What Preparation Do Ministers Need Today?

If you're going to be a doctor, a military officer, or a restaurant manager, you need training, which may include classroom and field experience. Without adequate training, you aren't able to properly treat people, lead people, or feed people. Pastoral ministry also requires preparation. But these days, what kind? Marshall Shelley and Kevin Emmert gathered four individuals who recruit and train church leaders, and asked them what preparation is needed for pastors today.

John Bryson is a founder and pastor of Fellowship Memphis, a multicultural church in Tennessee, and is an executive board member of the Acts 29 church planting network.

Jon Ferguson is a founding pastor of Community Christian Church, which has sites throughout the Chicago area, and helps lead New Thing, a church multiplication network.

Mark Jobe is pastor of New Life Community Church, which has 19 Chicago locations, both Spanish-speaking and English. He is founder of the New Life Cities network.

Mark Young is president of Denver Seminary, founder of a theological school in Wroclaw, Poland, and formerly on the pastoral staff of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas.

What is your role in assessing a person's suitability for ministry?

Jon Ferguson: It's multifaceted. Since our church network is growing and constantly adding new locations, we're always looking for new pastors and new support staff. So I'm constantly identifying, evaluating, and developing new leaders. We use Church Planting Assessment Center (churchplanting4me.org). It's required for all our campus pastors and church planters.

Mark Jobe: I spend a lot of time coaching younger pastors and mentoring potential leaders. All of our pastors do that to some degree. So the process of assessing, raising, and training new pastors is a team effort. It's a very relational, intuitive mentoring type of approach.

Most of our leaders have been identified from within the community. However, we've seen a lot of young leaders coming to Chicago, telling us, "We feel God is calling us to church planting." So two years ago we created internships for these types of people. It involves the same sort of mentoring and coaching.

'While modern assessment tools can be helpful, there's no substitute for spiritual discernment. You can't replace the relational component.' -Mark Jobe

Mark Young: In the academic arena, we assess what someone can articulate theologically and biblically. We have oral examinations that require students to articulate verbally what they have learned. That's what most pastors do. Very few pastors are writing exegetical papers. They're verbally expressing the great truths of the faith. So we assess whether students can talk about Scripture competently and coherently.

We also insist on a mentoring component. Every student is required to have two mentors outside the seminary that meet weekly with the student, and a seminary faculty member coordinates that process. The mentors look at the student's character development and ministry competencies and talk with the student about what they see and how the student is growing.

John Bryson: I'm constantly looking for leaders within our church, recruiting guys for our residency program or looking for potential church planters. At Fellowship Associates, we are looking to train men to plant churches and be leaders of leaders within five years. In the Acts 29 Network, we assess whether a guy is not only ready for ministry, but whether he is able to plant a church. It's a pretty intensive assessment.

Is discerning whether a candidate is suitable for ministry straightforward and clear, or is it murky and difficult?

Jobe: It's always easier when we work with people we've known for a long time, people we've raised and tested, who had their start in small groups. Those gifted in ministry rise to the top naturally. You don't have to ask questions about their character and capability, because you know their background.

It's trickier with folks you haven't known very long. You have to do more research, and the assessment is more intensive. While modern day assessment methods can be helpful, there is no substitute for spiritual discernment, fasting and prayer, and interaction over the years. You can't replace the relational component of raising people and then launching them.

Bryson: Sometimes it's difficult because of the combination of their strengths and weaknesses. It's said that Charles Spurgeon used to bear hug prospective pastors, to see if his chest was big enough to preach [without a microphone]. I want to sense a calling, hear a desire, and see a skill set for the job.

When determining someone's suitability for ministry, we look at three main criteria: leadership skills, shepherding skills, and preaching skills. Most guys are good at one, decent at another, and not so good or terrible at the third. Nobody's perfect. But I'll be honest and give them clear feedback on their strengths and weaknesses. I sometimes tell them it may be best to wait a few years before they become a pastor, and to go get the training they need.

Do you think young, aspiring leaders are sometimes too hasty to enter pastoral ministry?

Bryson: Yeah, that's the dark side of the church planting movement. While it's good to want to do something significant, entering ministry too early has its downsides. What's lost are the formative years in the midst of obscurity and the mundane, learning to do the little things well that prepare you for the rest of your life.

When you look at Moses and Elijah in the wilderness, or Paul in Arabia, you see that God uses the mundane and the obscure. Everyday life and relationships are fertile ground for the soul formation necessary to lead spiritually.

Before I ordain someone, I want to see him be a good Christian and good churchman, serve his small group well and clean up afterward and take out the trash. I tell high school or college guys who show promise, "Be thinking about ministry, but be a good Christian for a decade, and then come see me when you're 28 or 29."

