"Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on earth. God does nothing but in answer to prayer." - John Wesley
In the small church there is a secret which has held it together since Christ rose from the dead some 2000 years ago. That secret is this - most small church ministers do not have advanced degrees from high ranking academic institutions. Walk into First Church downtown and in the pastor's office - wouldn't it be nice to have one of those you are thinking - the walls will be adorned with framed certificates that summon the attention of all those who enter in to understand they are now in the presence of intelligence. Reverend Read-All-About-Me wants you to know that he has studied ancient texts at length; discussed the value of geographical knowledge of biblical locations; can use his textual criticism tools to better state his case; and, now that he is converse in third person plural pronouns in Greek, you may be silent and enjoy his recitations of scholarly excellence.
Sarcasm aside, the need for intelligent and educated clergy in small churches cannot be overstated. The tremendous lack of simple bible study skills are one of the main culprits in the unfortunate maintaining of the status quo in the small church. What education some pastors do have is equivalent to a diploma, with the addendum of having been raised in church. That's it. We should strive for more, and whenever possible LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY! That said, education is not the end all, be all.
Wesley's point, I believe, is that a title in front of a name or a plaque on a wall are of no consequence when it comes to the most important aspect of ministry - fearing sin and desiring God, which only comes from prayer - deep, abiding, fervent and serious prayer. E.M. Bounds, in Preacher and Prayer, wrote the following: "The preacher who has never learned in the school of Christ the high and divine art of intercession for his people will never learn the art of preaching, though homiletics be poured into him by the ton, and though he be the most gifted genius in sermon-making and sermon-delivery." That is what Wesley meant...the school of Christ.
As a bi-vocational minister I do not have the luxury of going to my office - which I actually hope to have painted and fixed up very soon...nearly six years into this ministry - each day and have a set time where I am left alone to visit with the Master. Rather, I, like many of you, get up earlier than everyone else in the family to have that time alone. To receive my true training and schooling in the dark of the early morning hours. If you would be the man God needs and demands you to be, you will have to be taught by him. The only way to be taught by him is to spend time in his classroom. The only way to spend time in his classroom is to spend time in the prayer closet. Would you meet the Master there today? Your time is extremely valuable. How much more important then is it for us who work two or three jobs and minister to make certain we gain our knowledge, our strength, our love from the One we serve. The school of Christ is always taking new students and they are never turned away. He is a tough schoolmaster though and demands perfection. Be forewarned.
I would like to leave you with the following crushing words of William Wilberforce: "This perpetual hurry of business and company ruins me in soul if not in body. More solitude and earlier hours! I suspect I have been allotting habitually too little time to religious exercises, as private devotion and religious meditation, Scripture-reading, etc. Hence I am lean and cold and hard. I had better allot two hours or an hour and a half daily. I have been keeping too late hours, and hence have had but a hurried half hour in a morning to myself. Surely the experience of all good men confirms the proposition that without a due measure of private devotions the soul shall grow lean. But all may be done through prayer-almighty prayer, I am ready to say-and why not? For that it is almighty is only through the gracious ordination of the God of love and truth. O then, pray, pray, pray!"
In the small church there is a secret which has held it together since Christ rose from the dead some 2000 years ago. That secret is this - most small church ministers do not have advanced degrees from high ranking academic institutions. Walk into First Church downtown and in the pastor's office - wouldn't it be nice to have one of those you are thinking - the walls will be adorned with framed certificates that summon the attention of all those who enter in to understand they are now in the presence of intelligence. Reverend Read-All-About-Me wants you to know that he has studied ancient texts at length; discussed the value of geographical knowledge of biblical locations; can use his textual criticism tools to better state his case; and, now that he is converse in third person plural pronouns in Greek, you may be silent and enjoy his recitations of scholarly excellence.
Sarcasm aside, the need for intelligent and educated clergy in small churches cannot be overstated. The tremendous lack of simple bible study skills are one of the main culprits in the unfortunate maintaining of the status quo in the small church. What education some pastors do have is equivalent to a diploma, with the addendum of having been raised in church. That's it. We should strive for more, and whenever possible LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY! That said, education is not the end all, be all.
Wesley's point, I believe, is that a title in front of a name or a plaque on a wall are of no consequence when it comes to the most important aspect of ministry - fearing sin and desiring God, which only comes from prayer - deep, abiding, fervent and serious prayer. E.M. Bounds, in Preacher and Prayer, wrote the following: "The preacher who has never learned in the school of Christ the high and divine art of intercession for his people will never learn the art of preaching, though homiletics be poured into him by the ton, and though he be the most gifted genius in sermon-making and sermon-delivery." That is what Wesley meant...the school of Christ.
As a bi-vocational minister I do not have the luxury of going to my office - which I actually hope to have painted and fixed up very soon...nearly six years into this ministry - each day and have a set time where I am left alone to visit with the Master. Rather, I, like many of you, get up earlier than everyone else in the family to have that time alone. To receive my true training and schooling in the dark of the early morning hours. If you would be the man God needs and demands you to be, you will have to be taught by him. The only way to be taught by him is to spend time in his classroom. The only way to spend time in his classroom is to spend time in the prayer closet. Would you meet the Master there today? Your time is extremely valuable. How much more important then is it for us who work two or three jobs and minister to make certain we gain our knowledge, our strength, our love from the One we serve. The school of Christ is always taking new students and they are never turned away. He is a tough schoolmaster though and demands perfection. Be forewarned.
I would like to leave you with the following crushing words of William Wilberforce: "This perpetual hurry of business and company ruins me in soul if not in body. More solitude and earlier hours! I suspect I have been allotting habitually too little time to religious exercises, as private devotion and religious meditation, Scripture-reading, etc. Hence I am lean and cold and hard. I had better allot two hours or an hour and a half daily. I have been keeping too late hours, and hence have had but a hurried half hour in a morning to myself. Surely the experience of all good men confirms the proposition that without a due measure of private devotions the soul shall grow lean. But all may be done through prayer-almighty prayer, I am ready to say-and why not? For that it is almighty is only through the gracious ordination of the God of love and truth. O then, pray, pray, pray!"
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