The Pastor Theologian

 A common criticism often directed at many church members is their lack of knowledge of basic Bible doctrines. I have often been amazed at the number of Christians who did not know even basic Christian teaching. Some of these individuals faithfully attended church and even Sunday school but had little knowledge of theology. It makes one wonder what they have been hearing from the pulpit. Many sitting in the pews have been fed a steady diet of self-help messages, sermonettes that could have come out of Reader's Digest, or the pastor's weekly rant, but they have not been fed a steady diet of theological instruction. They have been fed milk, not meat, and now many prefer the milk.

Gerald Hiestand and Todd Wilson wrote a book I read when I first found it titled The Pastor Theologian: Resurrecting an Ancient Vision. It impacted me greatly, and, I must admit, convicted me. They point out in the book that the pastor is the theological leader of the church. They write, "As goes the pastoral community, so goes the church. Assuming sufficient tenure, show us a pastor with robust theological depth, and we'll show you a local church with a corresponding theological depth. Likewise, show us a pastor who lacks the capacity to think meaningfully about the gospel, and we'll show you a church that lacks the same...The theological integrity of a local church will never rise above that of the pastor."

These are serious words a pastor must consider as he or she reflects on his or her preaching. If people sitting in our pews do not even know the difference between the Old and New Testaments or that there are four Gospels that is on the pastors who have served that church. Likewise, if our congregations do not understand the importance of the various attributes of God and how they impact our lives and faith and do not know how to lead someone to faith in Jesus Christ, that is also on the pastors.

The authors point out the difference between academic theology and popular theology. Academic theology is the theology one studies in seminaries I visited a church one Sunday whose pastor was working on his PhD. His sermon contained excellent theology which no one in his church could understand or relate to. Sitting there, I wondered if he was repeating what one of his professors taught in a class that week. Popular theology brings sound theology down into the world where people live. It addresses such issues as marriage, finances, leadership, worship, family life and much more. Yes, the Bible has much to say about each of these areas, and much more, that are important to ordinary people.

Many who reject the church and the Christian faith accuse both of being irrelevant to their lives. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Bible addresses virtually every area of life experienced by ordinary people. Unless they can be shown that this is true, they will continue to consider the church to be irrelevant, and that very belief can keep them from finding faith in Jesus Christ.

Pastors, we are the resident theologians in our churches. The depth of our congregation's theological understanding is totally dependent upon us. This is a role we must take seriously. 

Knowledge of the gospel

 I recently had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine that eventually began addressing the spiritual understanding of many who call themselves Christians. He and I both shared a concern that many Christians lack an even basic knowledge of God, the Gospel and basic doctrines of the faith. We were not questioning their love of God or their salvation experience. We were concerned that their understanding of Christian teaching seemed to be shallow. I agreed it would be very difficult for many Christians to explain to someone else what they believed which is why a majority of believers are reluctant to share their faith with others.

Why is there such a lack of awareness of basic Christian doctrine? Certainly, there is no shortage of material available to explain biblical teaching. Churches continue to dot the landscape. Although many of them have abandoned the faith, there are still many who remain faithful to preach and teach the truth. So, what's the excuse?

As noted above, some churches have abandoned the teachings of Scripture and now teach the philosophies of men. They offer little more helpful suggestions about life. Other churches, even holding to sound doctrinal beliefs, fail to teach those beliefs to their congregations. These churches seek pastors who will tickle their ears (2 Tim. 4: 1-4) with encouraging messages. These churches continue to provide milk and not meat to the congregations resulting in them remaining babes in Christ (1 Cor. 3: 1-3).

However, even in those churches that do provide sound doctrinal teaching, the typical church member often isn't present to hear it. According to the Pew Research Center, only 36% of adult Christians attend church services once a week or more while another 33% attend once or twice a month. A typical sermon may last 30-45 minutes with many pastors preaching shorter messages than that. Many churches see fewer and fewer adults in their Sunday school classes. How does one expect to learn sound biblical doctrine when they are exposed to it for 30 minutes a month?

In some parts of the world it is illegal to own a Bible, and being found with one can lead to one's death and the death of his or her family. Forget about owning Bible commentaries or other books to help one learn more about God and Christian teaching. Yet, in this country many homes have multiple copies of the Bible which are never read. We have access to tens of thousands of resources to help us understand our faith better which also gone unread by the majority of believers. 

People leave churches with the excuse that "the pastor isn't feeding us." That may be the case, but it also may be the case that they never show up when it's feeding time. And, how about feeding yourself? Adults should not have to depend on someone else to feed them.

Receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is only the first step in our walk with God. The next step is becoming a disciple of God, and when we can only grow in our discipleship when we begin to grow in our knowledge of Him, His Word and His will for our lives.

