School, or an Audi?
I love me some German engineering.
I have hinted before at my displeasure for the cost of education. This is a catch 22 with me. I believe pastors and elders should be well educated. It is scary to think there are people in our pulpits across America who have never studied under anyone or have never been held accountable to anyone. Equally as scary is, there are those who have and who are still teaching bad doctrine and heresy.
Some churches still look for that Masters in Theology….for their youth pastors.
I have seen many listings for pastors and part timers with insane qualifications. My favorite to pick on was a posting I saw for a youth pastor which asked for a Masters degree, several years of experience, married, and willing to work 30 hours a week with no benefits and making about $25,000 a year. Yea. That supports a family that just paid almost $70,000 for an education.
What if the church trained its own?
What if, instead of having “Bible Colleges” where students mortgage their futures, we had churches that properly trained their people to take the reigns and pass the torch?
****SIDE RANT****
What the heck is up with Bible Colleges being so expensive and then willingly accepting money from banks as student loans? Granted, I paid for college this way (and now $300 a month afterward for the next 7-10 years), but I have found it to be rather un-biblical. The act of taking out a loan forces a person into a financial slavery. How can a Bible college support fiscal irresponsibility among its current and potential students? I understand for accreditation they may have to accept all forms of government aide, but they should AT LEAST discourage it and AT MOST, lower their stinkin prices! Nothing makes you feel better than looking at ugly plastic flower hangers and stupid little concrete benches used solely for decoration after you have signed off on another $4500 loan.
****End SIDE RANT****
I believe it is time for churches to start training their congregations to be pastors, elders, deacons, missionaries, and ministry entrepreneurs. This may cost those who are being educated some financial burden, but it should not be in the tens-of-thousands of dollars. In turn, we should be willing to hire and advance those we have trained.
We have to be willing to turn in our “pedigree” to be servants
I stole the “pedigree” thing from Dave Ramsey. Some people just want the degree because they want others to know where they learned. This helps them get jobs and shows them to be better candidates. If we could facilitate a paradigm shift to church-lead training in ministry and the Scriptures, the congregants would have to be willing to shift as well.
My prayer for our church plant…
I want to be a church which aids people in education for the purpose of ministry. I would like to offer classes where people can learn the Scriptures, doctrine and theology at a professional level. I would love to offer scholarships for those who felt called to higher education.
I would love to remove the myth that we need to be in six figures of debt to effectively spread the Kingdom.
Follow-up questions
Have you paid for higher education for ministry? Do you feel paying that much was “worth it” and would you do it again the same way? How would you like to see the church help people get education?
Leave it in the comments.
-Don-
