Obsolete knowledge

The story is told of a well-known university professor who had just given his class an exam.  After the exam had been taken his teaching assistant asked if that wasn't the same test he had given his class the previous year.  The professor admitted it was, but remarked that it was OK because the answers had changed.

I read this past week that knowledge is doubling every two years, and I have read that it doubles at an even higher rate than that.  This means that it is important to continually be taking in new information just to stay even.  Otherwise, a person will soon become obsolete in just about every field including ministry.  We see all around us the price that is paid when ministers stop growing.  They become stagnant and so do the churches they lead.  They become stuck in traditional ways of doing ministry that may no longer be effective and wonder why their church can't reach new people with the gospel. 

As I look at my bookshelves I see a number of books I used as a student at Bible college.  Those books contained a lot of good information for doing ministry in the 1980s, but then I look at the books I used when I later returned to seminary.  Although they deal with the same topics, their approach to those topics is much different.  Why?  Because over the 15 years between when I went to Bible college and seminary people learned better ways of doing ministry that would be more effective as we entered the 21st century.  My approach to ministry changed a great deal over the 20 years I was a pastor.  As a judicatory minister I've had the opportunity to learn new things, and I can assure you that if I returned to pastoral ministry it would look much different than when I previously served as a pastor.

How can we keep up with this explosion of knowledge?  I believe three things are critical: constantly reading good books, listening to audio learning programs, and attending conferences and workshops that address areas of ministry most important to you.  I know this will be a challenge for bivocational ministers who are pressed for time anyway, but I also believe that we have no choice.  We must keep learning and growing or we will soon find ourselves obsolete and unable to accomplish the ministry to which God has called us.

I try to read an average of one book a week.  I keep a book in my car so if I have some downtime in the car I can read a few pages.  I read when I'm on the treadmill.  I keep a book next to my chair, and I wouldn't think of going to a doctor's office or anywhere I might have to wait without a book to read.  I keep highlighters and a pen to mark interesting passages or make notes in the margins.  Very seldom do I read fiction.  Much of what I read has to do with ministry, leadership, personal growth, or political events.

Because my current ministry role requires me to spend a lot of time in my car I often listen to my I-Pod while I'm driving.  There are a number of programs I download so that I have a variety of options to listen to while I'm on the road.  That is a much better use of my time than listening to a lot of the drivel that is on the radio today.

I lead a number of workshops and conferences each year so it's sometimes a challenge to attend as many as I might want as a learner, but I still try to get to at least one or two each year.  I can always leave one of these events with at least a nugget or two of new information, and sometimes I leave there with a whole sack of gold.  These are a great way to hear the newest information from someone who has spent time studying a specific topic.

Develop a plan for personal growth that will work for you and then follow that plan.  You'll find ministry much more enjoyable, and you'll find that growing ministers lead growing chuches.