Every occupation
require some amount of training to do. Often, those with the best training are
usually the ones that are effective at producing desired results. After all, as
the saying goes, “to whom much is given, much more is expected”. So ordinarily,
I would expect a Harvard(I’m assuming for the purpose of this post that they
have the best medical school in the world) trained doctor to be more adept and
knowledgeable than say a doctor trained in some obscure medical school in Cuba.
This is due to the notion I have of the level of meticulous rigor and the lofty
standards associated with their training. A question though is, can I transpose this
same thinking to Christian service especially with regard to Pastors? I think
not!
Christians like to
think of the work of a pastor as a calling
as opposed to it being a profession. Typically, we distinguish a calling
from a mere profession noting the concomitant mentality associated with each
term so that, though both terms require almost the same components (i.e.
special training, skills and knowledge acquisition), the emphasis of a calling
is not just for improved output or service –
which would be ultimate aim of a profession – but for faithful service! As
such, a pastor’s training in seminary is not so that he can learn to master
Greek and Hebrew so as to enhance an eloquent delivery during a sermon but to
be faithful in the preaching of the gospel and in the exposition of scriptures and
also to be conscientious in the discharge of other pastoral duties.
Professionalism
concerns itself with the exhibition of expertise and skills that comes through
intellectual training and specialization and until recently, the notion of
specialization among pastors was an alien one but somehow, certain Charismatic
pastors – who in my view, are the champions of this whole phenomenon of
‘Professional Pastors’ – have succeeded in conflating that ideology with
spiritual calling so much so that, we have pastors who claim to specialize in
getting people married, others specialize in visa acquisitions and the most popular
ones often specialize in making people rich among others. Mind you, this is just
the tip of the iceberg of the fanatic fringe of the charismatic circles as there
are many more of such ‘specializations’ that have developed in pastoral work as
a result of this skewed thinking.
Another manifestation
of this ‘Professional Pastors’ phenomenon is the seemingly innocuous but is in
fact, the most pernicious, elitism that have crept into churches these days.
With this kind, the pastors usually acquire MBAs and may have excelled in the
corporate world and upon assuming a pastoral position (often because he’s an
astute business man and not because he meets the biblical criteria for that
role) proceeds to effect changes in keeping with prevailing business principles
and practices and run the church like a business organization. Their kind are
those who have reduced the gospel to a social message and specialize in
reducing biblical truths to pithy how-tos. With some assigning such fancy titles
as ‘Executive Pastor’, they have
become nothing more than motivational speakers. These pastors effectively
end up relying on human machinations and techniques rather than the Spirit’s
power through the preached word to draw crowds in to the church.
Am I by this
suggesting that pastors be reckless in the discharge of their duties? By no
means. There is a certain amount of maturity required of pastors which should
preclude any wanton recklessness. However,
this does not presuppose that they are to seek to be professionals, for the ways
of the world are not the ways of God. John Piper sums it up so well when he
says, “the more professional we long to be, the more spiritual death we will
leave in our wake. For there is no professional childlikeness, there is no
professional tenderheartedness, there is no professional panting after God.
Brothers, we are not
professionals. We are outcasts. We are aliens and exiles in the world. Our
citizenship is in Heaven, and we wait with eager expectation for the Lord
(Phil. 3:20). You cannot professionalize the love for His appearing without
killing it. And it is being killed. The world sets the agenda of the
professional man; God sets the agenda of the spiritual man. The strong wine of
Jesus Christ explodes the wineskins of professionalism.”