I could go on about some other issues I see related to this whole subject, but I think I’ve had enough of it and want to move on to some solutions. As a disclaimer, these aren’t intended to be things that I think have to happen, but simply some ideas about how we can address the issues I’ve written about in Parts 1, 2, and 3.
1. Require less coursework before ordination and require more after ordination. I find it interesting that you have to take so many classes to become ordained and then not have to do anything to continue your education once you are ordained. I think you should have to take fewer classes to be ordained, but be required to still take classes once you are ordained. Since you don’t have to physically move to the school you take classes from anymore thanks to online options, you don’t have to drop everything to go to school. You can still continue whatever you’re doing wherever you’re doing it at. This gets into some other questions about college degree programs. While I have some thoughts about this, it’s way too big to tackle at this point.
2. Encourage potential ministers to become marketable in another profession while providing training for how to be an effective bi-vocational minister. As I alluded to in Part 1, I think there is a financial crunch coming for local churches. The generations that generally give more are dying out and younger generations seem less likely to give. Also, while giving financially to those who are a spiritual blessing to you and others is a biblical concept, there’s not much evidence that having a lot of people who are totally supported by churches is something we should even expect. Even Paul had to have a marketable skill (tentmaking) to support himself. We can’t expect our current way of spending money at a local level (majority going to salaries and property) to continue if we’re going to be at all effective.
3. Make entrance into a ministerial training program based more on results (or fruitfulness if you want to sound spiritual) and less on willingness. Does a baseball franchise draft someone because they want to be a baseball player? Does the military put someone in an officer training program because they showed up at a recruiting office and said they wanted to be one? Then why do we put someone on track to ordination simply because they say they want to be a pastor? At some point, we have to actually look at this person’s life and see if they’re actually doing ministry that produces anything, and I’m not talking about numbers. I’m talking about seeing if there are people who can say that this person has blessed them in a specific way. Is there evidence that God is already using them in the lives of others? Have they proven that they can lead anything? If you can’t show any of that, then why should we invest time, money, and resources to equip them to do something they’ve shown no ability to do? Before beginning the ordination program, one should have to have multiple references about what they’ve already been doing to minister to others.
4. Ordain those who have demonstrated character and fruitfulness, not those who can simply pass classes, get hired, and show potential. This goes along with #3, but takes it a bit further. At this point, you can be ordained if you take and pass the classes, stay employed at a church for 2 years, and don’t get caught doing anything really bad. Is it any wonder that anybody who’s been a pastor for long can easily name five or more pastors who have no business being pastors without really having to think hard? When referring to leadership, the New Testament seems to put emphasis on character and fruitfulness rather than education and potential. So why aren’t we doing the same? If I trust you with my money and my wife and you’re obviously blessing others, I want you on my team, even if you can’t recite the Apostle’s Creed or tell me what transubstantiation is. If you’ve shown the ability to persevere through tough situations and equip others, I want you on my team, even if you don’t feel comfortable exegeting Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer or know who Augustine is. Let’s change the questions we ask of potential ordinands to reflect the stuff that we should see early on. The knowledge can come later. Character and fruitfulness normally doesn’t.
I’ve got a couple more I’m still working on, but I’ll save them for another post. Honest confession time: If what I’ve laid out had been in place 15 years ago, I don’t know if I would’ve ever been ordained. I think that’s a good thing. My experience working in the local church as a paid minister was not a good one overall for me or for the people in those churches. I think part of it was being misplaced in terms of my gifts (which I’ll get to in the next part), but some of it was getting the green light by the powers that be based on me being smart, somewhat likeable, and known. That shouldn’t be. A world that is dying to hear the good news of the Gospel will not be reached by a Church being led by people with those qualifications.
I’d love to get some discussion and feedback on this. Please chime in.
Well said, Matt. 3 and 4 are especially on the money. I think we’ve tried to fit people in a tiny ministry “box” and put out cookie cutter pastors. How many people had no ministry experience outside of those 2 years prior to ordination? How does someone go through 4 years of ministerial education without serious experience? That means that people would have to volunteer at smaller churches which would really prepare them for the reality that most of our churches are smaller and that expecting a full-time position right out of college may not happen. If I had to go bi-vocational, I would be in real trouble though I am now working toward becoming a #tentblogger(http://www.tentblogger.com). I think you and I have had starkly different experiences in the church since graduation and that’s why this conversation is so important. People need to hear all the sides and that, through it all, God reigns.
Thanks, Heath. Like you said before, “Let’s criticize by creating.” What solutions do you see?
Well-thought-out, well-written. As I read #3, however, I thought of my dad, your grandfather. A college prof, he left that to pastor a church that was pastor-less because its pastor–his father–had died suddenly. After pastoring (with great fruitfulness) for 33 years (while also serving as a classroom teacher and school administrator), I often heard him say: I teach because I love it . . . I pastor because I must. The “call.” Where do you factor that in?
LYF
Everyone has a “call”, but that call is confirmed with help from the body. Anyone can say that they’re called to be a pastor, but whether or not it’s true is backed up by visible results that others can see.
Also, I think we may have over-glorified this “call” to vocational ministry. It seems to create gaps between those who are “called” and those who aren’t.
In the PCA a call to ministry is tested in three ways… 1. the inward call of a clean conscience. 2. the manifest approbation of God’s people (i.e. a church actually wants you to be their pastor), and 3. the concurring judgement of a lawful court of the church. If any of these are missing then perhaps the person does not really have a true “call” to ministry. At least not pastoral ministry.
Matt, have you read “Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor” by D.A. Carson? I liked it very much, and I suspect you would like it too.
Interesting. I like the fact that a calling must be affirmed by the body and isn’t just left to an individual. I haven’t read the book you mentioned, but I just read some of the reviews on Amazon. It sounds like a good book for most pastors.
good post Matt. I agree with half of number one. I would like to see more educational requirements after ordination, but I would not cut down on any before (and this coming from the PCA which requires an M.Div. prior to ordination). Number two sounds practical, but in my experience when a pastor is forced to split his time and work bivocationally, his ministry suffers. And I like three and four!
The whole question of how much education should be required for ordination seems to be a difficult one to answer since there’s no clear scriptural mandate and denominations do it differently. Education is very important, but seems to be weighted too heavily in comparison with other requirements. I think we could all agree that the disciples were ordained by Christ, but when? When he sent out the 72 or after his resurrection or right before Pentecost or some other time? They would’ve had different levels of education and experience depending on when that happened. Somehow we have to balance these requirements. If we make the bar too low, then we invite a lot of trouble due to unfit ministers. If we make it too high, we create a bottleneck of leadership, which is in no way conducive to reproducing the necessary leadership needed for the Church to be a movement.
Thanks for adding to the discussion, Jeff.