Do believe a Pastor "needs" or "should" go to seminary?

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Often these professors are not elders in churches and sometimes they have no pastoral experience whatsoever. Yet we bow before such men quite often as the experts who are to train the next generation of pastors.

To add to this, there are some seminary presidents, who are the head of a place of training for pastors, who are not pastors and some have never been pastors. How they can be in charge of a seminary whose main goal is (or should be) to provide training for pastors is baffling.

P.S. Great post Joe.
 
Great post, Joe.

As a professional educator for 20+ years, my experience, as well as all of the research, teaches me that modeling is the primary tool for teaching. The reason character is the primary criterion for an elder is because it is by modeling the faith that he is teaching that the sheep are edified.
 
From a pew-dwellers perspective: some of the best pastors I've seen I've had an unrelated undergraduate degree, have gained a lot of "life experiences" often through the jobs they worked to get through undergraduate and seminary schooling, have drawn on the knowledge and experience of multiple professors, and actively pursued ministering while completing their education. From the few years I had in a church with a pastor who had only a Bible BA, I don't think he was well prepared to address much more than what he had been taught. In other words, he didn't have tools to work through the passages he was preaching from or the ability to address issues as they arose.
 
Great post, Joe.

As a professional educator for 20+ years, my experience, as well as all of the research, teaches me that modeling is the primary tool for teaching. The reason character is the primary criterion for an elder is because it is by modeling the faith that he is teaching that the sheep are edified.

Yeah, I definitely disagree with this. It is the preached and taught Word of God that changes people, from the inside out, through the power of the Holy Spirit; not modeling another believer's outward "spirituality." Sactification, i.e. spiritual growth, only comes from the work of God, and scripture is pretty clear that God's means to accomplish this is his spoken (audible) Word.
 
JWithnell:

I have noticed this as well, especially when folks go cross-cultural. Farming families, families made of up MKs (missionary kids...those already having a wide experience across cultures), and ex-military folks often do best in connecting with locals.
 
I will only say - from my perspective, I have known teaching elders with Seminary degrees that (apparently) knew less than the laymen I hang around with. Just sayin'.

And of course some come brainwashed with Left Behind theology from some "conservative" seminaries.

All that said, I want to go - badly, but not at the right life situation at this point (just had our fourth kid). I'd prefer my pastor to have a seminary degree, especially one from a Reformed institution.

I've also seen the 'get trained by your pastor' model fail. I've seen a lot of cloned pastors come out of models like that who aren't exposed to very much critical thinking.
 
Here's an excellent article on AOM that can be helpful in helping us think in regard to the ministry of the church.
On the one side you have [the person] who mocks all study of the original languages... He represents the reprehensible attack upon serious study of the biblical text that is so common in certain elements of evangelicalism.
On the other hand you have the attitude ... which elevates the academy above the church, makes "peer review" the standard rather than the expression of the mind of the church in the wisdom of those men called as elders whose duty it is to actually teach and preach the Word of God, so that the edification of the body and training in godliness and truth becomes a mere "by-product" of the all-important intellectual activity of the academy. Hebrew and Greek are vital, but if you become so focused upon the languages so as to lose the balance and harmony of all of Scripture, well...you are not helping yourself or anyone else
 
Great post, Joe.

As a professional educator for 20+ years, my experience, as well as all of the research, teaches me that modeling is the primary tool for teaching. The reason character is the primary criterion for an elder is because it is by modeling the faith that he is teaching that the sheep are edified.

Yeah, I definitely disagree with this. It is the preached and taught Word of God that changes people, from the inside out, through the power of the Holy Spirit; not modeling another believer's outward "spirituality." Sactification, i.e. spiritual growth, only comes from the work of God, and scripture is pretty clear that God's means to accomplish this is his spoken (audible) Word.

Yes, but his spoken Word must be understood. That is why we translate the Scriptures into vulgar tongues. The Word of God in Latin may indeed be the Word of God, but it has no effect on my congregation because they don't understand it. (LBC 1:8)

1 Pet 5:2,3 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. *

Being an example to the flock helps the flock, not to hear the preached word, but to understand the preached word, which is the whole point.

Peter told the elders that they should prove to be "examples to the flock". This is the most important leadership function that an elder exhibits. Failure here sabotages the rest. This begins by being an example of Christlike character so that you can confidently say with Paul, "follow me as I follow Christ" (see 1 Cor 11:1). Timothy Witmer; The Shepherd Leader; pg. 160

An elder must be an example of Christian living that others will want to follow. Peter reminds the Asian elders "to be examples to the flock". If a man is not a godly model for others to follow, he cannot be an elder even if he is a good teacher and manager. Alexander Strauch; Biblical Eldership; pg. 78

A practical doctrine must be practically preached. We must study as hard how to live well as how to preach well. We must think, and think again, how to compose our lives (as well as our sermons) as may best lead to men's salvation. Richard Baxter; The Reformed Pastor; Part 1, Chapter 3

Secondly, ministers are taught to be holy, sanctified and reconciled themselves. Can it be your duty to declare to others their righteousness, yet not declare your own righteousness to yourself? How can you be a true witness to testify between God and sinners, if you yourself neither know nor feel the truth of your testimony?

David says to the sinner, 'I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go' (Ps 32:8). But in the same psalm he first of all sets down his own experience in an extended description of his repentance and of God's mercy on himself. William Perkins; The Calling of the Ministry; Section I, Chapter 3

Merely proclaiming the Word is not enough, however; the pastor must live out its truths in his life...The pastor who wants his words taken to heart by his congregation must first take them to heart himself. John MacArthur; Pastoral Ministry: How to Shepherd Biblically; pgs. 19 and 21
 
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Excellent post Ken. Indeed, the verses pointing out the fruit of the heart being evident in the life, manner and speech of the believer are plentiful throughout the New Testament. God can be, and often is, exalted and His Word is clearly taught by men who fail to walk in a manner consistent with the character of our Savior, in spite of themselves. Whether in pretense or truth the Gospel is proclaimed to the glory of God. But it is also abundantly clear from God's Word that the heart and character of men are the preeminent qualifications for the elders and that the integration and interdependence of the saints is a primary means of mutual edification. Any other goals must bow before the pursuit of personal faithfulness to God.
 
Excellent post Ken. Indeed, the verses pointing out the fruit of the heart being evident in the life, manner and speech of the believer are plentiful throughout the New Testament. God can be, and often is, exalted and His Word is clearly taught by men who fail to walk in a manner consistent with the character of our Savior, in spite of themselves. Whether in pretense or truth the Gospel is proclaimed to the glory of God. But it is also abundantly clear from God's Word that the heart and character of men are the preeminent qualifications for the elders and that the integration and interdependence of the saints is a primary means of mutual edification. Any other goals must bow before the pursuit of personal faithfulness to God.

Perkins, in fact, continues...

God sometimes does satisfy and save a poor distressed sinner by the testimony of such men, to teach us that the power to do so lies in the truth of his covenant and not in the man. There are all too few to teach us how much it pleases God when a minister declares the righteousness of others which he possesses first himself and witnesses to others about a truth which he first knows in his own experience.
 
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