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Use Thy Brain


A while back I found myself at a car dealership working through the song and dance process of getting a car. While going through the process the guy doing the selling asked me what kind of work I did. I told him that I was the minister at a church.

He perked up and said that he did the same thing. In fact, he went on to tell me that he had just received an ordination certificate in the mail. I asked what process he went through to receive his ordination. He said that he had typed up a little paper stating, in summary, his understanding of God, Jesus, the Bible and a few other theological issues and mailed it off to some Christian group. This group then sent him a certificate saying that he was an ordained minister. He continued his story by telling me that he was preaching at some small sized local churches in the area.

There is a lot to unpack with the story this fellow told me. What I heard was something that greatly concerned me. Imagine that you are seeking medical treatment. You jump into your car and drive to the medical facility to visit with a doctor about your medical issue. You find the doctor’s office, sign in and wait to be seen. When your name is called you go back and visit with the doctor. They tell you what they think the issue is and how best to treat it. During the visit you ask the doctor if he has seen other people with your type of medical condition when he was training to become a doctor. The doctor tells you that when he became a doctor, he typed up a little paper stating, in summary, his understanding of medical care. The doctor then received a certificate stating that he was now a doctor and could begin offering medical treatment for the general public.

My guess is that after hearing how the doctor became a doctor you might just leave their office. You might even file an official complaint with the health department. Perhaps you might wonder how many other people have visited this doctor and how many of those people have been seriously harmed. Why is it that medical malpractice is considered truly harmful while theological malpractice is considered as having no real-world impact?

Os Guinness in his book, Fit Bodies Fat Minds: Why Evangelicals Don't Think and What to Do About It, says “Western evangelicals in the last generation have simultaneously toned up their bodies and slackened off their minds.” Os Guinness wrote that book in 1994 and things have not gotten much better since. Guinness, in the introductory chapter of his book, observes that evangelical anti-intellectualism is “both a scandal and a sin”. It is a scandal because it acts as an unnecessary barrier and stumbling block to serious people thinking about the Christian faith and coming into a saving relationship with Jesus. It is a sin because it ignores the great command of Jesus when he said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37) Refusing to honor God with one’s mind — and its God-given ability to rationalize — is downright disobedience to God.

Why should we care? Obviously, there are some terrific ministers who haven’t been to seminary or college. You are fortunate if your minister has received both an undergraduate and graduate degree in Biblical studies and theology. Yet again why should we care? I care because I believe that a lack of theological training does real world harm. Harm on the same level of a doctor that was never really trained to be a doctor.

In light of all of this consider the following:

  • Has the minister been equipped to deal with situations like domestic violence? Have they been formally trained in pastoral care for a situation like that? Or might they tell a woman being abused by their husband that she should stay married to her abusive husband because God hates divorce. Or encourage the women to stay in the marriage for the sake of the children. Believe it or not situations like that happen a lot and sadly lots of women, out of guilt and shame, remained in mentally and physically abusive marriages.
  • Has the minister had Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE)? I went through CPE and wish I had done it years ago. It helped me be a better minister in so many ways. CPE allows for experiences where theological thinking and personal attitudes can be checked and re-examined. It is an excellent process that can provide a minister with new tools and understandings of themselves as well as healthy ways of engaging others.
  • Has the minister studied church history and theology in a serious way? Do they know the roots of their own tradition—even non-denominationalism has a history—and its relationship to the broader church? Or do they basically assume their church does everything right and everybody else is unbiblical? Are they aware of the theology that they operate with? Everyone has a theology that they operate with. Even those who claim no religious ties or atheism are still operating with a theology. 
  • Have church leaders offered the minster financial support and time to continue their education? A great gift for me was the financial support and time to get a Master of Arts and Master of Divinity degrees. The theological training offered in those degrees benefited the congregation that I served. 
  • Has the minister had training in healthy ways to engage people who are experiencing an issue with their mental health? Is the minister aware of resources to call upon or offer when people or families are experiencing a crisis? Keep in mind that ministers are not counselors. Ministers are not licensed marriage and family therapists and should not try to be. My rule of thumb was after meeting with a person or family three times, with little progress, I would refer them to some trusted local counselors.

I believe that theological education matters. I believe that ministers need training to deal with the complex issues they will face. Many ministers in my tradition balk at further education beyond a Bible college degree. It is viewed as something dangerous. Seminary is that place were faith goes to die or, perhaps worse, turn you into a liberal. I would agree with Mr. Guinness that using your mind and gaining further education honors God.

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