Why don’t pastors prepare new leaders? I batted this question around with two ministry colleagues. From those conversations, we developed a list of nine reasons pastors don’t prepare leaders. The reasons vary, but all result in a pastor who neglects a fundamental part of his role (2 Tim. 2:2). Do you identify with any of
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Our church is currently in the process of revising its policies with regard to how it works with young men and women who approach the elders with their desire to serve in some capacity of vocational Christian ministry. I was asked to begin assembling some biblical principles to guide our discussions. We, of course, are
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Part 5: What if the Church is the Problem? I would like to conclude this series in defense of church-based pastoral formation, responding to a very important critique: “What if the church is the problem?” Let’s imagine a situation in which the local churches of a certain region or denomination are given over to
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#4 A Practical Argument In this installment, I argue that church-based pastoral formation offers a host of practical benefits. We’ll examine the church as an effective context for formation. Next, the issue of financial sustainability will be discussed. Why do doctors go through a residency before they graduate? It is in the residency that theoretical
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#3 An Ecclesiological Argument By ecclesiological, I mean that which touches on the structure and make-up of the church. Certain models of pastoral formation honor and uphold a biblical ecclesiology, and others threaten it to varying degrees. In favor of church-based pastoral formation, the ecclesiological argument is simple: pastoral formation is the responsibility of the
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#2 A Historical Argument In a previous post, I argued that the Bible supports a church-based model for pastoral formation. In this article, the attention turns to church history. While the Bible is unchanging, the church wrestles with the application of its truth in an ever-changing world. Throughout history this has been an exercise requiring
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Over the course of five brief articles I want to present arguments in defense of the local church taking full responsibility for pastoral formation. I will argue that a church-based approach has biblical and historical support, in addition to offering a host of practical and economic advantages. Church-based formation also aligns better with a healthy
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The word seminary comes from the Latin seminarium and its original meaning is seed plot or seed bed. The use of the term to refer to clerical formation apparently began in the Catholic counter-reformation of the 16th century. During a resurgence of the Roman Catholic Church in England under Mary Tudor, the Archbishop of Canterbury,
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What if the healthiest churches in the developing world were responsible for the pastoral formation of the next generation of pastors? While the global numbers regarding the scarcity of theological education among church leaders are astounding (around 80% of leaders in the developing world have no formal theological education), the problem, at least in the
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Can pastoral formation and theological education be considered missions? After all, missions is about the fulfillment of the Great Commission: And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
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