Hi Robert,

Thank you for your kind words! I probably spend too much time out on the Internet, interacting in those kind of articles when I see some of the crazy stuff that is being posted by others. I’d get more done here if I didn’t do that, but it’s also good practice…. and I’m always trying to remember that thousands of people read that kind of stuff who aren’t commenting.

I hope things go well for your church and growing ministry, and hope you find a great new pastor. Regarding worship strategies, my input would be to try and accomplish what might be called a ‘blended’ service, where you pull the best of worship music across time and genre, always examining the content theologically. Keep the liturgy as well, in some form. I always it to be an incredible deficiency in churches I visit when they don’t have it. Liturgy, both in structure (confession, absolution, etc.) as well as content to be an aspect of church to be treasured.

And, while I would never say to make a service non-welcoming or un-evangelistic, I think it is important to keep in mind that worship is worship of the body of Christ primarily. We’ve tried to cram too much teaching and evangelism into worship time. We often end up watering things down and starving the sheep in order to meet lowest common denominator and be visitor-friendly. I think the thing that makes a service most visitor friendly (and isn’t bad for the regulars) is to take a few moments here and there, and explain aspects of the service in with the liturgy and flow of it.

Regarding the pastors time and training, you should read the previous comment and response (if you haven’t done so). Pastors usually act on the needs/wants of the congregation, and are trained to do so. If the congregation isn’t trained in apologetics, the pastor has to try and handle that (many don’t very well due to little training), be an evangelist, be the teacher, be the care-giver, be the counselor, be the administration, etc. If the pastor could be freed more to focus on sermons and teaching, I think it would contribute to growth…. of well trained people who would better step up to the plate and take on many of these things. This, in turn, would prompt seminaries to focus more on teaching and apologetics training.

Keep studying theology! We can’t have enough theologians or apologists these days. Blessings, and thanks again.

Hello,

I agree somewhat with the spirit of what you are saying, but I’m not sure I agree with some of the details or possibly with the identification of the core problem.

Certainly the church needs more apologetics training, hence this ministry. 🙂 But, I think the church is just being kind of slow at recognizing the need and facing the reality of the situation at hand. While I’d love to see pastors get more apologetic training (even one required introduction class in the M.Div program would be a HUGE improvement!), I’m not sure that ultimately, they can spend the necessary time to specialize in the manner needed. This is especially true for solo pastors in smaller churches.

Now, why this is, is partly due to pastors having all sorts of duties dumped on them that should be lightened, at least, by elders and deacons. But, in some manner, I think a pastor has to be a jack of all trades, as you say. Hopefully, though, they WILL be a master of exegesis and proclaiming the Gospel. There, I agree, too many are not these days.

But, ultimately, the M.Div is more in reaction to what churches call for, than something seminaries are trying to push. The ‘old’ model has been the do-everything pastor, with congregants just showing up for Sunday service. The M.Div tries to meet that need (which is wanted by the congregants, remember). I agree that too much emphasis has been shifted from exegesis and preaching, but an M.Div is already one of the most demanding Masters degrees in education, period.

Education in general, is in a sorry state in our churches. I think often pastors feel trapped in trying to communicate their knowledge to this crowd of uneducated people. Where they make a mistake, I think, is in underselling the possibilities. I’ve been fortunate enough to have been in a couple churches over the years where pastors have aimed high, not for the lowest common denominator. Those churches tend to thrive, with more people than you might think rising to the occasion. I think too many pastors don’t think that is possible, or are overly concerned with the people who simply aren’t going to expend the effort necessary to learn.

And, this is where I think ministries like this one can come in. We have the specialized education and can help come along-side the pastor and other teachers in the church to bring apologetics training in. What we need is for more churches and pastors to recognize the need and help support our efforts. In our present culture, I think this is the only way we will have strong evangelism and strong churches. But, the churches need to make this a priority. Once they do, the seminaries will follow with the programs. But, I’m not sure there is anything fundamentally wrong with the M.Div itself.