Comments on: A better way to do ministerial formation

By: hafidha sofia

hafidha sofia — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 18:21:50 +0000

Yeah. Something needs to change. To my mind, a church should not be in debt; ministers should not be in massive debt, either. We only have 100,000 members spread across this gigantic country of ours, so let’s be smart about what we can actually afford to do.

I am definitely for more localization of ministerial training; there’s value to having someone from “home” or from “near here” who is familiar with the culture of the church and the people in the community. And there are so many stresses among ministerial candidates as it is – having to move to totally new places where there may or may not be any support network … that just seems unkind.

But changing the system … wow. That would take a huge effort. Not sure who would be willing to take it on; the congregations?

And could we get there with our current attitudes about education?

By: Reverend Jack

Reverend Jack — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 21:11:32 +0000

One thing I don’t get is why ministerial formation needs to involve costly tuition and transplanting people from their home communities in the first place. There are certainly benefits to travel, and I’ve lived in several places through the years before finding one that suits me. But as a minister, I’ve found the community in which I want to live, and am now learning and practicing ministry within that community. Maybe at some point I’ll become the best dang minister in town, but until then, there’s plenty of better ministers around me from whom I can learn. If churches actually seized upon that and actively trained their volunteers with the respect and dignity afforded to seminarians, I think we could ditch seminaries completely.

I like the idea of regional centers, but I’d rather see them as the home base for operations throughout their region, with the idea that they go out to the ministers rather than bringing the ministers to them. If every congregation were also a branch of a regional seminary, this would alleviate the need for both a denominational licensing body and a subsidized full-time education for potential ministers.

When every volunteer minister is a seminarian, it should no longer seem like such a burden for seminarians to hold down day jobs. Positions of greater responsibility within a congregation would come with stipends and additional subsidized training, thus allowing people to ease into full-time pastoral ministry as their gifts and graces lead. There would be no need to fork over thousands of dollars and uproot your life for three years to pursue a calling to ministry, and ministry would no longer be an all-or-nothing set of letters after your name. Volunteer ministers would be exactly where they need to be to get the education to become a full-time professional, and our church walls would swell with potential full-time professionals.

Especially in the information age, the denominational licensing aspect of seminaries is rapidly becoming obsolete for a congregationalist system. If we focused on training volunteer ministers within our congregations, paid ministers could come directly from their ranks; when ministers did relocate or get called to new communities, where their resumes once said “M.Div.” they would instead list several years of training and internship in the various ministries of their previous congregations. Now more than ever, we can examine actual experience and past success in intricate trustworthy detail, so let’s look at that instead of fretting about granting titles.

Anyway, just my 2c. Thanks for the thought-provoking post!

By: The gifts and graces for ministry at Making Chutney

The gifts and graces for ministry at Making Chutney — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 03:17:51 +0000

[…] A Master of Divinity degree don’t mean shit all for ministry. If ordained ministry cannot be successfully performed without seminary educations and denominational credentials, the human condition is much worse than I had previously imagined. I’ve written here before that I don’t think seminary works and proposed what I would do as a replacement. I won’t rehearse that again now. […]

By: ..

.. — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 23:14:42 +0000

[…] 2) A new way to do ministerial formation. Here I argue that the current state of ministerial education and training is broke and suggest a new model to fix it. Oddly, no comments yet. (Hint, hint.) […]

By: Daniel Morse

Daniel Morse — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 18:34:11 +0000

The last paragraph is the best part of the idea. I am a Presbyterian Pastor in Middletown, NY. I did not feel unshepherded during the ordination process – and I am flattered that M.D.’s, J.D.’s and such have followed our lead in wanting to be doctors (teachers) and others have found professional training meaningful. I totally agree there are people who can navigate seminary and ordination without being called to parish ministry so I like the basic concept of Formation Centers. Still, a track for those of us who prefer academic rigor – what ever it is and however useful it is – would be a good thing. I believe “genteel poverty” is an accurate and excellent description. Still, being a dilettante, I find that lifestyle attractive. Keep being creative please. Daniel

By: makingchutney.com » Top ten posts of 2005

makingchutney.com » Top ten posts of 2005 — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 20:17:28 +0000