Leadership development is a culture, not a department or a program. By living in that culture, aspiring leaders have the chance to glean wisdom from seasoned leaders. They learn about their strengths and weaknesses, and others will help them to understand themselves. They have a chance to be "faithful in little" as preparation to be "faithful in much."

Tragically, most of us are so concerned with what's urgent that we don't invest in what's important. While God certainly does raise up leaders occasionally when they're in their early 20s, it's not the norm. I assessed a guy the other day and told him, "You've never led a staff meeting. You've never hired or fired anybody. You've never had a board over you. You've never been an elder. Why would I send you out to plant a church?"

We need to be planting faithful churchmen. Sadly, there are guys who want to plant churches who have never been church members.

Young: What happens too many times in America is an 18-year-old kid who's spiritual in his youth group gets attention, and people tell him he should go into ministry. So he decides to go to Bible college, even though he may not have confirmation from his own pastor. He's fueled by his own ambitions. The problem isn't with the school, but the lack of involvement from spiritual leaders confirming his calling and fitness for ministry.

Jobe: Yeah, and when he graduates, he thinks he's qualified and prepared for ministry. He puts his résumé out to get a pastoral position when he hasn't had any experience. And no one has spoken into his life.

So what's the alternative?

Jobe: I realized a few years ago that our pastoral team was spending very little time with people in their early 20s. We asked ourselves, "Who's mentoring the next generation, which oftentimes is fatherless and comes from dysfunctional homes?" So I started meeting with a couple of young guys, including my son, who was 16 at the time.

I taught them basic things about being a godly man. I've taught them how to lead themselves, how to date right, how to manage finances, how to fight temptation. I wanted each one to know how to lead himself so that one day he'll be able to lead a family, a small group, and maybe a church.

It's been a phenomenal experience, and our entire pastoral team is now investing in 18-to-28-year-old guys. We call it Next Generation Leadership mentoring (NGLmentoring.org). But we won't mentor them unless they're doing ministry. We do accountability, spiritual disciplines, instruction, and character formation. There's no curriculum per se. It's life on life. People can get information anywhere now. We have an overload of information but a famine of spiritual fathers, mentors, seasoned, spiritual men who are willing to invest in the next generation. That's the natural process of training someone for ministry. And it should continue once that person is in ministry.

Ferguson: We have a residency program for aspiring church leaders. It's a life-on-life experience. An experienced pastor or church planter will walk alongside a ministry candidate for anywhere from 6 to 18 months. It's a biblical method. Acts 16 says Paul took Timothy along for the journey. We don't know exactly what that looked like, but it wasn't a short-term experience. Our program is a relationship-driven apprenticeship with four learning environments: mentoring, classroom, independent study, and actual ministry experience. It's a process of discernment and equipping.

Young: One of the problems with the typical assessment and training process is that it's short-term. We do assessment and training for a certain period of time, and then, for whatever reason, the assessment and training stop after we've launched a person into ministry. We all know people change throughout life because of trials and circumstances. It's essential that we create more avenues for ongoing assessment and development. Too often we've believed the myth that once we prepare somebody, they are prepared for life. That's a lie.

What is important for ongoing preparation?

Young: It needs to be relationally based. Information access is more available than ever. Online education is a reality that we all live with and believe is important. But we also need training where people can be known. Relationship-based training gives people the opportunity to grow in a more holistic way. That way they're not simply absorbing information. They're engaged with others, working on things they can't work on in a 100-person classroom.

When churches look for potential leaders, three words are commonly used: character, competence, and chemistry. (Does the leader have godly character? Do their skills match the particular needs of the church? And does this person fit this context?) Do you use these or similar criteria?

Jobe: I use calling, confirmation, compatibility, and character. I believe everyone is called to Jesus, and then Jesus sends us on mission. Some people assume only certain elite Christians are called. The truth is we all are called, though our mission may look very different. Not all of us have the same gifting. Some called people will end up doing ministry that involves full-time leadership. Others will not. It's the job of godly leaders in the church to affirm the gifting and readiness of the next wave of spiritual leaders.

How important is theological education in preparing persons for pastoral ministry?

Ferguson: It's important because we don't have the theological depth in the church that we need. For example, we see people taking positions politically and saying that's the biblical stance, but they don't have a clear hermeneutic of Scripture or theological grounding for that view.

'Many churches suffer from theological deficiency … to develop people at the soul level, pastors need some theological training.'
-John Bryson

I'm encouraged by the various partnerships between churches and seminaries. We have a great relationship with Wheaton College Graduate School, which offers a program that trains people in ministry. By attending classes for two weeks every summer, some of our ministry staff are getting a theological education without having to step away from ministry. We need more opportunities like that, because not everyone has a theology degree when they start ministry.

