John H Armstrong

Why Theological Education Fails the Need of Our Times

My title is big and broad, I understand. I believe, simply put, that contemporary theological education is failing to produce true leaders. We teach to our level of competence and the competence of most of our best schools is to teach courses that are helpful but not necessarily centered on the missional reality of the church. Generally speaking our seminaries fail to clearly grasp the gospel of the kingdom. Even where they do grasp the kingdom message (some teachers get it as evidenced by their academic writing) most have not learned how to put this message into practice. The kind of changes that are needed to produce real change at the congregational level is not being unleashed by our schools.

Please do not misunderstand me. I believe in higher education. I do not believe that it is desirable, in most cases, to put men and women in pastoral leadership who are not intellectually and spiritually prepared to serve well. What I reject is the idea that a 200-year old German model of seminary curriculum is the best model to base a good education upon. I also do not believe that those who train pastors should be so far removed from the everyday life of the local church. Our present system takes men and women out of the church, sends them off for higher education, gives them degrees in ministry and theology and then sends them back into schools where they will become the primary shapers of the next group of pastors. Something about this is wrong. Maybe this is why Catholic seminaries require their teachers to be active priests, not just teachers and academics.

If the church needs to recover a kingdom-oriented, missional understanding of its calling, a recovery which I believe is critical in a cultural context where the Christian faith has lost its impact on society and (most) congregations, then it is very unlikely this will happen in our present system. Reform is desperately needed. Some institutions are willing to talk about this reform but very few are changing nearly as fast as we need. The reasons are complex. I do not believe the answer is revolution, which would mean we burn down the house and start over. This is why I invest more than a little time of my own time in this discussion week-in and week-out. I love the church and believe that a good education is still very important for church leadership. I am not persuaded, however, that much of what we do to train leaders for the church is working very well.

If I understand the times in which we live then we need creative, fresh and theologically alive places where a good education happens and real practitioners are taught how to truly serve the church. Until theoria (theory) and praxis (practice) are closely aligned again I believe we will never get the balance that we need. The future is challenging and I fear most institutions are not ready for it.  If we keep doing the same thing, believing that it will produce different results, then the whole process gets very close to the definition of insanity.

Wes Granberg-Michaelson’s Faithful Missional-Ecumenism and the Reformed Church in America

For seventeen years Wes Granberg-Michaelson has served the Reformed Church of America (RCA) as general secretary. I not only count Wes as my friend but admire his leadership skills and the job he has done to make the RCA one of the few mainline denominations that remains focused on missional-ecumenism in a vital and Christ-centered way. One of the reasons I am a minister of Word and Sacrament in the RCA is because of leaders like Wes. I believe the vision he has pursued is one of the most biblically faithful in North America. It is not perfect. No leader casts a perfect vision for those he or she serves. But Wes has led with incredible faithfulness.

A few weeks ago Wes gave his last report to the General Synod. He stepped down following this annual gathering to pursue a new phase of mission in his life. When I asked Wes what this new phase would be the answer he offered, in short, was missional-ecumenism. I then asked him if we could find ways to work together in coming years. Time will tell how the Lord leads us both but I am praying that Wes will continue to be a leader in the global church. He has so much to give to other leaders and to the whole church, both of which he knows extensively from travel and friendships that he has made all over the world.

In his final address to the representatives of our church body Wes began with a look at progress related to Our Call, the Reformed Church's 10-year goal to start new churches, revitalize existing congregations, and become more multicultural and freed from racism. It is this very Call that attracted me into ministry in the Reformed Church. I weighed several church families when I concluded that I was no longer a Baptist. The RCA Call made my choice compelling to be honest.

"Our Call has prioritized what is most critical and is changing the RCA," Wes said. "We are seeing new fruitful and faithful ministries emerge. Over the last three years, official RCA new church starts are emerging at a faster rate than at any time in the history of the RCA -- in other words, since 1628."

Granberg-Michaelson highlighted some of the developments in the RCA since Our Call was adopted by General Synod in 2003:

• 185 RCA congregations have been planted and had New Congregation Plans approved.
• An additional 45 new congregations are underway.
• 55 percent of the new RCA churches planted over the past three years involve people of color, and several have been multiracial churches since their beginning.
• Several female church planters have emerged as part of the church planting movement.
• 77 pastors network groups nurture and support 478 RCA pastors.
• 220 church leaders have been trained as "coaches," people who come alongside pastors to encourage and support them.

