I was thinking about college courses the other day - training men for the ministry and how it just doesn't seem like they can be prepared in three or four years.
There is too much to learn.
I was taught that college was not supposed to teach you what to know but to teach you how to learn.
And I don't think that is working very well.
We are sending men out who change their doctrine five years into the ministry.
They don't even know what they believe yet.
And then I thought- "Yes but the reason we use the three year program is it is the model Jesus gave us. He trained His Apostles three years."
And that is true, but He did it differently than we do in a college where a student gets at the most twenty hours of study a week.
His students followed Him 24/7.
With the exception of those times He sent them on ministry excursions, or those times He separated for prayer, (and even those times can be considered a part of the educational process) they were with Him everywhere.
365 days x3 years x 16 hours (allowing 8 hours sleep)= 17520 hours
If a student were going to school two semesters per year, 20 hours per week, that would be the equivalent of 27 1/2 years of education.
There was a time in history when a man was not considered mature enough to be a pastor until he was approaching 70 years old. Certainly we would be better off if those who believed they were called into the ministry spent tons more time preparing today. Younger men in the pastorate ought to be placed under the care of a much older man of God and be held accountable to him. Not just as an advisor, but as an authority over him. I suggest a minimum of ten years, perhaps even fifteen.
There is too much to learn.
I was taught that college was not supposed to teach you what to know but to teach you how to learn.
And I don't think that is working very well.
We are sending men out who change their doctrine five years into the ministry.
They don't even know what they believe yet.
And then I thought- "Yes but the reason we use the three year program is it is the model Jesus gave us. He trained His Apostles three years."
And that is true, but He did it differently than we do in a college where a student gets at the most twenty hours of study a week.
His students followed Him 24/7.
With the exception of those times He sent them on ministry excursions, or those times He separated for prayer, (and even those times can be considered a part of the educational process) they were with Him everywhere.
365 days x3 years x 16 hours (allowing 8 hours sleep)= 17520 hours
If a student were going to school two semesters per year, 20 hours per week, that would be the equivalent of 27 1/2 years of education.
There was a time in history when a man was not considered mature enough to be a pastor until he was approaching 70 years old. Certainly we would be better off if those who believed they were called into the ministry spent tons more time preparing today. Younger men in the pastorate ought to be placed under the care of a much older man of God and be held accountable to him. Not just as an advisor, but as an authority over him. I suggest a minimum of ten years, perhaps even fifteen.
