Learning the Art of Being a Pastor

By Mike Glenn

We haven’t changed the way we train our pastors in over 100 years. If someone feels the call to serve a local church, they go to college for four years and continue to seminary for another three. Various seminaries and Bible colleges have tried to address this issue by offering modified programs such as certificates and revised Master of Arts degrees. These degrees are still seen as inferior to the classic Master of Divinity degree. Most churches want their pastors to have at least an M. Div. degree or an equivalent if not a doctorate degree. 

Through declining enrollment, our seminaries and divinity schools are discovering that future pastors and church leaders are looking for an alternative path to obtaining their credentials. More churches are training their own ministry leaders in-house. Some of these training centers are first rate while others leave much to be desired. 

The typical three-year tract for an M.Div. degree includes studies in Greek and Hebrew, systematic theology, Old and New Testaments, preaching and leadership courses, and church history. Philosophy and flexible electives fill out the three-year commitment. Students are also assigned some kind of practical ministry where they are required to serve in a local church or non-profit organization. Because there are so many students and so few real opportunities for meaningful service, future pastors end up writing reports about busy work assignments that don’t help them understand the complexities and challenges of leading a local church. 

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against educating our clergy. My M. Div. degree is from Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. I had a great experience. I studied with some of the greatest teachers I’ve ever known in my life. What’s more, these professors loved their students and would eat lunch with students and sit in the student lounge debating various theological issues and expanding on the topics from their last lecture. 

Yet I also benefited from another education. Namely, from what I learned from my father’s life. I didn’t know it at the time, but growing up with my dad was one of the best training processes I could have had. My father was an entrepreneur and small business owner. I learned to deal with customers at an early age. My dad was also involved in city politics. Watching my father make deals and solve problems taught me essential skills in leading a local congregation. 

Without my life experiences, I would have been lost in the day-to-day operations of my church. Because I grew up in a family business, I knew about marketing, finances, and customer service. I learned how to deal with people in power and how to maneuver within the political processes of a local community. Every day, I’m more and more grateful for what my father taught me. 

Now, everyone knows our world has changed. As I write this article, the world is struggling to deal with the arrival of advanced AI that threatens to upend entire sections of our economy. 

Every area of our lives has changed: business, shopping, education, entertainment, and productivity. How we engage our congregations has changed as well. Who ever heard of an online church? Now, everyone has.

In light of these changing realities, we must change how we prepare our pastors. We can no longer afford to cloister away our pastors for three years in seminary before they begin their work in a church. 

In the early days of the church, pastors were trained by other pastors. In the New Testament, Paul trains Timothy and Titus who go on to train other pastors. Things have changed so much that we’ve been brought back to where we were when we started. 

Christianity has become a minority religion. Christianity is trying to survive in a growingly hostile environment. The more things change, the more they stay the same. We’re back in the first century. This means a lot of things, but one of the things it means is that pastors are going to have to re-engage in training pastors. 

Local churches will partner with seminaries and divinity schools to provide the academic courses required for an M. Div. Local pastors, in the context of a local church, will provide everything else. COVID-19 has proven that we can do long-distance learning and we can Zoom classroom lectures. Professors will soon be hosting classes for students all over the world and never leave their living rooms. Likewise, students will learn from scholars all over the world and never have to leave their living rooms. 

Leading a local church is an art, not a science. Art isn’t learned in the classroom. Art is learned from other artists. If you want to learn a certain style of painting or sculpting, you find out who’s doing that style of work in the world and you study with them. 

The same will soon be true in North American churches. If you want to learn how to be the pastor of a local church, you’ll look around to find the person who’s doing the things you want to know how to do - and you’ll go to work and study with them. 

When I was growing up, you would hear a pastor talk about his “boys.” (Before you jump on me, remember this was sixty years ago!) He would be talking about pastors who had studied and worked with him and were now leading their own churches. We’ll be hearing similar conversations again in the future. 

The future looks a lot like the past but take heart. The church did very well during our early years. I’m confident we’ll do well again.