When I attended seminary, most of the
student body were young men and women who had just completed college. A few like me had spent a couple of years in
the military, another graduate school, worked in a secular vocation, or taught
school. Occasionally, I would have a class with an
older person, usually male, who had been “called to the ministry” at midlife
and was seeking a theological education in order to be a pastor.
Most of my peers were preparing to work
in the local church and being immersed in the knowledge and skills to serve
Southern Baptist churches that followed the denominational model of programming
and missions. Quite honestly, we were
being indoctrinated as much as we were being educated.
How things have changed!
A recent blog post by Tom Ehrich pointed
out that “seminary education is coming under increasing scrutiny, not only for
cost-effectiveness but for quality of preparation. As one longtime fan of
Princeton Theological Seminary lamented recently, ‘Our seminaries are preparing
clergy for a church that no longer exists.’"
An article posted on the Insights in
Religion website, however, reports on the increased enrolment of older adults
in seminary that come out of traditional churches and hope to serve traditional
churches.
Yet another perspective is offered by Thom
Rainer who discusses the “disruptive changes” facing ministers in the coming
days that completely alter the landscape, particularly for pastors.
All of these commentators point not only
to the need to find new ways to educate
men and women for ministry, but the challenge to provide an education that will
form ministers for a variety of settings.
Although I am not an expert on these matters, let me suggest some types
of pastors that are needed now and for the future.
First, there is the pastor who preaches,
teaches, cares for the flock, and administers a more or less traditional congregation. There is still a need for this type of
pastor, but the challenge is that fewer traditional churches are able to
support such a person because of a decline in membership and financial
resources. Increasingly, these pastors
will have to be bi-vocational, finding a major source of their income (and
benefit packages) outside of the church.
Second, some churches need a pastor who
will serve as a change agent, assisting the church to transition to a new
approach to ministry that fits the context in which it finds itself. This may involve changing worship and ministry
style, becoming more racially diverse, or transitioning to serve a completely
different ethnic group.
Third, increasingly we need hospice pastors
who can help a church die with dignity.
As painful as it may be to say it, some churches are not going to
survive. How can a leader help members in these churches find a new church home,
deal with their grief, and be good stewards of the physical resources they have
built over the years?
Fourth, we need entrepreneurial pastors
who can start something new. This may be
a new church start, a missional faith community, or an outreach that looks
nothing like a traditional church. The
most important aspect of such a work is that it will be contextual in form,
worship, and ministry.
Seminaries and theological schools face a
tremendous challenge in retooling their curricula and redirecting resources to
provide such leaders for the future, especially since so many of our churches
are in denial about the situations in which they find themselves. Theological educators may have to spend some
time defining reality for the churches as well as preparing leaders for the
future.
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