Mental Honesty and Seminary Recruitment

Send us your best men. They will barely be good enough.” This slogan, used by one of the stock-car racing organizations, is far more pertinent to the Christian ministry than to car racing. And since many seminaries are now recruiting students, tire slogan provokes the observation that appeals for students to consider the parish ministry must keep talent and mental honesty in clear view.

The complete candor of Christ as he spoke to those who professed they wanted to follow him still startles us. It should compel us to see that romanticizing our profession eventually leads to disillusionment. Christ never made an appeal to luxurious security. “ ‘If anyone wishes to be a follower of mine, … he must take up his cross and come with me’ ” (Matt. 16:21, NEB).

The young person contemplating the Christian ministry must carefully examine his mind and heart as to what will be demanded of him. Among the questions he must ask himself are these: “Can I face misunderstanding and opposition? Do I have the strength of commitment and purpose to stand against the society to which I belong when that society is wrong?”

Again and again the young clergyman will be forced to face the question: “Can I take it?” Indeed, the more talented he is and the clearer his understanding of the injustices and needs of our day, the more searching the interrogation will be. Tragic racial con diets in the United States emphasize this. But these are only symbols of a larger situation. Anyone who dares to cultivate insight into contemporary conditions in America or in the rest of the world can, at least to some degree, appreciate what is at stake.

There are, for example, too many facets of the challenge of Communism for us to ignore its sweeping character. Its fierce competition and the varied reactions of churchmen to it vividly exemplify conditions with which the young minister must deal. It is staggering to consider the virility of this idealistic, atheistic religion. In less than fifty years, Communism has gained one-fourth of the land surface of the world, and it now controls one-third of the world’s more than three billion people. Yet all Christian churches—Roman Catholic and Protestant—can claim only 900 million members. This immediately suggests perplexing problems the parish minister cannot escape.

Relationships of clergy and laity, which have already become severely painful, also confront the young man contemplating the ministry. Widespread secularism and Epicureanism in the churches, unashamedly accepted by thousands of members, will plague the young clergyman day after day. The parish minister who is trying to be honest with himself and with life will discover conditions so harassing that we can at least understand why hosts of preachers find it easier to try to bypass rather than face them.

This depressing situation weighs more heavily than the numerous duties expected of all parish ministers. Yet so time-consuming can these demands become that almost unconsciously ministers may minimize the all-important privilege of communicating the Gospel.

The Laymen’s Involvement

We ministers are under obligation to show laymen how all of us can and must work together if the Church is to be effective. Until our members become stronger spiritually, more involved in human needs, and more Christian in suffering with the oppressed, we have no right to anticipate effective Christian leadership. The laymen must understand their own involvement in the failures they too often try to transfer to their ministers.

Any leader must, of course, stay “ahead” of those he leads. But when church members stubbornly remain so far behind that they are not even aware of the preacher’s message or, if they do hear it, are antagonistic, there is serious trouble for minister and laymen.

Church members who are thoroughly Christian will pray for their minister. All too often, however, members of the congregation prey upon him. Frequently, they gloat over the mistakes of young ministers, instead of accepting divine aid for correcting their own. Many clergymen who are earnestly trying to interpret and apply the prayer, “Thy will be done,” are considered “dangerous.” Thus, because so many church members resent being asked to ponder prayerfully the problems of class and caste churches, the minister is frequently compelled to deal with perplexing issues alone, without the aid of intelligent and dedicated lay leaders.

Even more serious, a young clergyman will often be sickened by the discovery of how completely his congregation has been conditioned by secularism and the love of luxury. All too frequently their religion is essentially a cult of comfort and peace of mind. As a result, the minister cannot speak prophetically on human dignity and social responsibilities without being misunderstood, criticized, even denounced.

Denominational Demands

Within the confines of his own denomination, the clergyman’s question, “Can I take it?,” is never rhetorical. It is rather a probing experience.

At times the earnest preacher may be depressed by the number of hours he is expected to spend on wholly sectarian matters. He finds himself bound by demands for “denominational progress” while many of his members are struggling with spiritual doubts. He realizes that the religious problems of most people do not essentially concern what church to join. They are rather related to doubts whether there is any need for a church; indeed, whether there is a God, and if there is, what he is like.

