Should Pastors Be Educated In Christian Theology??

Major

Major

Supporter

Should pastors be formally educated?​

It’s becoming increasingly popular in churches for pastoral positions, and staff positions to be filled with people trained in business skills and not ministry skills.
Some pastors have no Christian education at all. They’ve got the title “pastor” and all the perks that go with it, without going to Bible College or Seminary.

Now I already know that some will say...........Going to a Seminary will not make you a preacher! I KNOW THAT so save your thought on that.

I’m just going to state my opinion up front. I was called to preach and did so at an early age. I realized that my "Calling" to preach did not give me the insights to Bible knowledge when I was asked very difficult questions. It was then I KNEW I needed to be educated so I attended TWO Seminaries so as to grow and learn. I say that not to brag but to let you know the position I am coming from.

I think its a dangerous and scary trend. Particularly with some of these church structures where “pastors” are only accountable to an elder board… made of largely of people who finance the church. I think this trend is a reason we’re seeing so much open and proud heresy preached today with SO MUCH LIBERALISM!

Let me know what you think about that trend. Voice your comment with your thoughts.
 
Major said:

Should pastors be formally educated?​

It’s becoming increasingly popular in churches for pastoral positions, and staff positions to be filled with people trained in business skills and not ministry skills.
Some pastors have no Christian education at all. They’ve got the title “pastor” and all the perks that go with it, without going to Bible College or Seminary.

Now I already know that some will say...........Going to a Seminary will not make you a preacher! I KNOW THAT so save your thought on that.

I’m just going to state my opinion up front. I was called to preach and did so at an early age. I realized that my "Calling" to preach did not give me the insights to Bible knowledge when I was asked very difficult questions. It was then I KNEW I needed to be educated so I attended TWO Seminaries so as to grow and learn. I say that not to brag but to let you know the position I am coming from.

I think its a dangerous and scary trend. Particularly with some of these church structures where “pastors” are only accountable to an elder board… made of largely of people who finance the church. I think this trend is a reason we’re seeing so much open and proud heresy preached today with SO MUCH LIBERALISM!

Let me know what you think about that trend. Voice your comment with your thoughts.
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some of the best preachers/pastors i know are bi vocational . they work for a living . education is Good . but studying the word frnt to back inside and out is good to. but seminary is not necessary of course some one pass this on . he wont see it lol
 
I have a seminary degree, but I will concede that such a degree is not essential to answering God's call to preach. However, the seminary experience provides tools which help preachers to be more effective in their service to God. Peter didn't have formal training while Paul had the equivalent of a seminary degree. Both men were effective in their ministries.

Not everyone is intended to attend seminary, but at least attending a Bible school (not Bible college) should be considered to provide a foundation for serving a congregation and rightly dividing the Word of God.

I highly recommend that every pastor, seminary education or not, read George Herbert's The Country Parson.
 
No matter what God calls us to do it is our obligation to give our very best effort to equip ourselves for His service. I know He will give us what we need, but, sometimes what we need is a greater understanding of what God is asking of us. Being a pastor is much more than just preaching a sermon.
 
Interesting question major. I am not and will never be a pastor. But the things that I have liked in a pastor is empathy, ( with added experience) understanding, guidance, and follow up care.


So maybe the question ought to be asked by the pastor to his congregation as a servant of Christ:
“ how are you and tell me the TRUTH like your life depends on it😇

Edit: just realised pastors are more inclined to feed the sheep and I sometimes wonder what this means.
 
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Via dolarossa said:
Interesting question major. I am not and will never be a pastor. But the things that I have liked in a pastor is empathy, ( with added experience) understanding, guidance, and follow up care.


So maybe the question ought to be asked by the pastor to his congregation as a servant of Christ:
“ how are you and tell me the TRUTH like your life depends on it😇

Edit: just realised pastors are more inclined to feed the sheep and I sometimes wonder what this means.
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Feeding the sheep means to provide the sheep with what's necessary to energize them and to enable their growth. So it is with the pastor's responsilities toward the congregation.
 
BibleLover said:
Feeding the sheep means to provide the sheep with what's necessary to energize them and to enable their growth. So it is with the pastor's responsilities toward the congregation.
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I don’t feel at all energised by any bible studies these days or by my pastor or there crew.

Sorry to say this but I left my connection to them as they are really dreary.
 
BibleLover said:
I have a seminary degree, but I will concede that such a degree is not essential to answering God's call to preach. However, the seminary experience provides tools which help preachers to be more effective in their service to God. Peter didn't have formal training while Paul had the equivalent of a seminary degree. Both men were effective in their ministries.

Not everyone is intended to attend seminary, but at least attending a Bible school (not Bible college) should be considered to provide a foundation for serving a congregation and rightly dividing the Word of God.

I highly recommend that every pastor, seminary education or not, read George Herbert's The Country Parson.
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Agreed.
 
Dave F. said:
No matter what God calls us to do it is our obligation to give our very best effort to equip ourselves for His service. I know He will give us what we need, but, sometimes what we need is a greater understanding of what God is asking of us. Being a pastor is much more than just preaching a sermon.
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Agreed.

Anyone breathing who has accepted Jesus Christ can preach a sermon. But what do you do next week, next month?

You see, because men have seen that they can call themselves "Preachers" they can make a living in small towns and communities.
But because they have NO theological education, their flock suffers without even knowing why. Because of its detachment from basic Bible theology, the church has grown spiritually weak, socially compromised, and susceptible to hazardous doctrinal trends.

