A major weakness of
Free Will Baptists is that their ministers are typically less educated than the
communities they serve. While many communities have highly educated leaders,
many Free Will Baptists in those same communities attempt to do ministry with their
own pastors having no formal ministerial education. Moreover, often Free Will
Baptist pastors are significantly less educated in ministry than their
counterparts in other denominations, putting them at a disadvantage in
articulating and defending Free Will Baptist doctrine. This is especially true
in urban settings where graduate degrees and even post-graduate degrees are
common, but it is also true even in rural areas. While education is no guarantor
of ministerial success, communities are not likely to rally around those church
leaders who function at lower academic levels than community norms.
Since Free Will
Baptist churches and associations are autonomous, the denomination cannot
simply dictate that churches require their pastors to attain the standard MDiv degree
(the Master’s of Divinity degree assumes 4 years of undergraduate Bachelors
studies, followed by 3 years of ministerial graduate studies). Unfortunately,
the denomination has done little to promote formal ministerial education over
the years. The denomination has left this job to the various Free Will Baptist
colleges which have done little to change the denominational culture of
educational mediocrity or educational hostility. In this essay, I lay out a
plan in which the denomination itself would promote formal ministerial training—a
plan that I think will eventually have a major impact in coming years.
My plan would begin
with a denominational registry of ministers. The denomination does not ordain
ministers, but Free Will Baptists generally recognize those ministers who are
ordained by the local association of churches, with assumed reciprocity of
ordination recognition from one association to another. Of course, a local
church can ordain a minister on its own, but this does not confer associational
ordination, which is the basic level of ordination for Free Will Baptists. The
denomination has no right to impose standards for ordination on local
associations, but could provide a registry service in which Free Will Baptist
ministers are enrolled. This would afford an opportunity for the denomination
to classify levels of ordination.
Any associational
ordination would qualify as the basic level of ordination. It may be designated
as “Standard Ordination,” or some such. Any minister with “Standard Ordination”
may have an advanced status if he has an undergraduate degree with a major in
Bible, theology, or ministry. This status may be designated as “Professional
Ordination,” or some such. For those ordained ministers who have been graduated
with an M.Div., which is the standard ministerial degree of most denominations
and seminaries, or its equivalent, the ordination status of “Advanced
Professional Ordination,” or some such, may be conferred. Thus, there would be
a three-tier level of ordination recognized by the denominational registry:
·
Standard Ordination: basic associational ordination
·
Professional Ordination: B.S. or B.A., with a major in Bible, theology,
or ministry from a recognized college or university
·
Advanced Professional Ordination: M.Div. from a recognized seminary or
graduate school.
What good would a
registry serve? What would motivate Free Will Baptists to use the registry?
Since use of the registry cannot be compulsory, there must be a motivator to
get Free Will Baptists to use it. Of course, one such motivator is available.
One of the great
needs of Free Will Baptist is a denomination-wide means of connecting ministers
seeking churches with churches seeking ministers. Naturally, this would be the
domain of the Home Missions Department (National Ministries?), or perhaps the
Executive Office which would be responsible for promoting and keeping the
registry. Currently, most churches seeking ministers approach their respective
state association ministries or other informal networks. A national registry
would supplement or perhaps supersede the current informal and sometimes less
than efficient network. Moreover, churches seeking a new pastor could specify
the level of ordination for potential applicants.
The Home Missions
Department would work with state agencies. For example, in order to be included
in the registry, the minister would have to demonstrate his associational
ordination and be recommended for ministry by the state associational
moderator, clerk or State Promotional Secretary. This would help assure quality
ministers for local churches. Of course, more details would have to hammered
out once this plan were to receive serious consideration.
In addition to
providing help to grateful ministers and churches, this registry would
reinforce the message that formal ministerial training is important for modern
ministry. This is an important first step toward promoting an educated clergy
for the 21st century, and would be preliminary to a subsequent phase
of promoting creative educational opportunities for ministers and church
leaders.
For the time
will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit
their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to
say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from
the truth and turn aside to myths. 
Posts
