in the New Testament that speak directly to the training of men for ministry primarily through the local church? 2 Timothy 2:2 and Ephesians 4:11-16 could (and are) equally used by theological academic institutions to provide a foundation for their existence. Despite this, there are a host of voices calling for and supporting the idea that formal and primary ministry training should take place under the oversight and through the active ministry of a local church. Yet, where is the Scriptural support?
I appreciated Colinm’s statement (from my previous post) that “we do not have a situation recorded in the Bible during the writing of the canon of Scripture that is comparable to the modern day training of pastors.” Agreed. Why then would we still be so dogmatic about the necessity for pastors to be formally and primarily trained in and through the ministry of a local church? There has to be something more than what has been suggested so far in the brief comment thread.
Perhaps what is behind the current call for local church-based pastoral training is the age-old problem of young seminary graduates splitting churches or quitting the ministry soon after graduation and their inauguration into a fresh local church ministry. How is it that we have developed a culture of “creditialism” that supposes a man is prepared after (and only after) he has finished three or four years of theological class-sitting? In my opinion, it’s not working.
As a matter of fact, I find the current responses from some seminaries to their students’ complaints that their training in exegesis, church history, and theology did not prepare them for the reality of church life once stuck out on their own in a local church context. Thus, some academic institutions are abandoning any careful emphasis upon the biblical languages, exegetical methodologies, hermeneutics, church history, etc. What are they replacing these classical seminary subjects with? Classes on leadership, small groups, evangelism methodologies and church growth strategies. In my opinion, this isn’t working either.
Could it be that the reason why we find few verses in the New Testament that emphasize the local church in pastoral ministry training is because the New Testament never envisions a ministry context outside the local church? Virtually all of the verses seminaries might use to justify their existence are those that actually presuppose the application of those verses in the context of a local church. Timothy was to set in order the issues related to who should serve in the local church in
In other words, pastoral training is never seen as something that could exist outside the context of a local church – why would we need verses to state what the epistles seem to assume?
Great theory, huh? The problem is the current mess we are in. It is my contention that the primary way to correct he problem is for local churches to enter into a formal agreement with a willing academic institution that would not merely create “internships” for students to briefly dip themselves in while in seminary or college, but rather relationships that would immerse (here’s my Baptistic leanings coming out) a student in the ebb and flow of a local church ministry throughout and after any academic training and BEFORE a student is suggested to be “prepared” for ministry. Furthermore, I would like to see an academic institution commit to not graduating a student until he has been also approved by the local church in which he has been involving himself.
In other words, there are issues of ministry the academy cannot adequately train an individual in and should not even try. And, because of a number of pragmatic and economic reasons, local churches are ill equipped to host full-time theologians who can provide excellent training in academic subjects that are equally necessary for a potential pastor to be exposed.
Thus, this is my introduction to what I hope will become a number of posts over the next number of months regarding this subject. I would love to collect feedback and insight from many of you regarding the best way this could be accomplished. . In the future, I also hope to share with you ways this is being practically built and accomplished. Those of you who think this is silly and we should simply keep doing what we are doing, feel free to comment (though we may merely nod and move on) and feel free to continue languishing in the contemporary morass of effective pastoral training and ministry.
More later - but right now I need to make a hospital visit.
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11 Spoke Up:
Bret,
Great post, I'm already anticipating the next installment! I agree with your assertions here. It's rather logical that the local church must be paramount in the training of its future leaders if they are being trained for ministry in a "church" rather than an "educational institution". Too many Bible College and Seminary graduates become professors rather than pastors for this very reason.
As for the lack of Scriptural evidence of training within the local church context, it is my understanding that Scripture assumes this to be the case. Paul trained Timothy and Titus in this context, did he not?
Your concerns are my reasons for being somewhat wary of para-church organizations...including mission boards! But that's another can of worms ... yet, I'm not sure today's educational situation is the fault of the seminaries, which were founded due to the local church's failure to mentor and educate the next generation of church leaders. The result? The church has abrogated her authority and responsibility, leaving the institutions (and graduates) free of local church accountability.
I hate to leave comments saying "good post", preferring to actually contribute something to the discussion. I'm going to violate my normal standard and say "good post."
I've often wondered why Churches don't take this role more seriously. Don't get me wrong, I've seen some that are very intentional about training the young men in their churches for ministry. Still, they seem to "outsource" the most weighty theological training to seminaries, which is fine to some degree I suppose.
