Undergrad Graduation Day
Many pastors and ministers to be are thrilled to “go unto the world and preach the gospel”. Chalk full of theology, exegesis, and confidence, and we are ready to reach the world for Jesus Christ.
Year Following Graduation
Work the backroom at American Eagle or make lattes for Starbucks while you apply for grad school or seminary.
Graduate School/Seminary Graduation
The joke that theologians are just people answering questions nobody is asking is not funny. More and more confidence abounds to will-be-pastors and ministers.
I was ready and prepared to do ministry now. I am pretty solid on where I stand doctrinally, theologically, and most importantly, I know where I fall on the T.U.L.I.P. scale.
First Month of Pastoral Ministry
I have no idea what to tell a student who comes to me fearing she may have contracted AIDS while doing missions work in Africa.
Where was THAT class?
Second Month of Pastoral Ministry
Random jibberish terms like: ministry budget, proposed budget, faith budget, overdrawn, fleeting resources, income not meeting spending, church mortgage, pay roll, etc.
“It was my understanding there would be no math.”
Third Month of Pastoral Ministry
A call is made of an elderly man in the ICU who is not expected to live through the weekend. All he wants is to speak to a pastor.
You’re a pastor! Your nicely framed diploma says so.
It turns out a man who has owned more cars than years you’ve been alive does not want to hear much from a young ministry graduate as he’s preparing to meet Jesus face to face.
He asks nothing about total depravity. Too bad, I was prepared for that question.
Fourth Month of Pastoral Ministry
Another homeless addict has made his way through the doors wanting to speak to a pastor. Maybe he’s in dire need! Maybe he’s manipulating you for things he does not need that you do not have.
I don’t remember learning about this anywhere.
Fifth Month of Pastoral Ministry
The congregation is already a bit upset with changes you have made when God continues to inspire you to new things. One person wants to talk about it WITH YOU (if you’re lucky).
Conflict!
And it is not conflict about whether baptism should be sprinkle or immersion.
Conflict = YOU! You are the problem…always!
Where was my class about that?
Sixth Month of Pastoral Ministry
Start to wonder if your pastoral ministry degree and classes really gave you everything needed to be a pastor.
OK, I am going to resist the urge to say something about the “rewards being out of this world” and just say, very entertaining post. Hang in there, brother!
In Christ,
Loren
Thanks for your reply Loren! You are absolutely right; the rewards are certainly out of this world. I fear my approach to this post may have portrayed my heart falsely.
I love what I do! I love doing ministry. I even love my alma maters.
It was a bit directed toward current students to remember what they are there for, and it was also a little bit directed at Ministry degree progams with a challenge for better equipping. I could have greatly benefitted from some courses on…say…budgeting or stronger counseling courses or even a few more leadership courses.
Thanks again for your response.
I think I understood where you are coming from. Your post made me smile because it is so very accurate!
I remember the very first time I went to a homeless shelter to pray with the people there. You know, they didn’t seem to be very interested in hearing about “Calvinism vs. Arminianism”, or listening to my brilliant dissertation about “sola fide”, or even discussing Dispensationalism. No, it seems that they were more interested in praying about where their next meal was going to come from, if God could free them from addiction to methamphetamine, or how much longer they had to live before their Hepatitis-C would kill them.
I don’t disparage Seminary training, either, but I concur that there seems to be a real lack of practical training for the “real world” therein. I wish that a greater emphasis were placed on reaching people “where they are at” with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It has been my experience that most people are not really all that interested in the theoretical, Theological deliberations that receive such an inordinate amount of focus in Christian institutions of higher learning.
Such controversial debates might seem fascinating to those who haunt the ivory towers and musty libraries of Academia, but most people are far more interested in what God can do for them on the street where they live. Classes that teach such practical application are indeed conspicuously absent from the curricula of most seminaries.
