WiseReader

Seminary professors need more focus on practice than theory 

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“That seminary has a professor of preaching who can’t preach.” The statement was startling, but my friend, a seasoned pastor, was dead serious. The professor in question, published in his field and holding impeccable academic qualifications, had, in my friend’s view, mastered the theory without being able to deliver the goods.

This raises, for me at least, a critical question concerning seminary training. With the incessant drive toward accreditation, and subsequent professionalization of ministry, the credentials for teaching are tightening. Maintaining high standards is great, but the quest for academic recognition sometimes leads to faculty placements that are less than effective for future church health. While few will argue that bibilically astute theological scholarship is unimportant for ministry preparation, too few seem to grasp the value of having practitioners in the classroom.

Since seminaries exist to prepare individuals for ministry, it seems reasonable to expect professors to have mastered both the theory and practice of their discipline. The only way to master the practice of any discipline is to, well, practice it. Perhaps the monotonous whine deploring the sorry state of our evangelical churches is somehow connected to the way in which pastors are trained for their ministry vocation.

If the above mentioned professor was a working pastor, preaching and ministering week by week, perhaps that seminary could have avoided the ignominy of having a professor teach what he himself is apparently unable to do. Just as a message on evangelism is most effectively delivered by one who is actively engaged in evangelism, it would seem to follow that the most effective professor of pastoral studies is one who is, or has been, actively enagaged in pastoral ministry.

A few years ago I was challenged by a Canadian mission leader to consider investing six months in overseas ministry at a Bible school formed to train pastors in a fledgling church movement. When asked about the academic qualifications needed, he responded, “We need instructors who have maturity and experience in ministry as opposed to heavy academics.” It was not that he felt academic preparation was unimportant, he had significant formal education himself, but the greater need was a seasoned role model for young, inexperienced pastors.

Jesus said, “A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40 NIV). This biblical principle holds in seminary training. If the goal is to produce academic scholars, then by all means, seminaries should provide the best academicians possible. But, if the ultimate aim of a seminary is to train practitioners of ministry, they need to secure academically sound instructors who are engaged in those ministries themselves, or have had many years of experience in those ministry roles. Well-trained, effective pastors are more likely to reproduce those qualities in seminarians.

Extensive ministry experience, however, must be more than a cursory three to five year stint as pastor while completing an advanced degree in order to qualify for an academic post. That does not, in my view, consitute significant ministry experience. It is not that I discount the value of academic study and qualifications. I believe prospective pastors and ministry personnel, including those who would teach, should puruse as much formal education as is available to them. But I caution against creating a glut of ministry theorists who have little on the ground ministry experience.

Including several working pastors on a faculty can be an effective antidote to the ivory tower syndrome prevalent in some seminaries today. This enables the seminary to remain connected with real-time ministry, and in so doing, provide far better training for their students.

We are often reminded that experience is the greatest teacher. If so, it follows that teachers should be those with the greatest experience.