Ok, I'm gonna be blatantly honest here, these are not my ideas or thoughts. I've been reading a lot of books lately and this has cropped up more than once. These thoughts came from Barbara Brown Taylor and a sermon from Stuart Carlton. It's the idea of the ministry of the congregation of the church and the potential impact.
The first point is this, ministers can only effect the community so much. They are limited to their sphere of influence within the walls of the church. The congregation on the other hand, are the hands and feet of the church. They are out in the community everyday, working side by side with non believers. They have a lot more contact with the world outside of the church than ministers do.
Secondly, it is the minister's obligation to provide the congregation the means of getting out into the community with God by their side. The way ministers do this is to teach, pray and disciple their congregations during worship, bible study and prayer times.
The greatest need for every church or ministry is for more prayer. There simply isn't enough of it, because we are called to pray without ceasing. It's the constant connection with God that gives us the strength and guidance that we need. The point was made in the sermon I mentioned is this: that a praying church is a growing church. If we are all truly seeking God's will and his face, then he will direct our steps and move in incredible ways.
I think my biggest point is this: We're all in this ministry together. Ministers are not just limited to seminary graduates, and we can all be full time ministers. In light of what has happened in Louisanna, Mississippi and parts of Alabama, its time to remember that we're all servants of God. We can all do a little something to help these people out.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Ministers vs. Professors
Whew, its been a while since I've updated this site. Finally I have a reliable internet connection and more time to write on this.
For all the college students out there, I figured I would write about the difference between Ministers and Professors. First of all, both professions and ministers require a considerable amount of higher education beyond the undergraduate degree. Secondly, both are considered to be teachers and need to have a certain amount of public speaking skills. As far as I'm concerned that's where the similarities end.
Professors, especially ones that have earned the title Doctor, are considered to be experts in their fields. Whether its Biology, Spanish, Engineering, all professors are supposed to have a decent amount of expertise in their chosen field. Now I'm not gonna argue that all professors are experts, because I myself have had some loonies that should not be teaching a class at all. I think the biggest point that I'm getting to is this: that most professors should have the authority to be teaching a class because they know so much about the subject. They've done their research, put in their time, and now they are looked upon as the experts.
Ministers on the other hand are by no means experts in their field, because of one reason. That reason is wrapped in the issue of authority. Ministers receive their authority from God and God alone and God calls ministers into the ministry. Yes it is true that Ministers at least have a Masters of Divinity and some amount of experience, but this does not make them experts on God. The truth of the matter is this; there will be know expert on God except for God himself. For a minister to say that he is an expert on God is a very bold statement that I myself would not dare to make. God simply cannot be contained because it is impossible. God is just so much bigger than we are, and we as Christians discover more and more about him each day. He is constantly in motion and throwing curve balls our way; he's pretty unpredictable.
In conclusion, professors have the right to get behind a podium and tell us all about their subject because they are the experts. However, ministers don't have that right, they have a priviledge that God gives them. God gives them the gift of being his servants and help guide God's congregations in their walk. Ministers don't have the right to get in the pulpit and be the shepherd; they just have the joy of being a fellow sheep and are called to show other sheep how to find the shepherd.
For all the college students out there, I figured I would write about the difference between Ministers and Professors. First of all, both professions and ministers require a considerable amount of higher education beyond the undergraduate degree. Secondly, both are considered to be teachers and need to have a certain amount of public speaking skills. As far as I'm concerned that's where the similarities end.
Professors, especially ones that have earned the title Doctor, are considered to be experts in their fields. Whether its Biology, Spanish, Engineering, all professors are supposed to have a decent amount of expertise in their chosen field. Now I'm not gonna argue that all professors are experts, because I myself have had some loonies that should not be teaching a class at all. I think the biggest point that I'm getting to is this: that most professors should have the authority to be teaching a class because they know so much about the subject. They've done their research, put in their time, and now they are looked upon as the experts.
Ministers on the other hand are by no means experts in their field, because of one reason. That reason is wrapped in the issue of authority. Ministers receive their authority from God and God alone and God calls ministers into the ministry. Yes it is true that Ministers at least have a Masters of Divinity and some amount of experience, but this does not make them experts on God. The truth of the matter is this; there will be know expert on God except for God himself. For a minister to say that he is an expert on God is a very bold statement that I myself would not dare to make. God simply cannot be contained because it is impossible. God is just so much bigger than we are, and we as Christians discover more and more about him each day. He is constantly in motion and throwing curve balls our way; he's pretty unpredictable.
In conclusion, professors have the right to get behind a podium and tell us all about their subject because they are the experts. However, ministers don't have that right, they have a priviledge that God gives them. God gives them the gift of being his servants and help guide God's congregations in their walk. Ministers don't have the right to get in the pulpit and be the shepherd; they just have the joy of being a fellow sheep and are called to show other sheep how to find the shepherd.
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