Ministerial Training: Need, Problems & Solution

Posted by deangonzales on June 7, 2007

The Pressing Need

When discussing gospel labor with his disciples, the Lord Jesus underscored a critical need: “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few” (Mat. 9:37). The solution Jesus recommends for this need is basic and vital: “Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Mat. 9:38).

But does the Lord want his people only to pray for laborers? Certainly, Christ’s own practice of teaching and mentoring his disciples suggests that he also took seriously the responsibility to prepare gospel laborers. This conclusion is confirmed by the writings of the Apostle Paul, who in his final epistle exhorted his young companion Timothy, “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2).

In light of these considerations, we may expand upon the need Jesus underscores as follows: The church needs not only to pray earnestly that God would raise up qualified gospel laborers, but she also needs to provide the theological and ministerial training necessary to prepare such laborers. This is “the pressing need.”

Some Common Problems

Clearly, the church needs to be concerned about theological and ministerial training. But there are certain misconceptions that prevent the church from seeing this need or hindrances that keep her from meeting this need. Each church must consider its own peculiar limitations.

Local Church Responsibility

Although most local churches acknowledge a responsibility to evangelize, to plant other local churches, and to support the work of foreign missions, many churches have lost a vision for ministerial training. In many cases, churches have completely delegated the role of ministerial training to Bible colleges and seminaries that have no direct ties or accountability to the local church. Yet, according to Scripture, Christ has appointed “the church of the living God” to be “the pillar and support of the truth” (1 Tim 3:15). Accordingly, Sam Waldron is correct when he concludes, “It is the institution of the church … which is entrusted with the preservation and passing on of Christian truth to future generations” (The Midwest Center for Theological Studies: Prospectus, p. 3).

But in many cases, academic institutions and Bible colleges have taken over this task because the church has failed to assume her responsibility. As a result, candidates for the pastoral ministry are no longer being trained by pastors but by academic experts who in some cases may have little experience in the pastoral ministry. The president of a well-known evangelical seminary recently highlighted this point when he noted,

“The transformation of theology into an academic discipline more associated with the university than the church has been one of the most lamentable developments of the last several centuries. In the earliest eras of the church, and through the annals of Christian history, the central theologians of the church were its pastors…. From the patristic era, we associate the discipline and stewardship of theology with names such as Athanasius, Irenaeus, and Augustine. Similarly, the great theologians of the Reformation were, in the main, pastors such as John Calvin and Martin Luther” (Albert Mohler, “The Pastor as Theologian.”).

Certainly, these words underscore the local church’s need to recover her God-given responsibility to be involved in theological education and ministerial training.

Manpower, Gift, and Resource

Even if local churches acknowledge a degree of responsibility to provide and promote theological education for prospective laborers, there’s often the problem of insufficient manpower, gift, and resources. After all, how many local churches are blessed with a plurality of elders? And certainly theologically gifted men, like Augustine, Luther, and Calvin, are not found in every church. Furthermore, many churches are small in size and already stretched in financial resources. This may be one reason why many churches find it necessary, though not preferable, to delegate the responsibility of training gospel laborers to parachurch institutions.

Flexibility and Affordability

In most cases, traditional Bible college or seminary education requires the student to leave his home church and current employment and to relocate and look for new employment. This in turn, presents the student and the church with a number of challenges. For some men, giving up one’s current employment and relocating is simply not a viable option. This is especially true of men already laboring in the pastorate who desire further theological education. They cannot simply abandon their congregation in order to relocate to a traditional seminary. The church also loses a valuable ministry asset when it sends her gifted and godly men away to seminary for training. More importantly, the church, to some degree, loses the ability to provide careful onsite assessment of the man’s graces and gifts. The man’s own pastors no longer exercise a direct mentoring influence upon their potential trainee. Finally, it should be noted that a traditional seminary education can be very expensive. Average tuition rates can range from $150 to $400 per credit hour. This puts the total amount of tuition for a 90-credit program somewhere between $13,000 and $36,000. As a result, the student is left with a heavy financial burden. <!–[endif]–>

A Viable Solution

In the spring of 2005, Grace Immanuel Reformed Baptist Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Covenant Reformed Baptist Church of Easley, South Carolina, founded Reformed Baptist Seminary: A Church-based Ministerial Academy (also known as RBS). We believe RBS provides a viable solution to the pressing need and common problems associated with preparing gospel laborers for the following reasons. Reformed Baptist Seminary is:

1. Ecclesiastically Based

As a “church-based” institution, RBS operates under the joint-oversight of two local churches and seeks the input and counsel of a pastoral advisory board and other likeminded churches. Moreover, RBS requires that each student be a member in good standing of an evangelical church and that his pastors be supportive of his pursuit of theological training.

