Professional Ministers
I recently went back through a book by theologian David Wells that I read some 10 years ago. In one indicting portion he persuasively demonstrates the feeble state of the modern church being tied to the "professionalization" of ministers and the forsaking of the pastor as theologian. Concerning these two types of ministers he writes:
This is all too true. I spend a great deal of time interacting with ministers from numerous denominations and persuasions. More often than not their concern is the "business" of ministry rather than theology of ministry. For this reason they are more versed in John Maxwell than John Calvin. They labor over vision statements citing the proof text that "without a vision, the people perish" (Prov. 29:18). God forbid we read the ENTIRE verse:
The only "vision" a church needs is a clear view to God's law and it's mandate upon every facet of life. Pastors are also quick to repeat the refrain, "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge" (Hos. 4:6). Once again, a citing of the entire verse is helpful to understanding God's intent.
The lack of knowledge by which we are destroyed is the forgetting of God's law. It removes us from our positions as the priests of God and places us in proximity of the unbeliever since we share a common disregard for God's written will.
Today's minister is not burdened with a love for the law. He's purpose-driven!
In the one model, theology is foundational, and in the other it is only peripheral. In the one, theological truth explains why there is a ministry at all, what it is about, and why the Church without it will shrivel and die. In the other, this reasoning is marginalized so that what shapes, explains, and drives the work of ministry arises from he needs of a modern profession. And it is my contention that the presence of this latter model in the church goes a long way toward explaining the growing enfeeblement of the Church inwardly despite its outward growth. This model is ascending, even as the other is declining, and the appetite for it diminishes.
David F. Wells, No Place for Truth, or, Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology? (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1993), p. 218-219.
This is all too true. I spend a great deal of time interacting with ministers from numerous denominations and persuasions. More often than not their concern is the "business" of ministry rather than theology of ministry. For this reason they are more versed in John Maxwell than John Calvin. They labor over vision statements citing the proof text that "without a vision, the people perish" (Prov. 29:18). God forbid we read the ENTIRE verse:
"Where there is no vision, the people perish: BUT HE THAT KEEPETH THE LAW, HAPPY IS HE."
The only "vision" a church needs is a clear view to God's law and it's mandate upon every facet of life. Pastors are also quick to repeat the refrain, "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge" (Hos. 4:6). Once again, a citing of the entire verse is helpful to understanding God's intent.
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: SEEING THOU HAS FORGOTTEN THE LAW OF THY GOD, I will also forget thy children."
The lack of knowledge by which we are destroyed is the forgetting of God's law. It removes us from our positions as the priests of God and places us in proximity of the unbeliever since we share a common disregard for God's written will.
Today's minister is not burdened with a love for the law. He's purpose-driven!