Bryson: Across the board, many churches suffer from theological deficiency. For example, instead of providing congregations with a robust theology of marriage, pastors often preach sermons on "10 ways to fix your marriage." We have "5 ways to deal with stress" or "3 tips on how to manage your money." But how often do we address the deeper issues like the idolatry of money? Or help our people develop a theology of marriage?

In order to challenge people and develop them at the soul level, pastors need some sort of theological training.

Young: Theological training is not only necessary for equipping leaders; it's necessary for social credibility. In the U.S., education gives you the credibility you need to fulfill your role. Would you go to a dentist who lacked the proper education and training?

The world looks at a church and wonders, Why is that person qualified to tell me about God? Historically the church has been linked to institutions that the society deems credible, places where knowlege is gained and spiritual truth can be discerned. Our society says people must have a certain level of training to create a credible institution. Our credibility can't be merely self-affirmed. Dentists have credibility because they've completed the required training.

Jobe: I agree that social credibility is important, especially among people who value higher education. But not all people value higher education in the same way. The more educated the setting, the more educated the pastor will need to be. But many places in the world don't believe higher education is necessary. Most of them don't have a college education, so they don't expect it from their leaders. They have different values.

'As we assess and prepare leaders, we try to see that they are exposed to the realities of ministry, but with support.' -Jon Ferguson

Some of our pastors who came to Christ at our church were in the business world. They have families and jobs, so it's impossible for them to drop everything for four years to get a college or seminary education. So we trained them for ministry through discipleship, not through formal theological education. And they're part of a close network where we continue to engage deeper theological questions.

Our church has 19 sites, and all of us leaders prepare our messages together. We all preach the same series, the same texts, together. Some of our pastors teach part-time at Bible colleges and study Greek and Hebrew extensively. Others don't even have a college degree, but they're able to pastor a healthy church in urban Chicago.

Sure, we value theological education. But there are various ways in which our leaders can get education, including non-formal ways. The level of education a pastor needs depends on the context.

I'd never take a pastor who has only a high school education and place him in a highly educated place like Wheaton. It would be a train wreck. Conversely, theological education alone isn't a sufficient source of credibility in a tough neighborhood like Chicago's Little Village.

Do you think aspiring leaders have a certain amount of ignorance about what it takes to be a pastor?

Ferguson: Yeah, but that's not entirely bad. If they fully understood what ministry requires, they might not ever pursue it. I was 23 when my brother and I started Community Christian Church, and I had no clue what it took to be a pastor.

When we assess and prepare leaders, we try to provide a context in which they can be exposed to the realities of ministry—with support. We give our residents access to any meeting they want to attend. One of our residents came from a large, successful church, and at the time we were going through an extremely difficult season. Amid the economic downturn, our finances were a mess. We were laying off staff. And he saw everything.

I thought to myself, There's no way he will want to plant a church after this experience. But he did! It was a formative experience for him. Residency programs give aspiring leaders an inside look that helps counter ignorance or unrealistic expectations.

Jobe: I agree. Nothing fully prepares you for ministry. Entering ministry is like becoming a parent. No matter how many classes you take or books you read, it will be tougher than you expected. You'll eventually feel like you're not cut out for it. That's why we need seasoned leaders to walk alongside new pastors, to provide continued coaching and support.

Ferguson: And despite our concerns and the challenges young leaders will face, the caliber of talent and passion and opportunity that I see in up-and-coming leaders is phenomenal. These young men and women have come to faith in Christ in a secularized world. They're not naïve in thinking we live in a Christian context. They're pursuing something radically different from what the world values. They have friends who aren't Christians asking them, "If I don't follow Jesus, do you really think God will reject me?" They're working out theology in the way I think theology needs to be worked out, in the midst of those big life questions. Young leaders are forced to engage in a pluralistic world in ways that my generation wasn't.

And the under-30 crowd is cause oriented. They want to see stuff happen. The question is do they want to pay the price to make it happen? We have the opportunity to help them get involved. I've never been more optimistic about the future of the church than I am because of this group.

John Bryson is a founder and pastor of Fellowship Memphis, a multicultural church in Tennessee, and is an executive board member of the Acts 29 church planting network.

Jon Ferguson is a founding pastor of Community Christian Church, which has sites throughout the Chicago area, and helps lead New Thing, a church multiplication network.

Mark Jobe is pastor of New Life Community Church, which has 19 Chicago locations, both Spanish-speaking and English. He is founder of the New Life Cities network.

Mark Young is president of Denver Seminary, founder of a theological school in Wroclaw, Poland, and formerly on the pastoral staff of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas.