Over the past few years I've been troubled by some of the things that I have seen while in ministry and, outside of that, what I've seen presented by those who have platforms within the Christian community. I've become quite frustrated with the lack of education or the complete disdain for education in the Christian community. (Please keep in mind that I will be speaking largely in generalities and I realize that there are exceptions to my frustration.)
It seems that many people are presenting Christianity inaccurately to the world from platforms that they have been given for various reasons. When people speak for God they must be sure that they have given themselves over completely to the study of His word and also realize that we, in our human condition, can never comprehend the glories of God or how He works. Why is it that there are so many people who have such large platforms and speak out for the Christian community yet they have no formal accredited education regarding Christian ministry or Biblical Studies? There are many people who have no background in Biblical Studies and yet seem to think that they have somehow stumbled upon the correct interpretation of Scripture. I saw this in the last few days with remarks about Haiti coming from Pat Robertson. It troubles me that I have seen so many pastors and Christians who have no idea how to properly study the Bible speak out with such authority and legalism that it has done immense damage to the Christian community.
The problem for me lies (and keep in mind that I realize that I don't have the complete education either) in the fact that too many denominations, especially non-denominational denominations don't push their clergy to pursue proper education. I've been impressed by many mainline denominations that require Master's of Divinity degrees for ordination, while I don't think that this is completely necessary, I do regard their high view of education as worthy of applause. I've seen too many people speak out against behaviors, tragedies, and events because of their perspective on Revelation, yet they have no proper understanding of how to study Scripture. I'm not trying to say that these people are evil or ne'er-do-wells, but rather that we as a community must value the teaching that comes through education process and we must be looking to equip ourselves to the fullest degree possible in order to best interpret, translate, and communicate God's word.
But rather than churches looking to push their clergy to get and educational background they would rather form their own "schools" to promote their teachings instead of allowing people to grow through deep discussion and disagreements. It also disturbs me that there are schools out there that don't even provide proper teachers to teach in them. For example, I recently looked at a school in my area to see if I would encourage our youth to attend, I was shocked to see that the "professor" who was teaching Greek only had their Bachelor's degree rather than the many Christian schools out there that require at the very minimum a Master's but more commonly a PhD or Dmin. I believe that we need to step up as a community of believers and push forward, supporting Christian education that promotes dialogue, discussion and disagreements while at the same time equipping students with the tools to study for themselves and come to their own conclusions. I realize that my thoughts are a bit jumbled here, and really I shouldn't even be posting this until I have more clearly outlined my frustration but I'm a reactionary person and needed to vent. Please know that I am not saying that every Christian needs to have an academic degree regarding faith subjects but I do believe that the leaders of our churches need to have a higher education degree in Christian studies from an accredited institution in order to guide their flocks with the utmost care.
I have a feeling that my thoughts in this post will provoke some people due to their disagreements with me, I welcome that as iron sharpening iron and hope that any conversation that ensues will be full of grace and love.
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14 comments for this post
Ryan, I am inclined to agree with you. A church I once worked in thought exactly as you described. Many pastors didn't have a bachelors degree, much less a masters. And furthermore, they pretty much didn't know what to do with someone who was intellectually inclined.
I think that there is a tainting of older leaders, because many of their seminary educations were very closed minded, and they felt it rather useless. My own education has not been that way, as I am sure your hasn't either. It instead fostered thought, conversation, and stretched me to the point of breaking a few times. It forced me to re-think my views, rather than merely re-enforcing them.
Education is not always good however. I have experienced several with good educations become very arrogant, and utilize their schooling in a rather abrasive manner. Some go away from the mystery of the gospel/scripture, and instead think they can explain everything. This then can be harmful to a congregation. However, I still believe that education is good and should be valued far more than it often is.
I hope all is well in wet Washington. Talk to you later.