He also offered a glimpse of the challenges he believes the RCA must recognize and to which the church must react:

• The deep alienation of young people from traditional religious institutions.
• Understanding the nature of the church in a time of rapid organizational change.
• The urgent need for proclaiming and living a whole gospel radically centered on following Jesus.

Granberg-Michaelson then posed a question to the church. "These three challenges can be summarized by one question--a question I'd like to leave with you as you seek to discover God's desired future: 'How do we develop a creative and transforming witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ in ways that can be seen and heard by those outside the doors of our congregations?'

"Answering that question will keep the RCA on a journey of deep change. That's where we need to be."

Granberg-Michaelson recognized a number of individuals and instances that have enriched and blessed him in his time as general secretary. He also emphasized that he is eagerly looking forward to the continued opportunities God has in store. "The end of an era is not the completion of a destiny," he said. "Every end is an opportunity for God to do a new thing.

"In the end, the purpose of all we do as a denomination, through our committees, commissions, classes, consistories, choirs, and callings; in workbooks and worship liturgies; in benefits programs and church loan funds; in seminaries and seminars--in all of this, we desire to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

"That's why we have to recover who Jesus is, and ask again and again, 'What do we do about Jesus?'

"So that is the question that you and I, and all in the Reformed Church in America, must continue to courageously answer. In so doing, we will become the vessels used by God's love to transform the world."

I cannot think of more fitting words for any church or denomination in 2011. “We have to recover who Jesus is, and ask again and again, ‘What do we do about Jesus?’” Amen Wes. Every church and church family ought to ask this question. Our mission is nothing less than transforming the world by God’s love!

And thank you Wes for serving so faithfully for seventeen years. The RCA is much stronger because of your leadership. You led with courage and deep thoughtfulness. You did not settle for filling an office, putting in your time. You gave yourself to something bigger than you could ever have imagined and Christ, I am persuaded, is pleased. May your successor follow in these steps and do even more by the grace of God.

The Pastor: A Memoir

One of my favorite modern Protestant writers is Eugene H. Peterson. I’ve never met Eugene, though I’ve spoken to him on the telephone. I invited him to participate in a writing project and he phoned me to decline. He was the only person, in a long list of invited contributors, who did that. (Some didn't bother to even respond in writing.) I am still impressed. He owed me nothing but a polite “turn down” but he wanted to encourage me by telling me my goals were worthy but he could not help me. He was apologetic and gracious. It made an impression.

A number of friends know Eugene and some had him as a teacher at Regent College in Vancouver. They have shared numerous stories with me about this senior statesman of the faith. Peterson is one of those guys who makes me listen when he speaks, even though I do not always agree with him. (But then who do I always agree with anyway and who really cares?)

I thus eagerly awaited the newest Peterson book, The Pastor: A Memoir (Harper One, 2011). When my friend Mark Elfstrand, of Moody Radio (WMBI, Chicago), gave me a copy at lunch last week I was overjoyed. I began reading almost immediately. I am not disappointed.

In the introduction Peterson writes of his disdain for clericalism. I share that response deeply. “Somewhere along the way while growing up I developed a rather severe case of anticlericalism. I had little liking for professionalism in matters of religion. If I detected a whiff of pomposity, I walked away” (2).

But Peterson goes on to tell how people began to call him Pastor, and then the children called him “Pastor Pete.” He admits he loved it. He said, “Pastor sounded more relational than functional, more affectionate than authoritarian” (2). I profoundly agree. I loved being called “Pastor John.” Some of my former congregants still call me “Pastor John” and I admit I love it. I care not for titles like “Reverend” or “Doctor.” I’m not even enamored with “Professor” as such. But I love “Pastor.”

Peterson’s book is right from the heart. He writes about being a pastor and about the church and real ministry. He is human, insightful and refreshingly honest. This is a book every pastor ought to read. In fact, those who love pastors would get a great deal from it too. Why not read it and pass it on to your pastor. He, or she, would likely thank you with great love.

Are Our Pastors Leaders or Managers?

I begin by stating what I hope is obvious to my regular readers. I was trained to be a pastor, planted a church I served for four years and pastored another for sixteen. I owe everything I now do in mission to my pastoral experience and training. On most days I loved being a pastor and I often miss it. I have had numerous opportunities to return to the pastoral ministry and served for eight months as an interim pastor in 2004. Many of my best friends are pastors.

Now, I have formed many impressions about churches and pastors from my wide range of experience over forty years of service to the church. I have witnessed major changes. I believe we are in a time in which major changes are taking place and very few pastors understand this or have the important skills to navigate this change well. This is not an indictment, it is an observation. I am committed to doing something about this which is why our mission statement is: “Equipping leaders for unity in Christ’s mission.”