Study to show yourself approved

 As most regular readers of this blog know, when I began my pastoral ministry in 1981 I had no education beyond high school. As the bivocational pastor of a small, rural church I frankly did not expect to pursue an education, but over the years I managed to graduate college and earn both a masters and a doctoral degree while continuing to serve in ministry and working full-time jobs. With online classes being offered by many schools today it is far more doable that when I started my educational pursuit. However, not everyone can, or probably should, follow the route I did.

Some churches will not consider calling a pastor without a formal degree while others, especially in smaller, rural churches, may look upon formal education as a hindrance. My life-long work with bivocational churches and pastors has convinced me that the need for such ministers will continue to grow, and many of these individuals will lack a formal seminary education. However, this should not negate God's call on their lives nor should it excuse any unwillingness on their part to learn and preach sound doctrine to their congregations.

Much of my early preaching came from what I had learned from pastors I had sat under from my childhood up. While much of it was sound, in some cases I was passing on the traditions long believed within my tribe that were not necessarily biblical. As a denominational minister for 14 years who visited in different churches almost every Sunday I heard my share of similar sermons. 

Paul challenged Timothy to study to show himself approved. This is sound advice for all of us called into ministry. That does not mean that all must get a formal seminary education, but there are other ways to study the Word before we preach it.

My library has a large collection of commentaries and Bible study help books written by respected Bible scholars and theologians. It also includes several books on apologetics and systematic theology. I have a Bible study software program on my computer that gives me access to far more material. These help me prepare sermons and Bible studies that are doctrinally sound. Another section of my library includes large numbers of books related to pastoral and church ministry and leadership. A third section contains books that focus on the Christian lifestyle. These books have been collected over 40+ years and have helped me develop into the minister I am today. I have never looked at these books as a cost but rather as an investment to help me fulfill the calling God placed on my life.

Some pastors use their lack of formal education as an excuse to let the Holy Spirit lead them in what they will preach each week. I'm not sure I would want to blame God for some of the sermons I've heard! Saturday night specials can be dangerous. The fact is that in the times in which we live we have an abundance of material to help us prepare biblically sound messages that will enrich the lives of our congregations and teach them what the Bible says. It only requires that we spend the time in study and preparation.

Can you defend what you believe?

One of the major reasons many people give for not sharing their Christian faith is that they fear people will ask questions they cannot answer. The truth is that many Christians cannot defend their faith against those with questions or those who ridicule religion and Christianity in particular. For years Christians have been content to attend worship services, sit quietly in their pews, sing a few songs, listen to people pray and hear a sermon meant to make them feel good. Relatively few have spent time studying the Scriptures for themselves and growing in their knowledge of what Christianity teaches. Many cannot adequately explain what they believe and even fewer can explain why they believe it.

In no other area of our lives are we so unconcerned about things we are connected to. If one is a salesperson that individual wants to learn everything possible about the items he or she is selling. These people also want to know as much as possible about the competition and their products. If one owns a company the same thing is true. As couples start their families they want to learn as much as possible about raising children. Even a new pet owner is likely to study about their pets, how to train them and the best ways of caring for them. It's only when we come to our faith and God we seem to not think it is important to learn as much as possible about our faith.

Every Christian should be a student of the Bible. This doesn't mean that every Christian needs to enroll in seminary, but it does mean that each of us have a responsibility to be growing in our faith. Sunday school, small group Bible study, online courses and independent study are just some of the ways this can happen. Unfortunately, we know that in many churches the Sunday school attendance is about one-half of the worship attendance, or less. Many churches do not offer small groups, and if people are not making use of Sunday school classes it's likely they are not doing online or independent studies either.

As a result, many people are not growing in their faith. They do not possess a Christian worldview, Their thinking and reasoning are secular in nature which not only impacts their lives but also the decisions made in the church. Many churches are held hostage by spiritually immature members.

Unfortunately, few churches address this problem. The old adage is true: You get what you expect. Few churches expect their new members to grow in the faith. We have accepted the argument that people are busy and do not have time to attend Bible studies and worship services, and if they can only attend one we want them in the worship service because that is the one we count.

It would be far better to let people know that becoming a Christian means growing as a disciple of Jesus Christ, and our church expects each member to pursue such growth. Classes should regularly be offered on evangelism, apologetics, and doctrines of the faith, and we should encourage people to attend these classes. Those who refuse should not be selected for leadership positions in the church. It's time to raise the bar on what is expected of a Christian. Jesus certainly has high expectations for those who would follow Him; the church should not lower those expectations.