Phil
Phil, thank you for your thoughts. I also agree that education can be dangerous if not approached humbly. To be completely honest, it can be a struggle sometime when taking to people without an education to not become arrogant, but I know that this is not why I pursue an education and not an attribute that I want expressed. Humility and grace are the keys in all areas of Christendom.
RE: Pat Robertson's comment on Haiti.
I can't say I know his educational background, but I will say that it appears he's taking advantage of this tragedy and using it as a fear mongering opportunity rather than encouraging people to reach out to a country that was already in dire need. His approach is not at all one that encourages a dialogue or a charitable pursuit, but one that spreads misconceptions about Haiti, as well as solidifies misconceptions about Christianity.
RE: Demanding academic degrees of our church leaders, from accredited institutions.
Apparently I'm more naive than I knew myself to be, considering I thought this was already taking place. While I can understand a person, fresh in God's grace, feeling ready to take on the world, jumping into ministry, the Bible is indeed a heavy thing to take responsibility of-let alone guiding a flock through its passages. Now that I'm thinking more about it, I do know of at least one pastor who does not yet hold a degree, but is attending school while he leads a church. His enthusiastic explanation was that he and his church were all learning together. This however, is a rather isolated example, as he and his church reside in China, underground. As such, I can only be glad in the matter, but as for churches here, I'm perplexed.
There's a lot to take into consideration here. Obviously there's not a shortage of institutions to attend, but what's happening between graduation and employment to cause a change in career paths? That's assuming churches are resorting to hiring pastors without a degree in Christian studies out of necessity. Then there's the question of, are we putting limits on God, by determining that His work can only be successful through a degree backed pastor? My girlfriend just came home, and promptly offered that the most influential persons, from a point of faith in her life were certainly not graduates from a Christian institution. Maybe it's strictly a Western Perspective, this demand to be backed by an accredited institution? And perhaps rightly so? Americans love to argue. We love to be right. We love to call people out when they're in the wrong. So maybe we do need to have adequately prepared persons in the pulpits.
The problem is, there are more issues yet from coming to that conclusion: differing views on the correct translation of a passage and what it means for present day believers; churning out cookie cutter copies of stuffy graduates with stone cold absolutes, rather than motivated persons eager to bridge the gap between the Biblical text and engage our culture in relative dialogue; and then there's the off-chance of spiritually, physically, and emotionally draining our graduates before they even make it to the pulpit. Speaking from a personal standpoint, I've been in all three of these categories--deciphering what it means to be gay and Christian; being irritated at the misuse of scripture to the point of allowing it to distract me entirely and miss the point of the message; and yes, I graduated from a Christian college and slid directly into a dead end job at Nordstrom.
I'm sorry, I just realized how long this has gotten. Bottom line, God works through whomever He so chooses---degree or not. Not demanding a degree from pastors can indeed be dangerous--leading people astray. This also leads me to another point--stressing the importance of studying scripture on our own time, outside of the shadow of the church...but I'll cut myself off here.
Loves.
Ersi,
I like your thoughts. I knew as I wrote this post that I would not be covering all of my bases so let me respond to a couple of things you said that I agree with and maybe add some additional insight into my thoughts.
I agree whole heartedly that God will use whoever He so chooses and that a degree in no way will make a person a better pastor if He is not in tune with God. And I think you showed a great example of this with the pastor you mentioned in China.
My main frustration comes from the fact that too many denominations are not pushing those men or women who have felt the call of God to enhance their knowledge by going to college or seminary. I believe that there is a couple of huge disconnects between Academic Christianity and the Church. Seminary is known for killing people's desire to go into the ministry, which I can fully understand. The gaps that exist are that many Seminary's or Colleges do not do enough to maintain Ministry as the mindset of Theological Study, rather they focus on the head knowledge and don't leave room for God to work in a persons heart. The other gap is that the Church, generalizing here, is fearful of education. The Western church, especially, has become very comfortable with relying on what the fathers of our particular traditions have discovered, taught, or valued and any questioning of those values is often criticized. The main task of any educational background is to maintain a constant criticism of our traditions and Biblical understanding in order to better pursue God through His teachings in Scripture. The example that comes to mind is that many people from a Reformed tradition read Scripture through the lens of Calvin and the same with Luther, rather than reading Scripture through the lens of the author and that context.