Still, I would like to see more formal theological training done in the context of the local church, especially as a Baptist.
To be fair I suppose some are humble enough to feel inadequate which might be misguided. On the other hand, lots of churches simply aren't qualified. I know that the majority I know much about aren't the places I would want the next generation of Pastors trained in.
It's a dilemma, one that is the culmination of years of anti-intellectualism. Still, it'd be nice to see a change.
Again, good post. ;D
This is a much needed discussion in todays church. Due to the high attrition rate among pastors, some obvious changes need to be made not only to the training of new pastors, but to the overall structure of established churches.
Understandably is the concern over wrong doctrine; however with the liberalization of many seminaries, churches are sending out students who come back espousing a totally different theology than they were taught at home.
The training of men for the ministry is the crux of discipleship; Timothy being an excellent example of Paul's personal mentoring touch. In fact Paul really put himself on the line by pouring his life into Timothy, but this is really what we need. Where are the pastors who will give their lives to raise up the next generation of sold out proclaimers of the gospel?
As a current seminarian with nearly 30 years experience in church ministry, I say that your proposal ought to be a "no brainer." But you've got a lot of institutional momentum (and local church laziness) to overcome first.
Bret, you are dead on here. There are things about practical ministry that institutions outside the local church cannot and will not teach their students. If churches don't begin to find opportunities to train men then we will continue the downward spiral of men whose intellect exeeds thier intelligence and they continue to explode or implode depending on the case.
I know just enough to have learned I need to go back to school. However, I am not niave enough to think that school is going to teach me the how to's ministry. It will give me knowledge, but without the ability to properly apply that knowledge I am just an educated time bomb. The church at least needs to give men an opportunity to test this knowledge in a forum that will allow for mistakes and corrections.
I assume in your next post your are going to tell us your solution to this problem?
...And I appreciate these posts. For the same reason your Dmin program is so practical, I believe the online classes from our seminaries are so practical- and timely. My desire would be to continue my one-day commute to seminary, or online classes, WHILE being interned or employed at a local church, under the STRICT and ARDENT tutiledge of the senior pastor.
We cannot dismiss academia altogether because of the great contributions it has made to the study of the Bible (while dismissing the abounding heresies). We also need, under your church-training model, a method of interaction amongst the larger Christian community, and I will defer to the commentor in the last post who referred to the Phelps. Calvary Chapel does this sort of training, but they have inadvertently created a legion of pastors who have become dogmatic little Chuckies, always deferring to his theology--they need broader Christian communication.
I also agree with your assessment so far as it continues to push for academic excellence and theology resultant from hard,laborious striving and toil, not "lazy theology" as Brad Williams (Sojourner) has so eloquently described many times.
BTW, if anyone knows of a church in central Texas interestd in this model, tell them to contact me...I'm in!
Very interesting post. The need for more local church involvement in the training of pastors is vital. Depending on the seminary, some started with a very close connection and accountability to the church, yet over time seminaries have become disconnected from local churches or groups of local churches to the point that there seems to be no more accountability or connection to actually learning how to minister under the direction of other pastors.
Mark Devers spoke at my church’s pastors conference. This is one of the subjects he keyed on. He was adamant that seminaries don’t “make” pastors. Seminaries are a good tool to gain knowledge, but learning to be a shepherd is something that can only be taught in the context of a church. His church has created a great internship program to train men to be pastors. http://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/CC_Content_Page/0,,PTID324006|CHID682876|CIID,00.html
The modern church has created a dichotomy in the leadership of the church. We hold the lay leaders to a lesser standard than the “professional” leaders. We expect our paid staff to have a seminary degree, but allow anyone to become an elder. Since my church started we have placed a high priority on the training of our lay leaders. They are held to the same standard as the full time elders.
Jamie, I and the pastors I serve with spent a weekend at CHBC and devoured their approach to internships. It is becoming the basis on which we are developing some of our own ideas. I cannot recommend his material highly enough and will point to a few of resources in days to come.
My understanding is that SEBTS is starting to work on this very thing, Bret. You may want to send Dr. Akin an email asking them about this. He mentioned it year before last at the Pastor's Conference in NC, but I'm largely out of the loop with what's going on with them. It's worth checking out.
Thanks for the info Gene. I am in the process of putting together a number of correspondence interviews. My DMin project is on this subject.
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