My grandfather was a lay preacher for more than 40 years. He dropped out of school in the 5th grade to help work on the family’s farm. When people would ask him where he had studied for the ministry, his response was, “I attended the School of Hard Knocks and Worn Knees.” It is no exaggeration to say that this faithful man of God impacted more lives for the Kingdom of God than many whose walls are adorned with diplomas from the finest seminaries in America.
I believe that, sooner or later, we all have go to “school” where he went if we are going to make a difference. It seems they don’t ever mention THAT in most seminaries, either.
Thanks again for posting such a candid reflection on your own experience in ministry. May God richly bless you inn your service to Him.
In Christ,
Loren
I’ve heard this same story over and over. At times, I’ve wanted to feel the same things, but I chose not to. Here’s why:
1. Academic studies should never stand alone over real life application. What I see is the failure of our institutions to explicitly teach the “tools” that prepare students to improvise in real-world contexts with the best knowledge and wisdom to make proper decisions.
2. We go to college for ourselves, not for the school. Here’s the approach I took in my 7 years of college: I’m paying them the big bucks to prepare me to do the things I’m already passionate about. They don’t need to convince me I need to do it, or give me ideas about HOW to do it, just give me the tools and education to help me do what I already do better. So school wasn’t about grades to me. I couldn’t have cared less if I passed the classes (although my parents gave me motivation at times). I wanted to LEARN the MATERIAL from those classes. Schools have to do grades and accreditation to keep in business. That’s their problem, not mine. My job is to learn as much as I can while I’m there. If what I need to learn fits the course schedule, I’ll get an A. If it doesn’t, I’ll spend some extra time in the Prof’s office discussing things and writing extra papers to have them provide feedback on (which I did several times in both undergrad and grad work).
3. A college will not teach you how to minister to people in a small town like Bryan, Ohio, the county seat of Williams County which for months, had the highest unemployment in the state. But a college can teach you how to connect with the right people to assist those small town folk. A college can teach you how to set priorities in those hard times. A college can teach you how to immerse yourself in scriptures that share about hope and peace and justice. A college can ignite your soul for hurting people with the community of ministry students who share the same passion as you.
4. Theology is good, but if it is not first formed out of one’s Christology, it is worthless. Furthermore, if Theology is not practical, is has no use in the church. Thus, our day’s best theologians are those people who show where faith and life intersect through God’s Word and his Son. They are our singers, our dancers, our actors, our writers, bloggers, and our complainers. They are our activists our politicians and our local school teachers. They are everyone who is living their life for Jesus Christ to make a difference where they are right now, not who they hope to be.
To diagnose colleges, I’ve seen many college students full of ideologies and watched them fail miserably in their first ministries. This is largely because they’ve bought into the educational system. They believe that everything they learned applies to their new ministry context. Again, this is foolish. Their education was not an ideal or something that is directly applicable. It’s a tool that helps THEM do what God created them to do. These college graduates are relying on their education in ministry, rather than the passion that God put in them from the beginning.
It’s one thing to complain, it’s another to do something about it. Right now I’m working with several ministry coaches to help develop an internship network for young and new ministers to help them connect their passion, the things that God has created them in advance to do (Eph. 2:10), with their education and ministry location. As pastors who have been at it longer and have failed enough times to know better now, we should be helping the rookies out so that they are stronger at what God is doing in their life, rather than getting burned out in those first few years.
Long reply, I know. Be encouraged. Your education was VALUABLE. You just might not know what God wants you to do with it yet! Plus, it’s prepared you to learn the things you’re learning now!
1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Certainly
4. Tooooootally!
I definitely agree on all levels Sam! Check out my response to Loren above to see what my original intention for this post was (though not completely accomplished.)
Thanks for commenting bro. I appreciate it! Love the conversation.
PC, I didn’t think you were doubting your education, so I apologize if my post seemed to be directed solely toward you. I think it’s an interesting topic however (as you may have noticed already). There’s so much more that we could say about a number of things here. Thanks for introducing it!
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