For the last several years, I have found myself interacting with
both the theological students and theological educators. Although I am a seminary graduate and have been
involved in higher education ministry for a major part of my life, this is not
something for which I was been intentionally trained. Even
so, I have found myself deeply immersed in theological education and dealing
with some of the challenges it must address today.
Much has been written about what is needed to train a new
cadre of ministers—both young adults and mid-career people--but I might as well
add my own two cents worth. I do this
not as an expert in the field but as a minister who loves the church and has
been encouraging and equipping its potential leaders for most of my life. It seems that there are four major components
that are necessary to form men and women to serve the church today.
First, seminary students need to be guided in spiritual formation. They need to know how to “feed themselves”
and relate to their Creator. We once assumed
that students came to seminary knowing how to pray, spend time in fellowship
with God, and meditate on scripture. We
were wrong then, and we certainly cannot expect these skills from students—especially
young adults—coming from a postmodern, post-Christendom society. Students need to learn and practice spiritual
disciplines that will help them to grow as disciples.
Second, theological formation must still be a primary focus
in a seminary student’s education. He or
she must be exposed to the best of biblical and theological scholarship in
order to mine the riches of the Christian faith. Although we must become more involved in
interfaith work if we are to do effective ministry in the 21st
century, the Christian student must first understand his or her own tradition
before entering into dialogue with proponents of other faiths.
Third, students must understand the contextual nature of
ministry. Students need to know the history
of the Christian tradition and the shifting paradigms out of which the church
has witnessed and served. “We have
always done it this way” is neither a correct nor an informed perspective when
it comes to the work of the church. Ministry
is always contextual, so the well-equipped minister must acquire historical and
anthropological skills.
Fourth, contemporary ministers need to have excellent skills in communication. In our 24/7 media world, the only way that the Gospel will get a hearing is by being communicated effectively through spoken word, written word, and the visual arts--both in person and virtually. Effective ministers need to be excellent story-tellers using all of the media at their disposal.
Finally, ministers in training must be involved in formation
through praxis—involvement in the work of the local church, judicatories, and
service organizations. They need to be
doing the work of ministry in partnership with trained mentors and coaches who
can help them understand what they are experiencing and build their ministry
identities on those experiences.
Seminaries, divinity schools, and other theological institutions
are creating, implementing and learning from new models and strategies to prepare
students to serve Christ and the church, but these five areas—spiritual
formation, theological formation, contextual formation, communication formation and ministry praxis
formation—are essential to that process.
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