Working with Tom Burns for the last four months has helped me focus on the leadership part of our mission more than ever. Tom is a leader and understands leadership. When we began working together Tom would routinely mention that only 8% of the pastors in America see themselves as leaders. I was so astounded by this figure that at first it did not sink in at all. After hearing it form him over and over (what is that saying about hearing something seven times) it sank in at the end of 2010. If this is remotely true we are in deep trouble.

The source for this statement is Experiencing LeaderShift: Letting Go of Leadership Heresies, by Don Cousins. Don cites The Barna Group, "The Year's Most Intriguing Findings, From Barna Research Studies," December 17, 2001,  http://Barna.org/, where this number arose out of their research.

Don writes, " . . . only 8 percent of America's pastors see themselves as having the spiritual gift of leadership." (19)  And he adds, " . . . If 92 percent of America's pastors don't possess the gift of leadership, yet occupy positions of leadership in their churches, then they must be mis-slotted.  Maybe the Holy Spirit didn't make a distribution error, but many of His servants must have made an application error. . . . They're confused about what leadership looks like on a day-to-day basis.  'What should I be doing?  What is my role?  What priorities should I be focusing on?...[These questions] come not only from pastors but also from team members who serve under their influence.  'How can we help our pastor become a better leader?'"

Tom adds: “This introduction has opened many doors for me in coaching pastors over the past three years.”  I believe, with Tom, that there is a tremendous opportunity for ACT 3 to walk through these doors by equipping and coaching true leadership. If we are to “equip leaders” then it starts with understanding what leadership is and how those who are leaders can actually be coached to become excellent leaders.

Before many pastors will desire help in this area they must become disturbed by the roles they have been assigned, namely managers of a system we call a church. When a man or woman is called by God to serve the church in ordained ministry of the Word and sacrament then they have been called to lead people. If the church is a “spider” organization where the pastor is the “head” and everything depends on him/her then the church will never thrive as God intended. This takes us right back to Ephesians 4. The pastor is to “equip” the people, not manage the organization. I find many pastors want out of the church so they can lead. We need nothing less than a full-scale reformation in our understanding of the laity and of leadership if there is to be a change. I will be writing a new series of articles on “A Theology of the Laity” for the ACT 3 Weekly series in 2011. If you are not a subscriber sign up and you will get these each Monday. 

Where is the Fault Line in Sports and the Church?

I read Sports Illustrated for several reasons. One is, of course, my love of sports. But there are a lot of magazines and papers that cover sports. Few do it with the journalistic excellence of Sports Illustrated. The March 29 issue brought this out in a remarkable way, with a fantastic story (“True Confessions”) written by one of the best sport’s writers of my lifetime, Frank Deford. I may say more about this article at some other point but today I want to comment on Joe Posnanski’s piece: “The Fault Line of Pro Sports.” Posnanski writes: “We live in a time when sports public apologies are judged more or less in the same way we judge figure skating performances. Did he sound sincere? How was the choreography? The artistic interpretation? Did he complete all the technical elements?”

Posnanski is writing, not about Tiger Woods as you might expect, bur rather about Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington, who recently admitted taking cocaine in 2009, while he was the manager of the Texas Rangers. (He tested positive as per the requirements of MLB for regular drug testing.) When Washington met with the press recently he was emotionally moved and very contrite. He talked about the consequences of his actions and personal responsibility. He said the team would be right to fire him as manager. He also said that he had entered MLB’s drug–treatment program and completed it clean of all drug use.

Posnanski writes of this meeting with the press: “It was almost the perfect apology. Almost. The one stumble was Washington’s insistence that this was the first time he had ever used cocaine, which, true or not, sounded off-key. Washington is 57 years old. He played baseball in the 1980s, when cocaine was the baseball player’s drug of choice. A day later he would admit to using marijuana and amphetamines as a player. This was really the first time?”

The public will generally spot these inconsistencies and in Washington’s case this is exactly what happened. Even if he was telling the whole truth, as Posnanski noted, “. . . it did not sound true. And in the apology game, that’s of paramount importance.”

Posnanski goes on to say that there are two unforgivable sins in sports. Why? If you lie you cannot be trusted. Trust is everything in combat, sports and all similar endeavors in life. (The same goes for pastors and churches I might add, which is one reason why I still think a pastor should not remain in the pastorate when he commits adultery, steals, lies, etc. He simply cannot be trusted, at least for the foreseeable future!)

