What are we thinking?
Let me get this stated right up front, I’m not against religious education. As a matter of fact, I believe part of the calling to be an evangelist or pastor/teacher comes with an unquenchable desire to study God’s Word and learn how best to spread His message within the culture. The problem is when the Christian community begins to place more value on the education than on God’s calling upon a person’s life as His messenger. As I heard one evangelist say, “It’s more important for a leader to know the Master, than for him to have a master’s.
Recently, I have noticed a rise in the number of church’s who have placed ad’s for pastors similar to the one below:
"Seeking full-time pastor for (XYZ Church). Applicant must have Seminary degree, master's level preferred, with 5 years experience" etc. etc
Do these search committees and the assemblies they represent not realize this is actually putting limits on God? It might be safe to assume they are looking for the man God has called for His church, however the words they use betray this assumption, stating they want God's man only if he first meets their requirements. It's shocking to imagine that many of these churches would not have considered some of our greatest pastors both current and past. There are those pastors who meet these qualifications but won’t apply to these churches because of the image (true or not) it sends concerning the spiritual condition of the church and how they view a pastor. Some of these ads sound more like ones for a CEO's than for a spiritual leader filled with the Holy Spirit. This makes the church look more like a business than a fellowship of believers cooperating to spread the Gospel.
Worldview & A Seminary Degree
During a recent bible study a pastor told us of a young seminary student he had recently interviewed for a staff position. The young man felt he needed to let this pastor know what he was learning at seminary school and that he didn’t agree with the teaching. This student was attending a seminary school supported by Southern Baptist Churches through the cooperative program of the Southern Baptist Convention. He was being taught that the first 11 chapters of Genesis were allegory and not intended to be seen as historical fact. Those chapters contain the very foundation of Christianity and explain the very reason we needed Jesus in the first place.
There was genuine shock within the Bible study by those who assumed when one attends seminary they are being taught how to present the truth concerning the inspiration of scripture to those they will lead. Nothing could be further from the truth. As a matter of fact, if we take into account all seminary schools, more students enter school with a Biblical worldview than graduate with one. This explains the following statistic from Barna;
Based on interviews with 601 Senior Pastors nationwide, representing a random
cross-section of Protestant churches, Barna reports that only half of the country’s Protestant pastors - 51% - have a biblical worldview.
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=156 In this same article Barna went on to make this statement, “Educationally, the pastors least likely to have a biblical worldview are those who are seminary graduate (45%).” You will also find that the higher the educational level the lower the percentage is of those able to hold on to a Biblical worldview. This means that at the Masters and Doctorate level the numbers are even worse. To make matters worse, many of those are the ones who end up teaching at the university level.
Imagine that when one sees a church sign advertising "Dr. So and So" is our preacher, the chances are high their pastor does not have a Biblical Worldview. Every time I see one of those signs I think of what Jesus said to the Pharisees in Matthew 23. In verse 5b Jesus says, “They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.” “Phylacteries” means the wearing of slips of scripture text and “borders of their garments” means they added tassels to the fringe of their garments.” (See Numbers 15:39 for reference to these tassels). Those tassels were to be a reminder, not to follow their own eyes and hearts but God's Holy Word.
Jesus goes on to say they love the uppermost rooms at the feast and the chief seats at the synagogues and desire greetings in the markets of Rabbi, Rabbi. Go to any denominational convention and listen closely to what is said. Let's face it, even though the original meaning of the word "doctor" was "teacher", when someone is introduced as a Dr. we think of a physician, not a bible scholar. You might be thinking, but are they not spiritual doctors of the soul? Well, the answer is NO! They only know the one who is and should be directing people to His wisdom found within His revelation. However, if one doubts the inspiration of that revelation, are they not more likely to give spiritual advice from their own understanding as oppose to taking it straight from Gods Word? Proverbs 3:5-6 teaches us to, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”
It may seem simple to state but Godly wisdom only comes from God.
Trust in the Word!
Bro. Scott
