Best of the week entry 4

Comes from the Gospel Coalition and features several well known Christians answering the question What one thing would you change about seminary? My answer would be pretty different from the other answers but I did like what Al Mohler said:

But what one thing would I change? I would want to banish forever the idea that the mission of the theological seminary is to turn out newly minted professional ministers. Far too many Christians—and this includes many who should know better—think of the Christian ministry as a profession. Thus, they assume that a theological seminary is directly analogous to a medical school training physicians or a law school teaching those who will be attorneys. The idea that ministry is a profession is disastrous. The very idea of a profession is alien to the minister’s calling. Central to the concept of a profession is the idea that there is an identifiable body of knowledge and a profile of expertise that, once mastered, renders the candidate a professional. But, as the New Testament makes clear, there are persons who can master such knowledge and acquire the skill set and yet never be called nor qualified for the Christian ministry.

There is a body of knowledge to be mastered and a set of ministerial skills and practices to be developed, of course, but these do not a minister make. The ministry is a calling, and the most important qualifications for the Christian ministry are spiritual. We must aim for something far higher than the preparation of professionals, and our real challenge goes far beyond knowledge and skills.

In a similar and equally important vein, I would remind us all that seminaries, even at their very best and most faithful, can only do so much. The local church is the most important school for ministry and the faithful pastor is the crucial professor. The seminaries that serve best will be those who understand this.

While I question the whole seminary system and the accompanying clerical caste, and I mean the whole thing, if seminary were more like what Al Mohler says it should be it would be a more valuable system. I still disagree heartily with the idea of taking young men who want to minister to others, sending them away to get an expensive and extrabiblical training and then shipping them off somewhere to be a pastor to strangers. If I could change one thing about seminaries it would be to change the focus to training men right where they are, in local gatherings of the church, to minister in that location where they live and work.