Education does bring about arrogance and pride, therefore we must be sure to emphasize humility. And education should not be to supplement and argument but rather to learn to communicate truth that is the most reliable we can get in an effective manner. Sorry this was a long response.
Ryan, I agree with you. Some of it might not of made sense to me as a 15 year old but what made sense to me i agree with you!
Jordan
HAHAHA! I had to delete my previous post do to a very unfortunate typo.
What I meant to say is:
Ryan, you make me smile Buddy. I love your passion.
This subject is a very interesting one, to say the least. I find myself torn on this subject. On one hand, I'm reminded of Peter, who Jesus said "upon this rock that I will build my church". But Peter was a fisherman. Unlearned. It says in Acts 4:13(right after Peter and John went to the temple, healed the lame man, and preached Jesus) "Now when they(Sadducees) saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus." So Peter, who the New Testament church was started by(Acts 2), was 'unlearned and ignorant'.
Now on the other hand, we have Paul. We know he was a Roman, he knew Roman law, he was also Jewish and a Pharisee, and if we study the eloquence in his sermons, we can come to the conclusion that Paul was a very learned man. Intellectually superior to Peter, not to mention most if not all the other disciples. And yet we see Paul submit himself to the disciples soon after his conversion. Now Paul's ministry was awesome indeed and there were many times when he had the words and the knowledge to hammer home the Gospel or give direction to the church.
But was one of these men's ministry better than the other? I'd tend to say no, as they both played an equal part in the beginnings of the church, and still today.
So I'm torn. There is a simplicity to the gospel at first glance, but as you dig into it, there's sooo much. This to me suggests that God knows His creation sooo well that He has supplied the answers for all people. Those that need simplicity can find it, and those that need the more complex intellectual stimulations can find it also.
So it seems that the dynamic that might be needed for any healthy church, is having both in place. Or maybe one person that has an extraordinary gift and can communicate and relate to both the simple and the intellectual. That being said, if there is not a man of education to lead a body of believers, do they just fizzle out while waiting for such a man to come along, or do they raise up a man that has the heart to teach them the Bible? Would it not be better to have the teaching of the Word than without? Paul would have never been brought about as a persecutor of the church, and later a convert and an apostle, if Peter had not opened his unlearned mouth and started the church.
My only strong feeling in this post, is it seems that the only form of approved education in your mind is a Western society degree. This I have to strongly disagree with. Not for the sake of arguing, but only because what is a stamped, official such and such school, stating with calligraphic writing, piece of paper that most hang on the wall, mean to God? I don't remember Jesus handing out official "Disciple of Jesus" documents to the first 12. In fact we find the finger of God write only twice in the Bible. Once was the first set of the Ten Commandments, and the second was Jesus drawing a line and then writing some unknown message that made the learned Pharisees give up their 'witch hunt' when they pursued the adulteress. My point is, we can't judge someone's devotion to the church solely on whether or not they have a degree. I think it's very important that a pastor devotes his days diving into the scriptures, reading commentaries from various authors, praying for understanding, and seeking the knowledge and wisdom of God. The most remarkable example of this is King Solomon. Solomon's wisdom is world renown. In fact the Bible says that he was more wise than anyone before him and none shall be after him as wise. But he was the son of a King, so he had to have some schooling right? Probably, but look at 1 Kings 3. Solomon asks God for wisdom and understanding to lead the nation of Israel because he doesn't already have it. God is the one who gives it to Solomon, not any schooling that he received. In Proverbs(which was largely written by Solomon) we find 'knowledge' 42 times and 'wisdom' 54 times. So one of our main instructional books of the Bible on knowledge and wisdom of God was mainly written by a King who didn't get his wisdom from schooling, but yet solely from God. Now can God use schooling to give us wisdom and knowledge, yes. But to label all pastors or teachers that do not have a degree in religion or theology or have not been to seminary as 'unfit' for ministry is a lie from Satan.
