Many books have been written recently about all the things today's church needs in order to stop its decline. No one questions that it is in decline. It is decline in both numbers and in its influence on our society. Thousands of churches close their doors every year. Growing numbers of people report no religious affiliation. Self-professed Christians struggle to hold to worldviews that are any different than those of their unchurched neighbors. Many church members are biblically illiterate unable to defend their faith or understand or recognize basic biblical teaching. Any way you look at it, this all represents church decline. So, what is it that the church needs most to turn this around? My answer to that question is that the church is in great need of pastor-theologians.
In the early days of our nation's history church many pastors were recognized as true theologians. Men like Jonathan Edwards, Samuel Hopkins and others were trained theologians serving as pastors of their churches. As a result, they were able to provide intellectual leadership to many of the issues of their day and provide theologically rich teaching to their congregations.
Unfortunately, this began to change. Theologians abandoned the pastoral ministry for the universities and seminaries. In their book, The Pastor Theologian: Resurrecting an Ancient Vision, Gerald Hiestand and Todd Wilson explain, "As theologians moved from churches to universities, the theological red-blood-cell count within the pastoral community, and within congregations, fell markedly. No longer is the pastoral community as a whole able to provide serious intellectual leadership for the crucial issues facing the church....It should not surprise us that the near-universal removal of our theologians from the pastorate has resulted in a deep and chronic theological deficit within our congregations."
Pastors are expected to perform many tasks within their churches. I've often said that if a church has 50 members there are 50 different job descriptions for the pastor. In addition, there is the job description the pastor holds for himself or herself. Too often, trying to fulfill all those expectations keeps the pastor from the most important task a pastor has: preparing and preaching messages that offers theological answers to the needs of our people and society.
There are pastors who take this task too far and refuse to do any pastoral ministry such as provide leadership at church leadership meetings or do pastoral visitation. They want to spend all their time in their studies limiting contact with the members of their churches and communities as much as possible. Unless we are with people at their point of need how can we minister to them? Can we teach the love of God best in a 30-minute sermon on Sunday morning or by sitting with a family during a time of loss trying to theologically answer some of their toughest questions? I believe the pastor-theologian will be with people as much as he or she is studying the Scriptures.
These are difficult times we are living in. People have a lot of questions that deserve more than the pat answers that come from politicians, the media and too many pulpits. They need answers that are grounded in sound theology, and if they can't get those answers from their pastors where can they get them?
If you are a pastor, someone considering the pastorate or a church member whose church is seeking new pastoral leadership, I recommend the above book. I've also found helpful Pastor as Public Theologian by Kevin J. Vanhoozer and Owen Strachan.
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