Why do we think that we can or should minimize the training for pastors, substituting online for residential, and rush to get them out and into the pulpits and at the altars and fonts of our church? Why do we find it so compelling that the urgency and difficulty of the times compels us to shorten the time of preparation and even lift the usual restrictions on new Christian men to get them ordained as soon as possible? Why are we even talking about this?
Some will say that the press of circumstances and need is enough to make us set aside ancient restrictions and practice. I fear it is something else. I fear that we are being pushed to shorten and reduce requirements for the preparation and formation of pastors because we don't think that lives depend upon them or that these lives do not matter. It is my fear that we think being a pastor is not a big deal, not a big job, and that not much hangs upon the one who is ordained to the office.
I do not believe that stingy Germans are so attached to tradition that we would keep a costly path to ordination simply because that is the way we have always done it. Yes, we are traditional. No, we are not extravagant with funds. If we thought that we could do it more cheaply, most Germans I know would. So I do not buy the idea that we are wedded to residential seminaries or the rather rigorous path involving 3-4 years simply because we have always done it that way before. I do believe that if pressed we would admit that a more demanding pattern of training our pastors is because lives matter and lives are hanging on these guys and what whey do in the Lord's name. I fear, however, that being cheap may lead us where we should not go and end up devaluing not simply the training but also the ministry itself.
Could we do better? Duh. Of course we can and should. We ought to be regularly reviewing curriculum and requirements and the whole process of pastoral formation. We might make exception for those who come to us without a life of faith having grown up in the church but we dare not make the rule of it. We might even add to the time and requirements of those whom we would send out in the Lord's name -- dare I say that we might even require continuing education of those who wear the mantle of this office? Yes, we could and should do better but we must not do less than we are already doing. It poses disaster for the church and those already called, gathered, enlightened, and being sanctified but especially for those not yet of the kingdom. Need I say it? Lives matter. Too much hangs on what the pastor does. We need to be careful and be rather judicious in deciding who is apt to teach and fit for the calling but we also need to put our money where our mouth is and train them up better and more profoundly. Lives matter.
I am not a Navy Seal and would never want to be. But I have been a pastor for 45 years. It is our version of the special calling of the pastor. Training is important. Formation is not automatic or by accident. The vocation and its duties are great. Lives matter. Don't skimp on it. Unless we actually do believe that it is no big deal. If that is, indeed, the case, then we have bigger problems than just a shortage of clergy.
1 comment:
In the beginning of the Revolutionary War in America, our forces were untrained in warfare, though many were skilled in hunting and wilderness survival skills. But on the battlefield the British Army had the advantage of military prowess, strategy, and superior weapons. Baron Von Steuben came to America, worked with General Washington, and was instrumental in training the colonists to fight effectively. From shopkeepers, farmers, fishermen, and craftsmen, an army was born, eventually defeating the British and winning independence for our fledgling Republic. As you mentioned the Navy Seals, indeed a specialized unit trained for specific missions, they are essential. But I must point out that the average infantry Marine and soldier on the front lines of guerrilla war, as in Vietnam, received about 8-12 weeks of training only, and some young men just out of high school found themselves fighting for their lives without enough experience and skills needed for mortal combat. They learned on the job, because text books and even the best training cannot prepare men for all situations which would come about in brutal warfare. Men rose to the occasion, heroically and selflessly enduring the tests of courage and tenacity needful to survive on the bloody battlefields of a foreign land. A pastor, as you suggest, needs a solid background of training and disciplined spiritual learning, but even the best and the brightest, the most erudite among them, may or may not be up to the call. They will learn more by going into the mission field of their own congregation and community, prepared to live among lost people, sharing the Gospel and improving their communication abilities going forward. They must be tested, tried, bruised, often perplexed, face disappointment, and experience success and failure, and they will prevail by the grace of God alone. Soli Deo Gloria
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