In this final post looking at funding theological education, it’s time to (finally!) come to some answers. Most men starting in the pastoral ministry are in their thirties, with a little life experience and some theological training behind them. I don’t know the exact figure, but thirty to thirty-five would seem a reasonable estimate of the age of most first-time ministers. If so, by God’s grace, that man should have thirty to thirty five years in the ministry before retirement.
Surely churches who will receive these ministers will want to bear some of the burden for training them. If this is the case, the figures above would seem to suggest that churches with ministers ought to be setting aside around £750-£850 a year to ensure that when the time comes for them to call a new pastor, they have contributed sufficient funds to train one.
Continue reading ‘A plea for strategic, planned investment in theological training’
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“Few of those contacting Bible colleges [to ask for help in finding a pastor] have invested in theological education over the years. Some will have helped fund a member in training. Hardly any will have adopted one or more of the theological colleges and systematically invested in the training of a new generation of Christian leaders.”
Those are the words of Kerry Orchard, Development Manager at WEST (Wales Evangelical School of Theology). He’s right, of course. Most churches only realise the value of theological colleges when they need a new pastor.
What has caused this lack of investment in theological training? Colleges must accept their part of responsibility. Many training institutions have not always been as committed to building partnerships with local churches as they perhaps should have been. But before we point the finger too readily, let’s remember that colleges are there to serve the church, not lead the church. The church must take primary responsibility. Perhaps it is fairer to say that many churches have not been as committed to building partnerships with Bible colleges as we should have been. And much more importantly, many churches have not been as committed to training men for the ministry as we should have been. As a result, investment in training a new generation of Christian leaders is very low across independent churches.
Continue reading ‘Who is responsible for training our ministers?’
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Many churches will support the men and women that they send to college. But few churches are able to find anywhere near £40-£75,000. It is hard to get accurate figures on the amount of support the average student gets from his sending church, but it is often just a few thousand pounds – sometimes less. For many churches even a few thousand pounds is still a considerable sacrifice – but it leaves the student with a lot of money to find.
That means that many students are going into debt in order to fund their training. Many others are forced to ask their wives to work (sometimes full-time) during the training period, perhaps when they would like their wives to train with them. Others spend years employed in secular work, simply saving up the money that they will require. Still others don’t go to college at all, or take a much shorter course than they really need. Can this really be right?
Continue reading ‘Funding theological training: the options’
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It costs £5.7 million pounds to train a fast jet RAF pilot. It costs almost £250,000 to train a doctor, a similar figure for a dentist. Financial consultants KPMG spend around £92,000 training each graduate they employ. It even costs up to £30,000 to train a guide dog for the blind.
On the other hand, a student training at WEST (Wales Evangelical School of Theology) will pay just over £15,000 for three years full-time training. Donations to the college contribute perhaps another £7,500 per student. Students at LTS (London Theological Seminary), studying on a shorter, two-year course, pay fees of just under £7,000, with gifts adding approximately £3,500.
There is an obvious question, isn’t there? How does it cost less to train a man over three years for the pastoral ministry, than it does to train a dog for a little over a year and a half? And how do you train a pastor, missionary or evangelist for a tenth of what it costs to train a doctor?
Continue reading ‘Training the next generation’
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Taking a holiday is something most of us have become so accustomed to doing, that few of us examine the Scriptures to find out what God has to say on the matter. Most of us would presumably accept that a holiday spent in the nightclubs of Kavos, Magalluf or Ibiza is not one that Christians ought to be considering. But whilst it’s relatively easy to see at least some things that we ought not be doing, let’s be more positive. What’s the best way that we can spend a holiday?
The Short, Giving Holiday
In most English Bibles the word ‘holiday’ only in the book of Esther (8:17, 9:19 and 9:22). Holiday here is a translation of the Hebrew ywm ṭwb, which literally means “good day” (hence the NIV a “day of joy”). The Bible tells us that Mordecai wrote to the Jews, encouraging them “to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor”. So maybe that’s one type of holiday – and for many of us, Christmas Day will unknowingly follow this pattern of a day of joy. It will be a day when we remember the incredible way that the Lord rescued us, and we celebrate that with feasting and joy and the giving of presents to one another. Many will also invite others into their home, or donate gifts to charity at Christmas time.
Continue reading ‘How should Christians enjoy a holiday?’
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Several people have recently asked me what process I go through in sermon preparation, so I thought I’d share it here. This is a far longer post than normal, but perhaps other preachers (particularly younger men) might find it useful.
There are five steps that are important to me:
- Divide: Firstly, I decide how many verses should I preach on by looking for divisions at the beginning and end of the passage. I’m looking for a natural unit in the passage that has plenty to say. With compact historical literature (like 2 Kings or Chronicles) it’s usually a story. With other narrative literature (e.g. the Pentateuch, or the Gospels) it’s usually a scene. With epistles its usually a large paragraph. With prophetic books its usually a complete oracle or sermon.
- Dissect: Then I split up, or dissect the passage by determine the main point of the passage, and the sub-points which serve it. This is strongly related to the first step. If the ‘division’ I’ve chosen has more than one main point, it’s too long. But it must have a few sub-points that feed the main point. If it hasn’t, it’s too short.
- Discover: Next I try to carefully exegete each point to discover the original meaning and principles. It means understanding both the meaning to the original hearers/readers, and the timeless principles that flow from it. When dealing with the Old Testament I look at the first step (the original meaning) purely from an Old Testament perspective, but the second step (the timeless principles) through a New Testament lens. There must be an inarguable link between these two steps. Every member of the congregation must be able to see how I got from (a) What the Bible said, to (b) What the Bible means. If they can’t, there’s no power in the message - it’s man’s words, not God’s Word.
- Digest: Fourth, I think and pray through each principle to determine the application, to me, and try to digest the truth. If I haven’t taken this truth on board myself, I can’t preach it. This is where a lot of the prayer comes.
- Disseminate: Finally, all of this needs to go in a form which can be passed on. In other words, the sermon can now be written. I pass this teaching on to my congregation, they need to apply it to themselves and be able to pass it on to others. This means short points made easy to understand and apply. To maximise the impact, the application needs to be focussed, not vague, but it also must apply to the whole congregation, not just one or two. I’ll want my sermon to have an introduction, a few points, and a conclusion. Within each point I’ll want teaching, illustration and application. The whole thing must be very tightly linked to the text of the Bible – if it’s not, it’s my words not God’s Word.
Continue reading ‘How I prepare a sermon’
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Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it: his bottle, his mother’s attention, his playmate’s toys, his uncle’s watch, or whatever. Deny him these and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness which would be murderous were he not so helpless. He’s dirty, he has no morals, no knowledge, no developed skills. This means that all children, not just certain children but all children, are born delinquent. If permitted to continue in their self-centered world of infancy, given free rein to their impulsive actions to satisfy each want, every child would grow up a criminal, a thief, a killer, a rapist.
You might think that’s a strange quotation with which to start a post about children. But it’s here to help to us understand how much society has changed and how much we’ve lost our perspective. This particular quote is from the Minnesota Crime Commission, and was published in 1926. It’s virtually impossible to imagine any government agency saying anything similar today. But that excerpt accurately reflects what the Bible says about original sin and the responsibility of parents and society to love, teach and discipline.
Continue reading ‘The Bible and Children’
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