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Can we make the local church a training college?

A common complaint among churches is the dearth of candidates for the pastoral ministry.

A recent article contrasted two approaches: selecting men and challenging them to consider this calling, and praying, preaching and leaving it to men to hear God’s call. Actually there need be no conflict between these two approaches; both have been effective. In times of spiritual awakening, under powerful ministry, many more men hear the call than in less fruitful times.

It is my conviction that more could be done to train men in the local church, and this has been borne out in experience. This is not to despise or disregard the excellent work done by Bible Colleges and seminaries. For many men this is the only feasible route as their local church and/or minister are not suitable for training locally. Also a college may be necessary if high academic attainments are required. But is that what we are lacking? There seem to be loads of PhDs around but a shortage of godly pastors. Ideally the local church should be able to train men. Colleges often lack the personal touch which is vital for training men effectively, and the fact that the local church is the best place to learn about pastoral work is borne out by the way in which colleges go to great lengths to see that men get opportunities of preaching and working in local churches for practical experience.

Not always the best

Training in theological college may not always be the best route for a man considering the ministry. In the first place, it is now generally reckoned that candidates should not go straight from school to college, but should spend some time in secular employment in order to gain experience and grow in maturity. Jesus did not begin his ministry until he was about 30. Furthermore, it is often considered wise for the possible minister to train for a trade, skill or profession before turning to ministerial training. This would mean that he would not be entirely dependent on the local church for support, also that in time of possible persecution he would be self-supporting.

By this time he may be married and have at least the beginnings of a family, and even a mortgage. College training is expensive and grants are few and far between. Living at home is usually cheaper, and he may even be able to take a part-time job to support himself and his family during training.

Unsuitable?

Most, if not all, independent Bible colleges rely on the students’ fees in order to keep going. This means that colleges are tempted to take in students who are perhaps not entirely suited for the ministry on the grounds that the training would do them good. This tends to lower the overall quality of graduates, resulting in frustration for both graduates and churches. It is much less traumatic for a man trained in the local church quietly to drop back into secular employment if he proves unsuitable.

Ministers training ministers

But how is such training to be accomplished? Most ministers, if they are at all competent, should be able to provide a modicum of practical training, and while perhaps not every pastor can cope with this and not every local church situation is suitable, many more ministers could undertake this vital work. It is often a matter of priorities. This method could produce more ministerial candidates, train more men, and filter out at local church level those who are not suitable. The following is based on 20 years of putting this into practice — as a result there are at least eight men in pastoral ministry, and several people in other forms of Christian service including the overseas mission field.

Distance learning

Few if any ministers can cover the whole curriculum themselves, but the general basic academic work can be covered by distance learning which has recently become quite acceptable. There are now many distance learning opportunities from various evangelical colleges and seminaries at all sorts of levels of academic excellence. But some things cannot be learned by correspondence, email or computer programmes. Training in a skill requires the personal touch. There needs to be face-to-face involvement to correct, direct and train. Hence the local church minister as a trainer.

Five vital areas

There are at least five areas that need to be covered in training men for Christian Leadership and Pastoral Ministry: Bible knowledge, theology, practical know-how, leadership principles and Christian character. The first two can be covered by distance learning, reading and private study. The last three need personal training and discipleship.

1. Bible knowledge. The student needs to know the content, main themes, doctrines, principles and application of each book in the Bible. If a small piece were torn out of a Bible he ought to be able to recognise which book it came from. He needs to be constantly reading through the Bible, as well as studying individual books. Candidates for the ministry must know their Bibles. Some knowledge of the biblical languages is very helpful, if not essential.

2. Theology. The student needs to know all the main doctrines of the faith and be able to teach and defend each one. This will entail not only knowing the doctrines but also being able to refute heresy, which means some awareness of the main errors of the cults and other religions will be necessary. Church History is included here, as Historical Theology is necessary in order to understand the progress of dogma. The local minister may need to ‘fine tune’ the teaching of theology from distance learning agencies.

3. Practical know-how. Since this involves not just teaching but actual training in various skills, personal involvement of the minister (or an assistant) is essential. Because of the practical nature of this field and its relevance to the local church the local church is the best classroom for this training. This area of study is sometimes called Pastoral Theology or Practical Theo-logy, but the above title has been deliberately chosen because, though one can read pastoral theology textbooks, they are unable to give the detailed and personal guidance that is so necessary, especially the correction of errors or personal idiosyncrasies. This area of study would include public speaking, sermon preparation, preaching, leading worship, leading a Bible study or discussion group, leading a prayer meeting, counselling, pastoral visitation and evangelism, and so forth.

4. Christian leadership principles and...

5. Christian character. Although these two subjects do overlap they are really quite distinct. A person may have an excellent character, even be quite godly, and yet lack leadership qualities. On the other hand, a person may be a forceful leader and yet be lacking in Christian graces. Certain politicians come to mind, but to avoid naming living persons, think of Adolf Hitler! Therefore it is necessary to train character and teach leadership qualities.

Three practical methods

There are at least three useful and practical ways in which these areas may be covered in the local church.

1. Personal discipling. In view of the New Testament teaching, both direct and indirect, concerning making disciples it is amazing that it has been so neglected and has been left to extremists. Personal discipling may involve meeting early in the morning for prayer, Bible study, discussion and answering questions. Homework or projects may be set, such as memorising a passage of Scripture, studying a portion or carrying out a task. This may be done one-to one or in a small group.

2. Taking the student with you on preaching trips, visitation, evangelism or Bible studies, etc. Jesus chose 12 ‘that they might be with him...’. Training usually involves carrying out the particular task while the student observes. After a time he does it while you are alongside him. When he is ready he does it with you in the background. Finally he does the job alone and reports back to you. At each stage you provide feed-back encouragement and, if necessary, correction.

3. Tutorials in which the student reads set books and you then discuss them with him. One or more chapters are read each week and then they are discussed. The tutor asks pointed questions: What have you learned? Is there anything you disagree with or do not understand? And so forth. He may illustrate or supplement the subject from his own experience and may ask for essays to be written on the book.

In the writer’s experience two distinct areas were treated in this way throughout the three-year course.

A. Devotional life and literature

For this course biographies and significant devotional works were studied. These included biographies of such men as Jonathan Edwards, Howell Harris, Robert Murray McCheyne, Daniel Rowland, George Whitefield, D.M. Lloyd-Jones, and others. The devotional works included such books as Power through Prayer by E.M. Bounds, Knowing God by J.I. Packer, Holiness by J.C. Ryle and Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer. It is probably true that the personal devotional life of students is somewhat neglected in theological colleges.

B. Pastoral theology or Practical theology

Books used for this course included The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter; The Christian Ministry by Charles Bridges; Preaching and Preachers by D.M. Lloyd-Jones; Rediscovering Pastoral Ministry by John MacArthur, et al; Among God’s Giants by J.I. Packer; and Lectures to my Students by C.H. Spurgeon, among others.

This meant that nine books (one per term) in each of these two courses were read during the three-year course, a total of 18 books, in addition to all the other studies. Audio and video recordings were also employed.

Active member

These studies, along with being an active member of the local church throughout the training, observing how the church operates, how elders, deacons and business meetings are run, helped prepare students for pastoral ministry. It is the writer’s contention that more of this local training could be undertaken at minimum cost. It does make considerable demands on the pastor. It is so much easier to send them to college! But if the pastor considers it important enough, he will make the time, and it is well worth it.

Stanley Jebb,
Truro