What the next generation of pastors needs is a firm grounding in sound doctrine and loving pastoral care, according to a prominent evangelical leader.
In the next 10 years, nearly half of the pastors of the Southern Baptist Convention's 40,000 churches will reach retirement age, said the Rev. Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, to seminary trustees on Tuesday. He challenged the trustees to mentor the next generation of ministers.
The 4,400 students of the Southern Baptist Convention’s flagship seminary haven't had the same exposure to church life as many of the older generation of pastors had, acknowledged Mohler, who grew up in the church and has never been apart from it throughout his entire life.
"I’ve never known a moment when I wasn’t in the bosom of the church,” he said, according to Towers Online, the seminary's news service. “I would not know what it is to be unchurched."
Seminary students today, on the other hand, most likely did not grow up immersed in church life and some barely converted during their high school or college years, Mohler noted.
Without that lifelong exposure, many students haven't experienced the loving pastor and caring congregation that ministers in the previous generation have.
"They do not know what it is like, as we do, to have a home there (church)," said Mohler. "They do not quite know the solace of being away and knowing how satisfying it is to come back to people who know you and love you, who watched you grow up, who are proud that you have gone to seminary and are praying for you.”
While one of the great challenges is to instill boldness and a sense of urgency for the lost in this generation, Mohler says the greater challenge is to inculcate in them gentleness to ministering congregations.
And while the seminary teaches students doctrine and how to interpret Scripture, the local church and pastors must help mentor future ministers.
"I don’t think in a classroom you can learn what it means to love people the way the apostle Paul talks about it here," said Mohler. “I think you have to learn that in the local church. You have to learn that at the bedside of a saint who is going home to be with the Lord. You have to learn that in talking to a couple that thinks divorce is an option and you’ve got to tell them it isn’t. You have to learn this the hard way.”
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has achieved record enrollment numbers in its master of divinity program, Mohler reported in June. He said there are more young men studying at Southern Seminary in the master of divinity program than anywhere in any place at any time in the history of the Christian church.
RSS
Going to Bible Schools or Bible Seminaries is fine but we need to be very careful when being taught man's interpretation of the scriptures.I have read many teachings in my life as a christian and have come across various interpretation of scriptures.Many of the teachings taught by these writers/teachers contradict the scriptures or other teachers' teaching and expounding the word of God.I've become so disillusioned by all these and turned completely to the Bible as the best and most trusted teachings.I'm very disappointed with many of the 'Prosperity' preachers. I don't find that sort of thing in the word of God.God does provide for His children but He doesn't say that ALL His children will live a super- rich life!
Raising Ministers on How to Love God's People sounds like a noble goal. My experience as a pastor and associate of many pastors is "How" is not the issue. Having a reservoir of love within makes you a natural lover of God's people. I have a saying, "The number one duty of every believer is to get radically loved by God. Teach them how to receive the radicall experiential love of God because "love never fails."
Doug Grills
SBTS is most likely one of the very best seminaries in the country, if not the world. The fact that so many are enrolling in seminary is just incredible! Thank the Lord we have schools that offer this kind of training and education! So many people are being suckered into joining those 'bible colleges' that offer nothing more then someone else's interpretation (which is usually wrong, dead wrong).