Who needs a theological education?

I often get asked whether pastors need a theological education. Here’s how I answered that question last week:

I think the best way to answer that is actually to ask a different question: Does the church need a theological education? The answer to that is, surely, yes. Every New Testament book is a theological education for the church, helping it to grasp the implications of what God has done in Christ. So then, if the church needs a theological education, what does that mean for her leaders? 

If that’s a helpful way to think about it, then we’re not just talking about one or two verses in the Pastoral Epistles about pastors needing to be “able to teach.” The whole NT demands and models theological leadership.

Helping gospel workers to put theology into practice

       Primer is a project I’ve been working on with the FIEC. It’s written for gospel workers to help them put good theology into practice in the life of the church. 

In each issue of Primer we take one pressing topic and over the course of 80 pages or so we offer a kind of theological digest; summarising contemporary debate, drawing on at least one classic historical text, and always keeping the realities of ministry in view. In the first issue we covered the doctrine of Scripture. The second issue (released today) looks at the doctrine of sin. What does that look like? Well, 

      -          We gave Graham Beynon a pile of books recently published on the topic and asked him to go away and juice them for us, discussing the various ways in which they define the essence of sin.

      -          Then we asked Tim Ward to reflect upon the ways in which we customarily preach sin. He considers the dominant models we use to explain sin to unbelievers (idolatry and rebellion), and then asks how well our preaching to believers about their sin stacks up against the New Testament.

      -          Next we reprint a classic passage from Calvin’s Institutes on the extent of human sinfulness. It’s a fantastic passage that takes us into the depths of the human condition in a way that leads us back out to God’s grace as the only possible remedy.   To help that medicine go down, we have Mark Troughton, a serving pastor, guiding us through the text. He sets the passage in its context and helps us follow the argument and apply it to ministry today.

Beyond that, three articles have a more practical focus:

      -          Kirsten Birkett explores addiction and its relationship to sin from both a medical and theological perspective (looking at it through the lens of Augustine’s account of sin).

      -          Next, John Frame gives some short sharp answers to some FAQ’s about sin in the Christian life (Why do we confess sin if we’re forgiven? How does God feel about us when we sin? etc.)

      -          And finally, I’ve written on how we can communicate sin in a culture of entitlement and victimhood. How do we explain sin when everything is someone’s fault?

Primer is published twice a year and is available from the Good Book Company…

Training men in our churches

Continuing a theme of publicising good ideas of how to train people in our churches, here’s the pitch Grace Church Cambridge made to a number of its men. It's a really nice combination of letting other people do the work - using resources written by other people and taking people to conferences - but also focusing on character and relationships. So why not take, adapt, and make a pitch of your own…

Grace Training Program

We are starting a training program at Grace aimed at men to help them in their current and future leadership and ministry.

The elements of the program are described below. The program is designed to run for most of a year (starting in March and finishing next December).

You will see that one of the materials we’re using is specifically aimed at ‘elder’ training. We need to be clear that this is not specifically an elder training program. We want to invest in men to help them in whatever ministry is appropriate for them. For some that may well be eldership at some point (at Grace or elsewhere); for others it will be home group leading; for others it will be evangelism and discipleship in other contexts (internationals, or 1-1 meetings).

We plan to run this program on an invite-only basis with a limited number of men each year. We would want and expect people to commit to the whole program.

Please read through the details below and consider if this is something you would want to, and are able, to do. We would love to work with you and grow with you in this. 

Elements of the program

      1.    Group meeting

There will be a group meeting once per month (probably on a Sunday evening); 9 meetings in all (with a break over holiday times). This will involve (a) study of Ephesians, and (b) working through an elder training manual. Each of these will involve preparation:

(a)   Studying the appropriate section of Ephesians beforehand and coming with answers to set questions.

For each section of Ephesians you need to come with the following:

─        A sentence which summaries the content of the passage (what it is saying / teaching)

─        A series of applications. These can be to a variety of different areas e.g. personal discipleship, church life, mission, world view, etc.

(b)   Working through the eldership training material which includes reading and some reflective questions.

We will use an Acts 29 module covering Biblical principles of leadership.* There is a short amount of material to read often with a reflective exercise e.g. on character or marriage. There is an accompanying chapter to read in a book (Church Planter, Darrin Patrick).

      2.    1-1 discipleship

There will be regular 1-1 meetings with one of the current elders. What these meetings cover will be tailored to each individual. Possibilities include reading a book on an aspect of ministry; accountability in personal discipleship; discussion and prayer for ministry areas. These areas may change as the year goes on. Frequency of meetings will depend on availability but ideally would be every 2 weeks.

      3.    Ministry experience

Everyone included in this program is already involved in some level of ministry with Grace (and outside). We would want that to continue and potentially to develop depending on individual circumstances and gifting. The desire is that our training is grounded in real life rather than remaining abstract.

      4.    Conference

Attendance at a ministry conference can provide great stimulus and the benefit of expert training. Two suitable conferences are the FIEC leaders’ conference and the Acts 29 ‘Ignition’ conference. They both take place in November. We recognise that people’s work commitments may limit them in this but would like everyone to consider what degree of attendance would be possible.

* This elders training material, “Gospel Eldership,” is due to be published this autumn and will be available from www.GospelResourceNetwork.com.

