What Should Seminary Be Like?

I came across this article today on The Chronicle of Higher Education website that I found quite interesting. Here’s a quote whet your appetite. But read the entire article and sound off. I’m especially curious about how my seminarian friends respond to the article.

“Classrooms can be places of real education, but they can also be camps for dogma. And that’s troubling. Many seminary students are second-career individuals, so this may be the only time a professor gets to open the door to new insights before the students trek off to their ministries, where they will be looked to by parishioners as experts. Unless seminary professors put our students (and ourselves) under the microscope, examining the motivations and commitments behind our beliefs, we will be creating monsters, un-self-aware and unchallenged ministry leaders with a dangerous stamp of approval provided by their seminary degrees.
Religious educators who train religious professionals play a powerful role in our society; we can either reinforce assumed facts about our own religions and stereotypes of others, thereby encouraging prejudice, or we can identify our intellectual gaps and personal wounds that make us human, overcome them, and perhaps live out the golden rule of loving our neighbors as we would have them love us.”  (Brandon G. Withrow)

Full article here:
Finding Empathy in Religious Studies

What’s Up With Pastors Leaving Their Churches??

First Francis Chan.
Now Rob Bell.

Super influential pastors, leading huge churches, and with large non-local followings via podcast. What makes these men up and leave their churches, seemingly out of nowhere?

Both say they feel God calling them to do something else. Neither seem sure of what that “something else” is. In fairness to Rob, he has not yet addressed the situation in detail to his congregation. He plans to do that Sunday. So my remarks may be premature. A couple of thoughts…

• Would it be such a big deal if Rob Bell wasn’t so well-known?  Surely, there are many pastors of small churches who carry out their duties in anonymity and who unexpectedly resign. How do we react to those resignations?
• Do we expect pastors to do the same thing their entire lives?  If so, why?
• Do you think lots of people will leave Mars Hill as a result of Bell’s resignation?  Are they justified in doing so?
• What happens to a community when the lead pastor leaves?

I would love to hear others’ thoughts on these questions and on Bell’s resignation.

Reconsideration: Church Attendance

What if I don’t go every Sunday?
What if I prefer Saturday? (Isn’t that the ‘real’ Sabbath day?)
What if I don’t go at all?
What about Wednesdays? (Most churches have a midweek service.)
What if I go to a ‘house church’?
Is attending church even necessary?

These are all questions I’ve bounced around in my cranium at one point or another.  And I think they are all worthy questions.

But underneath those questions are other questions…and I think those are the more important ones:

What is the purpose of attending church services?
Can that purpose be fulfilled in any other way?
What is gained or lost from not attending?
What does it take to constitute church?

Each of those questions warrant individual posts. But  I won’t go that far. I think the purpose of attending church is corporate worship and connecting with a community. Basically, that’s it. Many of the specific activities involved in attending church will fall into one of those two purposes. Now, can those purposes be fulfilled without attending church services?  Yes.  You don’t need to be in a building labeled ‘church’ in order to worship corporately.  The designated space certainly facilitates that experience though.  Now, the digital age and pervasiveness of the internet allow people to ‘gather’ and connect without physically being in the same place. Technology complicates how we understand the ideas of corporate worship and community. I am thankful the amazing things we can do with technology. Still (’cause I’m old skool), I think there is no substitute for face-to-face interaction.

So, what is gained or lost by not attending church? Well, you gain more free time. You gain the joy of not having to deal with church politics, drama, or legalism. You gain your tithe, which you are no longer pressured to give…maybe there are other gains too. What is lost? You probably lose a sense of belonging, community, and accountability. You lose fellow sojourners. You lose structure to your spiritual practices. Perhaps other things are lost too.

A former pastor of mine recently Tweeted something about Christians being deceived into think that weekly church attendance is optional. I replied and said,”Everything is optional…but everything has consequences!”  So, when it comes to attending church, I think it’s beneficial. I think it’s a great idea. And I think it’s optional.  I think God loves for His people to be together and to stick together! But it’s not about the building or the place or the services. Wherever you go, however you do church, worship corporately and connect to a community. Be with His people and stick together.

More on Preaching from the Pulpit

In my last “Reconsideration” entry about preaching, I laid out the practices that I think characterize good, solid preaching. From that list, one might get the impression that I favor a more academic preaching style. And that is true. BUT…as I’ve thought about that list and thought about some of my favorite sermons, I realized that I forgot something.

Stories.

Some of the most powerful sermons I’ve heard have been pastors telling personal stories. And somehow, through those stories, God speaks. Somehow, through those stories, I’ve understood something new about Jesus. Jesus often taught using parables, and parables are stories!  So while I do indeed think rigorous study is important and preaching should reflect that, I also think there is plenty of room for a whole other type of preaching that is just as effective. Thank God for storytellers.

Identification

Jesus shared in our humanity.  That is what makes his ministry effective. He identifies with us.  He was like us.

What is it that makes loving and serving my neighbor so difficult?  Could it be that I do not sufficiently see myself in them?  I do not see that they are like me. I am like them. The identification that allows us to share in our humanity will empower me to minister effectively. And perhaps even lay down my life.