2. Pastorally Administered

The seminary’s faculty primarily consists of instructors who not only have biblical knowledge and teaching ability but are qualified pastors engaged in pastoral ministry. Furthermore, RBS requires one of the student’s pastors to provide general oversight of his training and to serve as his mentor and proctor.

3. Academically Credible

The seminary provides a structured program with accountability. There are course requirements, testing and assessment, grade transcripts, dean-mentor cooperation, and regular progress reports. The seminary also consults academically qualified and experienced pastor-teachers to establish and maintain good academic standards. Additionally, RBS offers generally recognized academic degrees, such as the Bachelor of Divinity or Master of Divinity, in order to enhance the credibility of the student’s training.

4. Administratively Flexible

The seminary provides both a distance learning format as well as live modular instruction. RBS also allows the student to set his own schedule, study at his own pace, and pay tuition a course at a time.

5. Reasonably Affordable

RBS does not require the expenses of “brick-and-mortar” academic facilities and a large seminary staff. As a result, the seminary can charge the student a nominal tuition fee of $50 per credit-hour, which is only a fraction of the cost that most seminaries require. Compare our tuition rates with the following tuition rates of many other conservative evangelical seminaries:

* Variation in cost depends upon the number of credit-hours taken per semester.

** Variation in cost represents difference for SBC and non-SBC students.

6. Mutually Participative

As noted above, the seminary overseers receive input from an advisory board of pastors. RBS also utilizes pastor-teachers from other local churches and encourages the participation of other churches that are capable of hosting live modules. In this way, RBS fosters a “teamwork” approach to ministerial training.

7. Increasingly International

The seminary’s distance learning and live modular format enable it to provide “overseas” training. RBS offers the “Marrow of Theology” program, which is a streamlined curriculum that can be offered in modular format over a period of three years. The seminary has already completed this program in the Dominican Republic and has agreed to offer the Marrow in Bogota, Colombia, beginning in 2007. RBS has received additional requests to help with ministerial training from other foreign countries.

8. Potentially Far-reaching

Reformed Baptist Seminary has the potential of providing training to a broad range of like-minded students and of positively influencing many men who are in the process of reformation. RBS has the potential of preserving Reformed Baptist theological instruction for future generations in digital audio and video format. Furthermore, the seminary has inaugurated the “RBS Biblical Scholarship Fund” to finance writing and publishing projects. In this way, RBS can provide sound theological education for churches and students all over the world.

9. Realistically Viable

We believe RBS is a model of ministerial education well-suited to a group of churches that are relatively small and limited in resources. The seminary already has a basic administrative structure in place and a growing student body. RBS is well-suited to take advantage of the growing resources of internet technology and has momentum.

These are some of the ways that Reformed Baptist Seminary provides a solution to the pressing need and common problems associated with ministerial training. However, RBS needs your help.

In his famous booklet entitled “An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use means for the Conversion of the Heathens,” William Carey argued that merely praying for the conversion of the heathen is no substitute for the use of “means” for their conversion. Shortly after, Carey followed up his booklet with a sermon which communicated the same basic message under two striking exhortations:<!–[endif]–>

In a similar way, Jesus and his Apostles do not merely call the church to pray for God’s provision of gospel laborers. They also call the church to use all the biblical means at her disposal to recognize those laborers and to provide the training necessary to prepare such men. In light of this, we would like you to consider supporting RBS financially if you haven’t already begun to do so. If you are able and interested in supporting the seminary or in knowing more about our financial needs, please contact Robert Gonzales, the seminary dean.

Vision

When Sir Walter Mildmay founded Emmanuel College of Cambridge, England, he is said to have reported to the Queen of England, “I have set an acorn, which when it becomes an oak, God alone knows what will be the fruit thereof.” That school soon became a hotbed for Puritan theology and preaching. We too have planted an acorn, which we hope will someday become an oak.

One Response to “Ministerial Training: Need, Problems & Solution”

1. Ministerial Training: Need, Problems & Solution « RBS Tabletalk Says:
   February 19th, 2009 at 5:57 pm

   [...] leave a comment » Site has moved. Click here. [...]

Leave a Reply