Training women in our churches

It was a real pleasure to hear about the women’s ministry at Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh during a recent FIEC Pastors’ Network Conference. Part of that ministry involves a rich training course I’d love to see adapted and imitated in many more churches. I asked the Women’s Ministry Coordinator, Rachel Sloan to explain how the course started, what it looks like and what resources she makes use of:

The Women's Ministry Training Group arose out of seeing the need to train and equip women to grow and develop the gifts and abilities God has given them for service.  Christian women have a vital role to play in the local church.  When we are welcomed into God's family he gives his gifts to us to point others to Jesus.  But, sometimes, it can feel hard to use those gifts.  We don't always feel equipped to tell others about Jesus or to encourage one other to keep going in our faith.  The aim of this group was to give confidence to those considering how to serve for the first time and to encourage and further equip those already serving.  

We started back in June 2014 and have completed 10 sessions over the past year.  The group initially included younger women who showed leadership potential and a few who were serving but would benefit from being better equipped.  One thing that has stood out from the group is that in church life we can often give roles to individuals who are keen and show leadership gifts without ensuring they have the necessary skills to lead.  One real benefit of the group has been to equip these women with skills they need to lead with confidence.  

Outline of the Women in Ministry Training Course (adapted from the Women's Ministry Course)

1. Women’s Ministry: What is women’s ministry and why do we need it?

2. Understanding the Bible: How do we understanding the Bible? What basics should we all know about the Bible?

3. Sharing the Bible: What are the different ways we can share the Bible with others? How do you prep a Bible talk? How do you lead a bible study?

4. One-to-one discipleship: What is one-to-one discipleship? Why should we do it? What are the essential elements?

5. Women and evangelism: How do I share the gospel? How do I create opportunities?

6. Pastoral Care: What is Pastoral care? What are the tools for pastoral care?

7. Pastoral Care - Mental Health: Different conditions. How to support those with depression, self-harm and eating disorders

8. Pastoral Care - Sexuality: Why do we need to talk about this? What does the Bible say about sexuality? What are the struggles women can face?

9. Supporting those who are married: What is God’s pattern for marriage? What are the challenges of marriage?

10. Supporting singles: What does the Bible teach about singleness? How can we celebrate singleness? The challenges of singleness. Godly dating, welcoming the divorced, valuing widows.

Further Resources

• How to Read the Bible for all it’s Worth - Gordon Fee & Douglas Stuart

• Dig Deeper: Tools to unearth the Bible's treasure - Nigel Beynon & Andrew Sach

• Everything you want to know about the Bible - Peter Downey and Ben Shaw

• God’s Big Picture - Vaughan Roberts

• Jesus Storybook Bible - Sally Lloyd-Jones

• www.thegoodbook.co.uk/commentaries

• Leading better Bible Studies: Karen and Rod Morris

• Iron Sharpens Iron: Orlando Saer

• Expositional Preaching: David Helm

• One-to-one: Sophie De Witt

• One-to-one Bible Reading: David Helm

• How People Change: Timothy S Lane and Paul David Tripp

• Everyday Church - Tim Chester

• Questioning Evangelism - Randy Newman

• Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands - Paul Tripp

• Relationships: A mess worth making - Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp

• CCEF books in general - http://www.ccef.org/resources

• Walking with God through pain and suffering - Timothy Keller

• Depression: Looking up from the stubborn darkness - Edward Welch

• I’m not supposed to feel like this - Chris Williams

• A Thorn in my Mind - Cathy Wield

• Shame Interrupted - Edward Welch

• A New Name - Emma Scrivener

• http://www.mind.org.uk/

• Helping women escape the fantasy trap - Helen Throne

• Is God anti-gay? - Sam Allberry

• The Plausibility Problem - Ed Shaw

• Captured by a Better Vision - Tim Chester

• Sex is not the problem (lust is) - Joshua Harris

• Pure - Linda Marshall

• livingout.org

• Loving my (LBGT) neighbour - Glenn Stanton

• Marriage Matters: Extraordinary Change - Winston Smith

• The Meaning of Marriage - Timothy Keller

• When your husband is addicted to porn - Vicki Tiede

• Sexual Detox: A guide for guys who are sick of porn - Tim Challies

• What did you expect - Paul David Tripp

• “God’s Design For Women” by Sharon James has chapters on singleness, marriage & motherhood.

• “Just The Two Of Us” by Eleanor Margesson & Sue McGowan – a Christian take on infertility from two couples who have experienced it in different ways.

• “I’ll Hold You In Heaven” by Jack Halford – a book for people who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth or abortion.

• The Miscarriage Association http://www.miscarriageassociation.org.uk/ has excellent resources for those who have experienced a miscarriage.

• http://www.christianpost.com/news/miscarriages-hope-amid-darkness-63488/ - An excellent article in the Christian Post about miscarriages and hope.

• “God’s Design For Women” by Sharon James

• Disciplines of a Godly Woman - Barbara Hughes

• The Heart of Singleness - Andrea Trevenna

• Redeeming Singleness - Barry Danylak

For more information and ideas you can check out their website and blog dedicated to the ministry among women at the church:  http://womenatcharlotte.blogspot.co.uk/