Theologically Robust, Effective Ministry
Thursday, March 25, 2010 at 5:00AM I've spent too much of my ministry caught in a tension that shouldn't exist.
I've seen many examples of theologically robust thinking. I know a lot of people who are great teachers and who have good theological minds. I've attended the churches and benefited from the teaching.
I've also seen many examples of good practical insight. When I began pastoring I remember reading lots of practical books on how to do ministry.
The problem - at least for me - is that it seemed you had to choose between the two. I knew people who were theologically robust, and people who knew how to do effective ministry, but they usually weren't the same people.
For a long time now I've been drawn to the idea of a scholarly practitioner - someone who's theologically robust, and who knows how to apply good theology to ministry. I'm starting to notice more examples of this. It encourages me, but it also saddens me that I didn't have many models of this when I started twenty years ago. I probably should have looked harder.
If you're a pastor, don't give up and settle for one or the other. It's a lot easier to find examples of people who are doing both today. Keep looking, because they're out there. I've been at a meeting this week and it's crawling with people who fit the bill. There are some who are well-known, but there are some whose names you wouldn't recognize. Both are worth learning from.
We probably need to pray that we'll see even more of this kind of ministry. I've always been struck by this prayer, found in John Stott's Your Mind Matters:
I pray earnestly that God will raise up today a new generation of Christian apologists or Christian communicators, who will combine an absolute loyalty to the biblical gospel and an unwavering confidence in the power of the Spirit with a deep and sensitive understanding of the contemporary alternatives to the gospel; who will relate the one to the other with freshness, authority, and relevance; and who will use their minds to reach other minds for Christ.
It's a prayer that's being answered - and a prayer that's still worth praying.
Reader Comments (4)
I agree. A significant piece of this is the need to reform seminary and educational systems in general. Among other things, the need for contextually informed training is critical, allowing Christian leaders to engage in developing a robust theology through integrated practice throughout the educational process. Further, the cost of formal theological education will also need to change, as the high costs limit the ability of graduates from choosing (or even following God's leading into) certain ministry contexts.Peace, Jamie
Darryl,I share this desire to be a scholarly practioner, however I've found that many (maybe even most) within the church don't want this. Many only want the "practical" and complain about the theological being too heady and irrelevant. The problem is that without the theological...the practical is often wrong. Others want only the theological. (Discipleship = imparting the correct answers and information.) In my ministry experience it seems like has raised up many believers who are full of the "right" answers, but short on grace. Also...because their assurance is based on theological accuracy, these believers have often been very unwilling to engage people who believe things outside of their sphere of "truth".So here's the question. How does one committed to both/and effectively minister in a context where church members and even pastoral peers oppose it? If I were one or the other it would be easy to find a ministry context and be welcomed. To the theologically focused I am too open and accepting to be effective. To the practically focused I am too theological and thoughtful to be of value.How do those of us who believe we are a part of the new generation that Stott prayed for grow in our ability to balance these things and minister effectively in a ministry context that often doesn't seem ready for us yet?
I really enjoyed the post and particularly the prayer by John Stott. Thank you!
Jon:Great question. Maybe some of the theological thinking has to take place below the surface without our people really even being aware of it. The main difference will be that we're more substantive than we would be otherwise, not necessarily that we're making more academic references or anything like that.I remember reading recently that we should all be reading a level or two above where we are theologically at present to stretch ourselves, but we should be communicating only about a level above where our people are.Fascinating to think of people like Martyn Lloyd-Jones ministering in the middle of a blue-collar town in Wales, or Jonathan Edwards in the middle of nowhere in their days!