After Washington made his public apology the Rangers chose to keep him as their manager for this season. His players have rallied around him and will, it seems, play all that much harder for him as their skipper. There is something “honorable” about this adds Posnanski; i.e. sticking with your man when he comes clean. The Rangers leadership speaks very highly of their manager right now and will keep doing so if he wins. But if he does not win, as Posnanski concludes, it must be remembered that the other unpardonable sin in sports is losing. I have written this before but a former major league player who is my friend once said that what you see in our culture is magnified by sports, thus we see all the good, the bad and the ugly in sports. (This is another reason why Sports Illustrated still remains on my reading stack!)

I think Ron Washington’s story is much like what we see in churches routinely. The difference in our ecclesial setting is that the stakes are much, much higher. Integrity is everything for us. If our leadership fails then the good news, and our corporate stance, is compromised. We walk a very fine line here between confession and forgiveness and holding to serious standards of integrity in leadership. We must react with grace and love when our leaders confess their sins, which all too often comes after they have “tested positive” for something they actually got caught in. But we must also be very careful that we do not perpetuate the problem by overlooking the real consequences of some damaging sins that destroy trust. This is the very problem the Catholic Church made with priests. Many evangelical churches have done the same with their fallen pastors.

I wonder, has it finally come down to this: “So long as our leader is a winner we can overlook everything else?” It sure seems that way to me.

Pastors and Pornography

I wrote a book, The Stain That Stays, that deals with the problem of sexually fallen pastors and Christian leaders. I argue that in most every case the minister should resign and only after a long time, and in some cases never, return to pastoral care and leadership. This is not the place to further advance that argument. If you like you can read the book. It is available at our resource link at ACT 3 Online.

Perhaps the most frequently asked question I have gotten over the years is not about adultery in the ministry at all. It is about pornography and addiction to pornography. I wish to make it clear that I do not think this is a small problem. The numbers that I have seen suggest a large number of male ministers are addicted. This presents serious problems to an effective and truly powerful ministry. For one thing most men who are addicts are unable to preach with real power in the area of moral purity and they are in deep bondage to their own sense of guilt as well.

But the question remains: Does a problem with pornography mean a man should get out of the ministry? My answer may surprise you. I would say, simply put, "No." At least in many, if not most, instances. The man needs help and he needs it soon. But the problem itself does not mean he should quit. I find far too many ministers resign for the wrong reasons and far too many remain who should more than likely not be in the ministry. It is not for me to say who should stay and who should go. My role is to encourage faithfulness and purity but also to encourage ministers to truly seek God and not give up their calling too easily. This is a fine line often. I believe wisdom dictates a lot of latitude is needed in helping men deal with this issue, especially today. There is a line between easy grace and rigid moralism but sometimes it is not clear.

A good friend, Gene Redlin, writes an interesting blog. He has been a minister and now serves in a Lutheran Church as a charismatic prophet. He often comments on my blogs and writes things that are often provocative. I sometimes disagree with him and he with me but this has only made us even better friends. This guy is real, very honest and a truly delightful person with a world of good experience now that he is in his 60s and has understood life very deeply. I love him and count him a real buddy more and more. Check out his good blog on this provocative question at his Northern Gleaner site. Even if you disagree with Gene he will push you to think about encouragement in a powerful way. He did me. 

The Real Hazzards of Being a Pastor

I am convinced that most pastors have no idea how hard it is to be faithful and effective for another year, much less for an entire lifetime.  I am further convinced that virtually no one outside the pastoral ministry understands what is happening to good pastors in our own time. A recent survey by Dr. Richard A. Blackman, in a dissertation written for Fuller Theological Seminary, underscores my point very well.

1. 75% of pastors surveyed reported having at least one significant crisis due to stress.
2. 80% believed that ministry is affecting their families negatively.
3. 90% felt inadequately trained to meet the demands of their job.
4. 50% felt unable to do their jobs.
5. 37% of pastors had experienced inappropriate sexual contact outside of their marriage.
6. 40% of pastors experience a "serious relational conflict at least once a month." [My view: This is mostly with staff and/or church boards or councils.]
7. 50% of all pastors felt unable to meet the demands of their jobs.

Read those results one more time and you will likely get something of a clue about the real difficulty that a modern pastor faces in our culture in being spiritually, emotionally and sexually healthy. If this data is remotely accurate, and I have every reason to believe that it is, we are in real trouble and few are talking about it seriously. Almost all of the ministers that I know personally, and I would suppose I know several hundred as my friends, would agree with one or more of the above statements about themselves yet they would also have to add, "My congregation has little or no understanding of my difficulties and I dare not let anyone of them know."

