Christmas in America at the Parochial School

The silent child standing at the end of the choir rafters
during the kindergarten program, squinting into the house lights
of the church, dressed up like a cowboy squirming to get in the shadow
of the balcony steeple.

The other children scream the chorus to ‘We Three Kings’ to show
off for the hand-held video cameras held by most of the parents, who shove
each other for center aisle position like red-carpet paparazzi on Sunset
Boulevard. But this is just Christmas in America at the parochial school.

The Chinese dad of the squirmy-silent-cowboy-child keeps his coat on during the entire play. Occasionally he spots his son and gives a small, subtle wave. His kid never waves back and neither dad nor child smile. There’s too many soccer moms tripping over each other in the aisles, laughing out loud, holding their sides, being obnoxious bad neighbors.

The program director is sitting in the back pew thinking of rural China, daydreaming the nightmare program away, when her eye strikes a middle-aged dad in his leather jacket filming his kid flirting with girls; the dad who’ll never know life without a TV in his Lexus and marble floors for his occasional wife. But this is just Christmas in America at the parochial school.

The Chinese dad, the squirmy-silent-cowboy-child, the mid-day soccer mom ladies now causing racket at the program, the deadbeat wealthy dads playing like they’ll never get caught, the frantic program director wanting everything to go away, all the single parents, all the Methodist old timers, are all now just squinting into the Church lights, confused to death with their American dreams.

Flowers on her birthday, always

I just call it sermon prep. Sing on Simon, sing on.

Advantages of not observing Christmas

Read all about it at the old school blog here. Good controversial post. Warning, the sermon is quite long.

Idolatry?

I found this article to be very provocative. I have seen others speak up about the recent emphasis on idolatry and think some valid points are being made. One can only think that its books like this that have caused some to wonder about this new emphasis on idolatry.

Go To Seminary, Part 2

Last time I made the assertion that going to a seminary is still the best way a man can be trained for pastoral ministry. I then focused on my own experience with seminary particularly as it concerned the legitimacy and purpose of the seminary institution. I did this to show that good seminaries are instituted by local churches in order to come alongside the local church, and to provide training expertise to men considering pastoral ministry in a way the local church cannot. That is the origin of good seminaries and their primary purpose. In this post I hope to lay out some more particular advantages that one will have in going to seminary over-against other types of training models.

Simply put, seminaries will provide a more well-rounded and thus a better education than any alternative models of training currently on offer. At seminary, students will encounter men who have dedicated their entire lives to a particular area of theological study. Something that local pastors cannot and are not called to do. The student will be nurtured intellectually by their professors but also spiritually. Only if one goes to seminary can one interact on a personal level with professional theologians in the classroom, the living room, and in the local church. This cannot be done listening to mp3’s. But if one goes to a seminary where they hear professors in the classroom and observe them in the local church and in other contexts, one will necessarily be better educated. It is good to have a mentor, it is better to have several mentors to help shape and mold a student.

Another related advantage to attending a seminary is the interaction with fellow students. Many fellow seminarians I know say they learned just as much, if not more, outside the classroom as they did inside the classroom. This happens because of the conversations that a seminary student has with other students that are not part of the same tradition. I know of no seminary that has students from just one tradition. There are usually many traditions represented in the student body and the interactions amongst students are incredibly sharpening and valuable. This aspect of seminary cannot be artificially reproduced by distance education.

In addition, I think seminary education is better because it can be more integrated than distance learning. What I mean is that at seminary, the curriculum is usually well-designed and highly integrated, maximizing the students time. Distance learning and other training models tend to produce a very disjointed education. Classes seemingly are ordered at random, and it is hard to integrate what one is learning in systematics courses with what one is learning in say, his biblical theology courses for example. Yet seminaries design curricula that are highly integrated. For instance, I remember one day at seminary where we were studying eschatology in a systematics class, the exegesis of the book of Revelation in a biblical theology class, the history of thought about eschatology in a church history course, and then how to preach apocalyptic texts in a practical theology course. Needless to say, after getting 8 hours of one topic from different angles, information has a way of sticking better.

One disadvantage commonly cited about seminary is that it isolates a student from the local church. In my experience, this is the exception to the rule. Sure, it happens. But there is not a seminary I know of that does not at least have some minimal requirement for students to be in a local church serving somewhere and getting mentored by pastors. This is typically called field education. The student, during his entire seminary career, is to be in the “field” (i.e. the local church) utilizing his gifts to the glory of God for the improvement of Christ’s church. For me, I had to serve 700 hours in the field in order to graduate. And I served a lot more than that. Indeed, my presbytery requires 1000 hours in the field to be considered for ordination, and most governing church bodies have similar requirements.

Moreover, students are also underneath the oversight of local elders and pastors. As stated last time, in Reformed and Presbyterian churches men “come under care” of their governing body. This keeps them accountable. So this idea that seminary students detach from the local church seems more of a myth than reality. The fact that men will usually have to leave their local church to go to seminary should not shew them away from seminary. Rather, this should excite men. For their skills will be honed in the local church. They will get to see how another church operates which is always helpful. This only enhances ones education experience. Men should simply transfer their membership, and get involved with a different local church. Indeed, every seminary I know requires this. Sure, I think seminary students should consider their vocation as being that of a full-time student at seminary. But that does not mean they are outside the local church. It means that part of being a full-time student is learning in the field.