Sometimes the whole issue is exaggerated and aggravated by ecclesiastical officials who, having never held pastorates or having had little interest in “the practical program” of the Church, have never participated in the struggles of the parish church. Some of these refuse to believe in and act upon the second-mile character of Christianity. Fortunately, the keen-minded ministers in the front-line trenches are not blind to the incapacity of such leaders to enter vicariously into the experiences current conditions demand—sometimes at great cost.

Regrettably, some young people who once thought that devotion to God’s word, eagerness to learn skills of communicating the Gospel, and ardent dedication to the Christian evangel were adequate, are quickly disillusioned. They are often made to feel that they will never really succeed unless they are rewarded with some ecclesiastical office. It ought to be easy to see that pride of achievement, fed by an avid desire for power, is thoroughly unfitting for the Christian minister or layman—yet it is painfully clear that this realization is not always easily gained.

The demands of Christ are, of course, the only ones we dare consider, and his requirements include attainments far beyond our human ability. Recall how Jesus emphasizes the divine requisite: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). We are wise to the degree that we refuse to accept any lower criterion—even of ecclesiastical success. When we intelligently and eagerly respond to the ardent appeals of Christ, the “honors” coveted by status-seekers become insignificant.

Stooping To The Practical

The young person who seeks to equip himself in the most satisfactory way for the ministry may also be surprised and disappointed to discover that some instructors in the religious field condescendingly look down upon what they call the more “practical” areas of the ministry. This is difficult to understand, since in the parish church the dedicated clergyman is expected to help carry the burdens of others. Constantly he must deal with issues of church administration and program-planning, give careful advice to his workers in all areas of the Church, and counsel with others about their problems of home, business, and society. At the same time lie should be continuing his studies in order to communicate the Gospel effectively.

Because some seminary instructors are neither involved nor genuinely concerned with the heavy obligations of the parish minister, they cannot grasp the tragedy inherent in their attitudes. They seem to overlook the evident fact that there would be no need of instructors or of seminaries were there no churches that required trained ministers. Their lack of pastoral experience, however, explains why some of them find it difficult to discuss curriculum and other aspects of academic discipline in order to aid professional students in practical preparation for the parish ministry.

Many forget that directing men in research is not necessarily training them for the parish ministry. “Research,” unless skillfully handled, may make it more difficult for the young clergyman to develop rapport with his congregation. Substituting knowledge of facts for depth of personal understanding feeds the tendency to downgrade “practical disciplines.” On the other hand, when laymen suspect that their ministers are inferior in scholarship and incapable of understanding the total program of their profession, there is a breakdown in morale, and effective service may become impossible.

For these reasons the student preparing for the Christian ministry must be able to watch some people bow before the gods of so-called scholarship while at the same time he develops toughness of purpose and an unyielding commitment to his own disciplines of study. Moreover, these ministers-to-be must always learn sincere consecration to the total welfare of those who will constitute their parishes and to all they serve in the spirit of Christ. By doing this they will be able to “take it,” because they know how to pray: “Our Father … thy will be done.”

The talented preacher thus learns that every contribution he can make, by both the teaching and the preaching ministry, is desperately needed. These critical days demand a united effort by all who are concerned with the future of the Church and of Christianity. Even if we fail to see the world redeemed, we can at least hope that God will use us in such a way that the world will not destroy itself! Furthermore, since high religion deals with attitudes and relationships to God, to fellow workers, and to people of all creeds, colors, and characters, our integrity and Christian dedication are involved. All this becomes a call we dare not ignore when we realize that the present crisis offers exciting opportunities to make God’s will central in human affairs.

We are now deciding whether we want to pattern the Church on familiar political procedures or on what Christ called the Kingdom of Heaven. All young people who are contemplating the ministry as their life-work, as well as those of us who are seeking to make the years we have left count for God, must demonstrate intellectual integrity and moral honesty. We now have the necessity and the privilege of facing frankly the most critical situation we have known and eagerly acting upon its challenge.

G. Ray Jordan is Charles Howard Candler Professor of Preaching and chapel preacher at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. He holds the A.B. from Duke University, the B.D. from Emory University, and the A.M. from Yale University.

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