General Synod is the annual meeting of the United Church of Christ and it's happening this July in Atlanta, GA. At Synod this year will be a resolution to begin the debate regarding "Alternative Paths to Ordination". Generally speaking, an ordained member of the UCC must have a four-year college degree + 3 years in seminary. For most within Protestant mainstream churches, this is the norm. The UCC however, is weighing the factors for many folks who don't have the necessary funds to pay for 7 years of education (esp when some choose ministry late in life and who have not begun a college education) or for many of our rural churches that have been and remain pastor-less. So this compromise is looking at ways to train folks for ordained ministry who a), couldn't otherwise afford it, or b), to raise up those in rural settings and be trained to serve, think, and shepherd their own congregations and be ordained to do such a thing.
Personally, the UCC has a way of licensing a candidate for ministry who has not met the 4+3 schooling or, because many of our smaller churches cannot support a full-time pastor financially, often members of the congregation have already served their respective pastorates in a licensed way (giving them full ordinational responsibilities but only for the particular church they serve, and no other- they would have to reapply to their regional conferences to be granted licensure in another parish setting).
Anyways- I say all this to speculate that such a decision might draw uneducated persons to the office of the pastor who have not spent years discerning their call to ministry. It is during the 4+3 years of education and the ordination process itself (which can take 3 years) that a pastor struggles and affirms his or her calling. Whatever is decided at Synod must take into account the danger in having those who's hearts have not been tested and put into the fires of accountability before a new parish is given over to a newly ordained candidate. These are just my ruminations.
You can read the entire article, which reads very well and makes a great case at http://www.ucc.org/news/r051205a.htm
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Is This A Slippery Slope?
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2 comments:
Has the training for many years of lawyers produced more justice? Same with the training of "priest". Does it not insure the system and maintain insiders more than truth? Does not God of the Bible, keep getting rid of "trained" priest and raising up new untrained and untainted by the system Davids? We know better than God?
Well, yeah, that's one of my points, sort of. If God has truly called a person and that person's calling has been affirmed by their church, themselves, and given evidenced in by an accountable group, then I think pursuing alternative ways to ordination is fine.
The danger is that we might get a person who *thinks* their called but hasn't practiced the discernment necessary to ensure they won't start the job and a year later, realize that often, the pastorate is fraught with such great challenges (and people who love to torment their pastors) that they either quit in frustration, or, abuse the institution they are called to serve.
But you ask another important question- should minister's be trained at all?
Personally, I wouldn't go to a tax attorney who wasn't trained in the tax laws nor, would I go to a doctor who hadn't been to medical school. How much more important is the care of other people's souls than these?
Still- your point is well taken. And I think that is what others are realizing, that perhaps its the "training" part that bears re-examining and I would agree that we oughta re-examine how we prepare others to pastor. Perhaps we can come up with an additional way that helps others that is good for them and the church together.
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