And to wrap it up we go back to Paul. Phil 3:3-8 Paul explains that if any man has thought that he had confidence in the flesh, Paul had more. He was the 'best of all men' and then we come to v.7&8 where he says, "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ..." So even to Paul, a learned man, counts his past (which would include his schooling)a downfall, a loss, and all that matters is Jesus his Lord.
Chris,
There are few areas where I disagree with you, but at the same time I can see your heart. The main issue I have with your response is that you are using examples from Scripture (which I applaud) that don't apply to our context. For Peter and Paul both of their situations were very different than what we have in our context now. Peter had direct first hand experience with Jesus and even though he was a fisherman he learned from being present with Jesus. Paul is in a similar situation that, one, he had a direct encounter with the risen Christ, and two, he was learning from the disciples who were the authorities on Christ and his teaching. We do not have that privilege and therefore we cannot say that a person who has just a passion for God's Word is equipped to teach. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe that a persons knowledge of Scripture has any reflection on their devotion to the Church or to Christ, but what I do believe is that for people to be teachers and pastors we must be equipped with the proper education to do so. Ultimately my point is this, the education is available and accessible, why do we not push our clergy to attain it.
Understanding Scripture is complex and theology even more so, therefore we must passionately and actively pursue being educated on it from credible and reliable institutions and sources. This does not mean, and in fact I advocate against this, that just because a person with a PhD is the end all say all for a particular passage of scripture or theology but we must place ourselves in those areas where we will be challenged otherwise, as in our natural reaction, we flock to what we agree with rather than allowing ourselves to be challenged. A wise man and former professor once told me "a book or thought is not good based on whether or not I agree with it but rather on whether or not it makes me think."
I actually agree with you on most of what you're saying... again like I said before, I'm very torn on it. I do believe that a pastor or anyone who is knowingly preparing to teach people the Bible, should be educated in what they teach. I also strongly agree that they should read and study through views that are not of their own, for if not anything else, to make sure they're not way off on their theology. I think the only thing I really don't agree with is that the education has to come from an institution. I think I can see your heart on this one also, and do like what I see. It seems that more than anytime in our lives, we now see a lot of 'denominations' sprouting up and somehow getting the limelight and they either portrait a skewed version of Christianity, or flat out heresy. People go off emotions and feelings more and more, and somehow forget, or ignore, the Word of God. So with all that, I agree. The only thing is the degree thing. Because I believe that someone can know everything there is about the Bible as a book, but completely miss Jesus. And if the knowledge and wisdom doesn't come from God, then it's useless in church. So yes, pastors or would be pastors should learn everything they can and for all their days should study more and more and refine their thoughts and teachings through the Word, but also keeping the focus on God and who He is and what He has done, and ultimately in their case, what He wants them to say.
btw Ryan, sorry I haven't kept up with the awesome discussions, for it seems that my reader wasn't showing your new posts until today. So I thought you had stopped posting.
I would say that Pat Robertson was out of line but I am not sure what his education has to do with it. I believe that he has a Doctorate. However just from looking at his website his life verse Phil. 4:13 depending on what he thinks it means I think he is taking it out of context. On the other hand what qualifies someone to teach the bible? In my opinion I do not think that you have to have a degree to be a good bible teacher or paster. Their have been examples of preachers who have had little to no education who still have impacted people for good and furthered the kingdom, John Bunyan for example. As far as the correct interpretation of scripture I believe that there are some parts of scripture that are vary clear and others that are not as clear and open to interpretation within context.
Last of all I would say that it is helpful to have pastors that have formal bible degrees and such but I do not know why it is necessary for pastors to go and get quote "proper education". Once you have attained a knowledge of how to study the bible and preach the rest of the growth and education can come through the study of the bible it self.
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