Face it, the church is not a safe place to be a minister these days. It will not tolerate ministers who fail, generally speaking, and this is why so many pastors need real friends, people who care and friends that can really be trusted.

Someone asked me, a few years after I left pastoring a local church in 1992,  "Do you miss ministering to people one-to-one?" I answered, "I am doing more pastoral ministry than I have ever done before but these days I am doing it with pastors, some of the most broken and needy people I know." Bishops and denominational leaders once did this ministry but few really do it now in modern America.

I think I minister to a lot of pastors because I like them, understand them, and I am no threat to them or their job. I have no vested interest in their coming or going just interest in them as my friends. Sometimes I wish I had 36 hours in a day just to love more pastors.

And while you are thinking about it, if you are not a pastor, do your pastor a real favor and refuse to become his/her critic. Your pastor has plenty of those. Be a friend and seek to gain some insight into the pressures the pastor faces that you very likely do not understand. "[Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres" (1 Corinthians 13:7).

Shepherd Leaders Needed: Others Need Not Apply

For some years I have taught biblical and common sense principles of leadership to churches. This all began by way of a two-day seminar I taught for another ministry back in the 1980s. This experience actually launched my present ministry but I did not understand this at the time. I found that I spent lots of time with pastors and other church leaders, in these local-church based seminars, teaching sessions to between 10 and 40 people about ten to twelve times a year. This experience forced me to listen, interact and develop people skills in the process. Being a student of anything that interests me at all (including theology, film, political theory, public policy, history, baseball and college football) I found that I wanted to study this subject of leadership much more intensely. I thus read lots of books, Christian and non-Christian. I talked to lots of leaders, some well-known and some not well-known at all. This all impacted my own sense of being a pastor and helped me to grow in that role during my sixteen years in my second church (1976-1992). (I was a church planter in my first four years of pastoral ministry, 1972-76.)

This is one of the reasons why the present controversy over my working with University Bible Fellowship (UBF), a controversy which I shall comment upon more fully in the not too distant future, strikes a unique cord in my own soul. Whenever a key element of biblically-based ministry is lost to an entire generation the dangers of a false recovery are very real. UBF is trying to do something that is both needed and very dangerous. This is one reason why they have made mistakes and also a major reason for why they get such strong reaction against them. The church in North America, generally speaking, has all but lost the older pattern of biblical shepherding. Seminaries don't teach it, and haven't taught it for decades. We generally seek catalytic change agents to lead our congregations, not shepherds who will care for sheep, or who at least make certain they are cared for by a team that knows how to do this ministry well.

We have plainly bought into the modern CEO model of leadership more than the humble disciple of Jesus model, which is relationally-based. This is so obvious that I would be surprised if anyone would challenge it. What people will challange is the idea that this change is an entirely negative one. Many would insist that we really do need the CEO approach, given the missional context of our time. Part of me resonnates with this point but part of me reacts strongly against it. In the end, we simply can't escape the strong and clear biblical teaching about shepherds and sheep. This metaphor can be abused, and is often misunderstood or misapplied for sure, but the metaphor is still rich and extremely important. I would argue that we must not loose it. (We must take some risks to recover it too.) But that is what I see happening in the American church, where there is an almost complete loss of the idea and what it means. And this has all happened in my lifetime, from the 1960s on.

The Denver Seminary Magazine (Winter, 2006) gave a very good definition of a shepherd leader in four points. See if you don't find these four extremely useful criteria good for beginning a serious discussion about this topic.

1. Good shepherd-leaders build relationships with people and people follow them because they know and trust them. They are not distant and isolaated, not strangers.

2. A good shepherd-leader exercises influence with people by walking in front of them and setting an example for people to follow.

3. Good shepherd-leaders are not selfishly focused on building themselves up.  Instead they focus on building other people up, helping them to grow and live a full life.

4. A good shepherd-leader serves people sacrificially. He or she protects people when they are threatened and continues to take care of them even when it requires personal sacrifice. Good shepherd-leaders don't run away when the going gets tough.

A biblical leader knows this reality of serving and being misunderstood and even rejected. A biblical leader knows he or she will be lied about, maligned and sometimes even attacked by people from within their own ministry or leadership team. This is a sad fact of spiritual warfare. But a real servant-leader must understand that the real battle is not with "flesh and blood." Such a Christian must be willing "to lay down their life" for the sheep if they are real shepherds.