That leads to compromise and liberalism which is the scourge of the Christian church!
 
Via dolarossa said:
Interesting question major. I am not and will never be a pastor. But the things that I have liked in a pastor is empathy, ( with added experience) understanding, guidance, and follow up care.


So maybe the question ought to be asked by the pastor to his congregation as a servant of Christ:
“ how are you and tell me the TRUTH like your life depends on it😇

Edit: just realised pastors are more inclined to feed the sheep and I sometimes wonder what this means.
Click to expand...
"Feeding the Sheep" means to "dig in to Gods Word"!

Anyone can run around in a pulpit and romp and yell and slobber at the mouth and gasp for breath! Some call that preaching and some call that ACTING.

Feeding The Sheep means to teach the flock the Bible doctrines that make a difference in our lives. It means to quantitively explain the Creation doctrine, and Predestination as well as Salvation and why the Virgin birth was imperative along with Grace and Mercy and so on and so on.
 
BibleLover said:
I have a seminary degree, but I will concede that such a degree is not essential to answering God's call to preach. However, the seminary experience provides tools which help preachers to be more effective in their service to God. Peter didn't have formal training while Paul had the equivalent of a seminary degree. Both men were effective in their ministries.

Not everyone is intended to attend seminary, but at least attending a Bible school (not Bible college) should be considered to provide a foundation for serving a congregation and rightly dividing the Word of God.

I highly recommend that every pastor, seminary education or not, read George Herbert's The Country Parson.
Click to expand...

You know.......those who say that a Pastor needs no higher education, only a calling, would be the 1st one to ask to see the degrees of the brain surgeon that was going to operate on his child.

Now, are there some really gifted Pastors that had no education formally---YES. Some very gifted pastors had no formal Bible education, yet were very effective due to a combination of God's gifting, diligent self-study, and informal education. The renowned British pastor Charles Spurgeon lacked formal Bible education, yet read six books each week in addition to constantly reading the Bible. God used him to lead one of the largest churches of the nineteenth century in London despite his lack of formal Bible education.
 
i have read the books written by men with digress. i have listened to the videos of the educated. all help to pastor a Church. i am not against seminary education.. many presbyteries require it to ordain. 1. not everyone has the $$$$ to attend. 2. they teach you how to write sermons. the Holy Spirit is the best teacher . granted i have deep respect for men like Charles Stanley Adrian Rogers jay Vernon McGee . these are men who have gone on.
yes most big churches want the degree lots have a degree but no anointing
 
actually as paul wrote though we have ten thousand instructors but not many Fathers in the Lord , they got the education back lack the knw how
 
Major said:
Anyone breathing who has accepted Jesus Christ can preach a sermon. But what do you do next week, next month?
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you study you pray you let the Holy spirit guide you . that is what you do every day i have been in 2 different Churches on Sunday morning and preached 2 different messages . was it easy? no but it kept me on my toes . i filled in at the Methodist Church i was raised in. then i left by 10.am drove to the Church i pastor and preached. i did this over a Minth till they got a pastor. none of it was me . it was Christ in me the Hope of Glory.

education does not make the preacher .the anointing does .
 
Via dolarossa said:
Interesting question major. I am not and will never be a pastor. But the things that I have liked in a pastor is empathy, ( with added experience) understanding, guidance, and follow up care.


So maybe the question ought to be asked by the pastor to his congregation as a servant of Christ:
“ how are you and tell me the TRUTH like your life depends on it😇

Edit: just realised pastors are more inclined to feed the sheep and I sometimes wonder what this means.
Click to expand...

Biblically speaking........only MEN can be ordained Bishops and deacons!

Every year, the 1st Sunday of the year in our church bulletin I always asked the congregation what it was that THEY wanted from ME.
We included a sheet for everyone to fill out and turn in ANNOMOSLY.
Do YOU want more personal home visits, do you want a morning Bible study during the week, do YOU want more singing, do YOU want me to grow a beard......and so on and so on.

Then the staff would work to try and make those things happen. Sometimes it was not possible and we would have a deacon explain why a certain thing could not be done at the business meetings.

I always asked.....what is it that YOU would like to hear sermons on? What peaks your interest? Bible books? Then I would work to mold sermons in that fashion. It was not always possible but it was a plan of action.

I wanted the people to have input that would affect their lives and allow them to be part of the decision making.
 
Dave F. said:
No matter what God calls us to do it is our obligation to give our very best effort to equip ourselves for His service. I know He will give us what we need, but, sometimes what we need is a greater understanding of what God is asking of us. Being a pastor is much more than just preaching a sermon.
Click to expand...
2 Tim. 2:2.........
“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others”.

Formal Bible training helps ensure that the ministry of the Word of God is not only maintained but also flourishes in the church.

I have book right here at my desk from Dr. Jack Hyles. He was the pastor of the largest Sunday School in America in Hammond Ind. He was an Independant Baptist preacher.
He wrote that he was CALLED to preach and felt the anointing of God at 15 years old. He told his pastor and his pastor invited him to preach a sermon one Sunday evening.

He got up, read a Scripture, and stood there waiting. After about 3 or 4 minutes, his pastor stood next to him and asked, "Jack, what are you waiting for". Dr. Hyles said he was waiting for God to tell him what to say like he did for the Pastor.
The Pastor then asked.....Jack where are the notes from your outline?............Jack said ----"WHAT IS AN OUTLINE?"

He confessed that it was at that moment he knew he was called to preach but that he needed to LEARN what to preach!
 
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