Why Seminary Can’t Fully Train Pastors

Last updated on: July 17, 2018 at 12:33 pm by Jack Lee

Why Seminary Can’t Fully Train Pastors 2018-07-17T12:33:57-05:00 Jack Lee

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

John Owen, one of the most esteemed and seminary-educated puritan scholars of the 1600’s, was once challenged by King Charles as to why he wanted to go hear John Bunyan preach. A metal-worker turned preacher, Bunyan was uneducated by Owen’s standards and, on the surface, an unequal to many eyes. Owen wisely replied to the King, “I would willingly exchange all my learning for the tinker’s power of touching men’s hearts”.

Owen recognized that while a Christ-centered education is beneficial, it is not the same as spiritual maturity and genuine faith. Authentic, Christ-centered spiritual maturity is only found when one is deeply connected to the person of Jesus and His gospel. Preachers with this attribute have something to say worth hearing. Its lives deeply transformed by the gospel that are the most effective at winning souls. Raw knowledge without love puffs up, as the Apostle Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians.

Fast-forward to modern times and many evangelicals make the same mistake King Charles did: we confuse the accolades of academia with spiritual maturity. We often associate someone’s ability make a sound theological argument, quickly recite scripture, or having a seminary degree as evidence of maturity in Christ.

I recall a pastor in the Dallas area who was well-known for citing, by memory, the entirety of Matthew’s begats within the pulpit to start a sermon. The crowd would clap and cheer each time he finished, forgetting that, by itself, this was a very minor accomplishment; anyone with enough time can memorize a section of scripture. Such demonstrations of knowledge, when separated from a life practicing the gospel of Christ, are potential spiritual hazards. This dangerous dichotomy of knowledge without doing is causing many pastors and their congregations agony.

Ill-equipped and unprepared to spiritually shepherd a flock, many pastors are surprised to find the job unfulfilling and difficult. Seminary may have prepared them to write an exegetical sermon, but it didn’t prepare them to love their neighbor, put to death sinful, sexual desires, handle harsh criticism, or circumcise their heart. Struggles, like these, are causing pastors to leave the ministry in rapid fashion. Worse, some press on when they shouldn’t and end up committing devastating moral failure. Sadly, there is example, after example of this.

As Paul David Tripp points out in his book Dangerous Calling, if pastors are to avoid these failures they must not only preach the gospel to their congregation, but to themselves. The pastor’s identity must first and foremost be in Christ and not in a ministry or church attendance goals. He must recognize that he is fighting a war and the greatest battleground will always be within his own heart. All men, regardless of vocation, are fatally flawed and in desperate need of the transforming grace of God. This is true whether you have never trusted Christ a moment of your life or if you have been faithfully serving in the pastorate for 40 years.

Tripp offers some tips for churches and pastors to help bring sobering clarity to a culture that can inflate and emphasize a false sense of spiritual maturity. I found these particularly points helpful and wise. He suggests:

The pastor attend a small group he doesn’t lead
The pastor should seek out a spiritually mature person to mentor them at all times
Establish a pastors’ wives small group
The pastor should be committed to appropriate self-disclosure in his preaching
Church members should regularly invite the pastor and his family to their homes
Make sure there is someone regularly mentoring the pastor’s wife
Make sure the pastor and his wife have the means to regularly get away with one another
Make sure counseling help is always available to the pastor, his wife, and his family

What’s interesting is these ideas are not revolutionary and ground-breaking. Many are the same things Christians have been doing for centuries. It’s odd we are reluctant to apply the same logic towards clergy. I fear many will read this list and assume their pastor already has measures in place. Don’t assume that. I suggest you ask him and use it as an opportunity to build community. Ask him how he is doing and listen careful to his response. It might surprise you how many pastors feel alone and disconnected from the congregation they serve.

As a church, we must learn to define spiritual maturity, not by a degree on a wall, but by a life demonstrating confession, repentance, and trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Seminaries are good things. In fact, I think all clergy should receive a seminary education, if possible. But knowledge is best applied when a heart is seeking after Jesus.

Previous Post

July 3, 2018

On Art Azurdia and Men Without Chests

Next Post

July 23, 2018 On Debt-Free Virgins without Tattoos – Stop being Gnostics

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category #ShoutYourAbortion 10 Commandments 2016 Election 2017 2020 Election Abortion Accelerate Books Adultery America Andy Stanley Arminianism Ashley Madison Atonement B&H Academic Baptism Barry Horner Beauty Biblical Elders Billy Graham Blog Book Review Bruce Jenner Caitlyn Jenner Calvin Calvinism Cheating Chick-fil-A Children Christ Christian History Christian Living Christian Podcasts Christianity Christmas Church History Church Leadership Civil Disobedience Constitutional Coronavirus Culture Death Demoninations Discipleship Doctrine Doctrine of God Donald Trump Ecclesiology Entertainment Eschatology Ethics Evangelical Evangelism Evil Evolution Fear Forgive Yourself Forgiveness Francis Chan Future Israel Gay Marriage Gender Genesis George Floyd Gospel Government Gun Control Halloween hamartiology Heavenly Reward Hermeneutics History Hollywood Holy Spirit Homeschool Homosexual Homosexuality Hope Hospitality Humor Husband Infant Baptism Interview Jesus John Piper Josh Duggar Joshua Harris Judgment Justice Kathy Griffin Kim Davis Leadership Logic Love Manhood Marriage Martin Luther Messianic Prophecy Miscarriage Mocking Modesty Money Movie Reviews Music Music Review Netflix New Testament Obergefell Old Testament Parenting Pastor Pastoring Persecution Planned Parenthood Podcast Politics Pop Culture Pornography Prayer Preaching Predestination Pride Prosperity Gospel Rachel Held Evans Racism Ravi Zacharias Redemption Reformation 500 Reformation Day Reformed Theology Relationship Repentance Salvation Same Sex Marriage Satan Satire Scripture Seminary Sex Sin slavery Sola Scriptura Soteriology Sovereignty Spiritual Gifts Spurgeon Star Wars Steven Furtick Suffering Sufficiency of Scripture Sunday School Supreme Court Technology Testimony The Church The Lord of the Rings The Problem of Evil The Shack Theology Theonomy Tithing Transgenderism Tullian Tchividjian Uncategorized Universalism Vanity Fair Video Games Virgin Birth Voting Wife Women Worldview Worship

Select a Month June 2025 April 2025 March 2025 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 June 2023 April 2023 March 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz