We don't know what we don't know

Last Saturday I taught a class for our Church Leadership Institute.  During a break one of my students, a retired gentleman, came to me and said that the more classes he takes the more that he realizes he doesn't know.  I laughed and said that was the reason every person should commit to being a life-long learner.  None of us knows what we don't know, and an important part of an educational program is to open us up to new areas of knowledge.

In the secular world continuing education is part of the expectation for many jobs.  Professionals such as doctors and nurses, accountants, lawyers, educators, and others are required to have a certain number of continuing education hours during a specific time period.  Even many blue collar jobs require continuing education.  Many states require an air conditioning service tech to be licensed and require continuing education to maintain that license.  Before my auctioneer license can be renewed I will have to have completed sixteen hours of continuing education.

It is sad that no such requirement exists for those of us in ministry positions.  We are responsible before God for the eternal souls of men and women, and yet there is no requirement that we pursue continuing education as ministers.  At least, in the denominations with which I'm more familiar there is no such requirement.  I believe there should be.

Too many ministers are still trying to minister as they were taught to do so in the 1980s and wonder why their ministries are no longer successful.  Society has changed much since the 1980s, and what was effective then may not be today.  Much has been learned about Christian education, worship, effective preaching styles, the importance of hospitality, and other aspects of ministry that persons who have never pursued continuing education may not be aware of.  The needs of persons today have changed as have their expectations of church, and if those current needs and expectations are not addressed those persons may well be lost to our churches.  Associated with this is the need to understand generational differences and how to address those differences to more effectively communicate the gospel.  While referring to the gospel, anyone who thinks he or she understands everything written in the Bible is seriously deluded.  Every person can learn much more about the Bible as he or she continues to study it.  But, in each of the aspects of ministry mentioned here, we don't know what we don't know, and the only way to learn what we don't know is to avail ourselves of regular continuing education events.

Maybe you've attended some events in the past and went away feeling like you didn't learn much.  I've gone to some like that, but I can't think of a single one I didn't come away with something I didn't know before.  Every class I've ever taken, every workshop I've ever attended, I've left there with at least one nugget of information I didn't have before or one more tool to add to my ministry toolbox.  Sometimes I've left with a bag full of such nuggets.  If you went into a gold mine to find gold would you feel like it was a wasted effort if you only found one gold nugget?  I doubt it, and my experience has been that even the most disappointing workshops gave me at least one nugget of helpful information.

As you prepared your fall calendar look over the announcements of various workshops that now cross your desk and select one or two that you believe will be helpful to your personal and ministerial growth.  If it doesn't, ask your church to set aside money in next year's budget to pay for you to attend two or three continuing education events and to allow you time away to do that.  The work of ministry is too important to fail to take advantage of those opportunities to grow and to learn new ways of doing the work God has called you to do.