The church of the future

I recently read an interesting article on how the church is moving towards significant change. The author used the recent United Methodist Church vote on LGBTQ issues as a backdrop to his thoughts. Last week the UMC voted 461-384 to adopt the proposed "Traditional Plan" going forward. This plan would forbid ordaining homosexual persons to the ministry and also ban same-sex marriages by UMC clergy. Ministers and churches that violate these bans could be removed from the denomination.

A number of churches are already discussing whether or not they will remain in the UMC over this issue. A lot of people are angry and hurt by the decision. Although a number of older UMC clergy and members supported a more tolerant policy, many of the ones advocating for different policies were younger. A Pew Research Center study found that 54 percent of American Christians say homosexuality should be accepted. Much of this is driven by younger Christians' acceptance of homosexuality, although this study also found the number of Boomer Christians who approved of homosexuality was also increasing. When one considers the size of the UMC and realizes that this measure passed by only 54 votes it's not too difficult to see that in another ten years this vote may be overturned.

The author asked a lot of good questions about what even having this discussion says about the future of the church. Will traditional perspectives on church and religion be replaced by new ways of thinking?

A number of people have been speaking about how the church seems to go through a major shift about every 500 years. About 500 years ago the church experienced the Great Reformation which brought about significant changes in the church. Roughly 500 years before that the church divided between the East and West, and roughly 500 years before that the church came out of the Dark Ages. Are we about to see another seismic shift in the church? If so, what will the church look like when this occurs? Although it is impossible for anyone to know specifically the author, and many others, speculates on what some of those changes might look like.

Some of those changes may be very appealing and may bring new life into the church. However, one possible change concerns me a great deal. We may well see the church move away from biblical truth in order to place a greater emphasis on relationships. Justice issues will become more important than truth and biblical teaching. Our current culture is saturated with people wanting to make everyone feel good about themselves. No one is allowed to judge another person's choices. Even asking about someone's choices is seen by some as bullying and threatening. This mindset seems to be rapidly creeping into the church, and if it's allowed to exist it will destroy any chance the church has of being salt and light to this world.

Please do not misunderstand me. I am not opposed to the church working for justice issues. I just don't understand why some people think it has to be either/or. A church can stand for biblical doctrine and still be engaged in justice issues. A church can be evangelistic in the traditional sense and still meet the social and justice needs of its community.

I've written much about truth in this blog lately because I'm concerned that too many churches and their leaders are willing to sacrifice biblical truth on the altar of political correctness. Once we deny the truths found in Scripture we have nothing to offer our society. If that is the change that is coming to the church it will become just another social club in the community. Ichabod will be written across its doors because the glory of God will have departed.

Third greatest need of the church

I've previously posted the first and second greatest needs of the church, and today I'm going to address what I believe to be the third. First, I want to make something clear. The reader should not necessarily think these are being ranked in order of importance. All three of these need to have high priority in the church. Prayer, a recommitment to the Scriptures as the Word of God, and today's topic, teaching people how to defend the faith are all critical needs of the church if we are to fulfill the Great Commission.

Faithful readers of this blog know the value I place in apologetics. Many Christians struggle to explain what they believe; even more struggle to explain why they believe what they claim to believe. As a result, many of us are afraid to attempt to share our faith with others. We fear someone will ask us a question about our faith that we cannot answer.

The inability to explain why we believe certain things about God also reflects on our lack of growth as believers. We came to Christ as little children and remained little children in our understanding. This also makes us more susceptible to our abandoning the faith. More than a few young people went to college and decided they could no longer believe in God when that belief was challenged and they were unable to meet that challenge.

If we are to grow disciples churches must do more than teach simple Bible facts. Yes, Jonah was swallowed by a large fish. Yes, David killed Goliath with a slingshot. But, at some point, we need to begin teaching people why the fine-tuning of the universe points to a Divine Creator, how evil and suffering are not proofs that a loving and powerful God could not exist, that we can trust the Scriptures as we have them today and a host of other evidences that explain why reasonable and intelligent people can believe in God.

We are constantly bombarded today with a steady diet of attacks against Christianity. The movies we watch, the music we listen to, the media all seem to challenge the Christian faith. Millions of books have been sold in recent years insisting that science has proven God does not exist. The fact that many leading scientists are strong Christians alone proves that statement is not true, but many do not know that. Unfortunately, many people believe that if an academic publishes something it must be true.

Churches need to provide deeper theological teaching to their members, and that teaching must include apologetics. In Sunday school classes, small groups, and from the pulpit people must be given the tools to defend their faith and to be able to discern truth from untruth. Instead of watering down our sermons, we need to go deeper. Let's teach not only what we believe but why we believe it. Our goal should be that every person sitting under the ministry of our church will "always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3: 15)."