In conclusion, I know there are a lot of folk today trying to “rethink” the seminary system. And let it be known, I am all for constructive thinking to improve the churches way of educating ministers. No one thinks the system is flawless. However, in all the “rethinking” models that I have seen done (including my own rethinking) it seems like the quality of education goes down, the interaction with theologians goes down, the desire to thoroughly train someone in the languages goes down, and overall the quality of the ministerial candidate goes down and Christ’s churches are impoverished because of it. So my question is, what is our goal? If our goal is to have a ministry educated in head and heart, right now I think a seminary level education is the best way to do this. Of course there are flaws in the system. Of course students can slip through the cracks. But the seminary model still stands as the system that provides the best education of head and heart, with the best pastor-scholars, resulting in the best ministerial candidate. Why would we want anything less?

As one of my professors was fond of saying, usually when people try and reinvent the wheel, they come up with something different than a wheel. I am all for improving upon the seminary system. But to scratch it off entirely, as most new models seem to do, is misguided at best.

Go To Seminary

I have been quite encouraged lately at the number of men I have met who are considering full-time pastoral ministry. As I have made my way around the local PCA churches and met with PCA men from around the entire Presbytery, it seems that there are a good number of guys considering if the Lord would have them be under-shepherds of his Church. Praise God! As these men wrestle with this calling, one factor they all are dealing with is how they might get trained (i.e. how to do seminary). Indeed, they struggle with whether or not they should “go” to seminary at all because of the proliferation of online curriculum that would allow them to stay put. A majority of these men have families and jobs. Their jobs are nice and in these economic times they would be tough jobs to leave. Their families are young and most of them are getting established in recently purchased homes. All of this makes online curriculum, or any type curriculum that would allow one to stay put, quite attractive.

Yet I want to argue here and in subsequent posts that going to seminary is still the best option. Granted, it is all the better if there is an established seminary where you live. Then you don’t have to pick up and move. But regardless of where you live, it is my opinion that going to a seminary, where you get lectured by a man and not an mp3, where you get sharpened by fellow students with whom you disagree, etc. is still the best way to go.

First, it should be stated that at one point in time I was rigorously opposed to the idea of seminary. I did not think it was a legitimate institution. After all, nowhere in Scripture does anyone institute the seminary. At least I couldn’t find those passages. I didn’t think the riches of theology and doctrine should be locked away in some golden academic ivory tower somewhere. I wanted the bridge between the academy and the church to be demolished. I wanted the riches of the Christian faith to be given to the church, which I knew was an institution established in scripture.

However, I slowly came to realize that good seminaries are actually servants of Christ’s church. They help train ministers so that churches can receive the riches and depths of the Christian faith. They are how local churches have banded together in order to do 1 Tim 3 and Titus 1. That is, seminaries exist because churches formed them in order to train the men that God was calling to ministry.

Indeed, churches are called to train men. They are called to pass on the good deposit of sound doctrine entrusted to them. Yet, as anyone in pastoral ministry can testify, this task is quite large. Especially when there is more than just one person needing/wanting to get trained. Churches then need a way to do what Scripture commands them to do. They need a way to train men. And good seminaries carry out that function.

Now, it could be argued that perhaps local churches are passing the buck on their responsibility in sending men to seminary. Yet, in my denomination (the PCA) as well as in other confessionally Reformed denominations there are structures in place so that this does not happen. That is, men are to come “under care” of presbyteries and synods whereby they report back to those presbyteries and synods before, during, and after their seminary curriculum. Elders of said presbyteries and synods are to take a “kindly interest” (to quote the PCA’s BCO) in the affairs of seminarians. So it should never be the case, at least in Reformed denominations, that someone is a lone ranger seminarian. Pastors and elders that constitute the governing bodies of presbyteries and synods are to keep up with the student. As much as possible, they are to help the student out. Even mentor them if possible. And it should be added that many seminaries I know will only accept students who are recommended by their church leaders. This is another good check and balance that is put in place.

Of course, this is the ideal. Many seminarians can and do fall through the cracks. Many churches could be charged of “passing the buck.” Surely, it can be difficult to keep up with the students especially with geographical barriers. In my case, I was sent to seminary by a PCA church in Omaha, NE to a seminary in Escondido, CA. It was quite hard for them to take a “kindly interest” in my affairs from that distance. But guess what, my pastor and I kept up a close correspondence. The session (all of the elders) of my local church always wanted to hear (via conference call and email) what I was leaning, where I was worshipping and serving, and what my plans were, etc. They helped out in many ways that I am very thankful for. It is not as though they said to the seminary, “here take him, we can’t handle the load.” No, in fact, I learned basic Greek through the efforts of my elders before I even came to seminary, which allowed me to have a leg up in the language curriculum. At any rate, ideally, churches start and utilize seminaries to aid them in their call to train men for ministry. That is a big reason why they exist, and that is a big reason why I think men should go to seminaries. Go to the places churches have established to better equip you to serve Christ’s flock.

In the next post, I will tackle more reasons why men should go to seminary, and why the system works.

Cowboy Indian Bear

And not only Cowboy Indian Bear but the newcomers to the scene It's True are playing down at the Barley Street Tavern tonight. Everyone should really dig both bands. I am stoked. Listen. My good pal, the ye ol' Nate Mickish and I will be enjoying libations starting around 9. Come join us for conversation and thought-provoking tunes. More beard in the monitor!