How I Wish Seminaries Described Themselves
If our students are all knowledge with no love, they are dangers to the church; and it is the duty of the church to conform pastors-in-training to the loving character of Christ. Training them in the knowledge they will lovingly administer is our seminary’s specialty. That’s what we do: Pastoral preparation that is proven, rich, and robust. Welcome to Traditional Model Seminary.
How I wish seminaries described themselves in press releases (let the reader understand):
Our approach to pastoral preparation is time-tested, rich, and rigorous.
The university has been the handmaiden of the church for over a thousand years. The model of pastoral preparation of devoting years of one’s life to study under specialized masters has produced generations of competent and faithful ministers who have lovingly shepherded Christ’s church. Here at Traditional Model Seminary (TMS), we are committed to continuing this great tradition of pastoral preparation with a successful track record literally millennia long.
Teaching students to read the Bible is our real priority. How can the church call on Christ if its ministers don’t know how to preach him, and how can they faithfully preach him if they don’t know how listen to his word? Doctors don’t learn medicine in the emergency room, nor lawyers the law during a trial, and those who care for souls should never learn on the job. Untold spiritual malpractice and shipwrecked souls can be avoided through proper pastoral preparation. That’s why we eschew faddish “practical” courses and electives, and carefully steward the few precious years we have students to teach them how to interpret scripture. Running elder meetings, crafting church budgets, leading small groups, recruiting nursery volunteers — all things ministers need to learn, but not here at TMS. Our goal is to forge ministers who have studied scripture so faithfully they have no need to be ashamed of their handling of the word of truth.
At TMS, we believe that ministers of the word should be able to read God’s word before they ever teach it. That’s why basic competency in Hebrew and Greek is required before our students ever get to their exegetical courses. As Martin Luther said, if you lose the biblical languages, you lose the gospel. Outsourcing reading scripture to translation software is outsourcing pastoral care to your computer. There are no “survey” courses: a full 27 credit hours are devoted to instructing students in not only the particulars of the biblical canon, but also its sociohistorical context and the church’s critical interpretive history of the biblical text.
We teach hermeneutics, not only as a class, but as a unified, interpretive lens shared in all of our exegetical and doctrinal courses.
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Practical Ways to Teach Your Children to Pray
Remember to model for them, but also give them opportunities to pray alongside you. James Dobson rightly concludes, “There is nothing more important than parents passing on a generational legacy of faith and values to their children.” When you teach your children to pray you are giving them a greater opportunity for a close relationship with God.
When one thinks about the great men and women of faith they can visualize their strength of character, their personal holiness, and their exercise of the disciplines of the Christian faith.
Whether reading the Word of God, serving in a ministry capacity, or preaching to a multitude, nearly every hero is also marked by another characteristic.
They are men and women of prayer.
Modeling Prayer
Prayer is a critical part of the Christian life. We are told to “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17) and to “Devote yourselves to prayer” (Col 4:2). We must exercise our privilege to pray individually, but we must also teach this great discipline to our children.
Just as the disciples petitioned, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 13:1), our children are needy of us to teach them to pray. We must teach our children what we have learned about prayer.
When teaching children to pray, the most powerful method is modeling. You become the example of what prayer is like. You can show your children how to pray by the way you pray.
Invite your children to be part of your prayer life. When you allow them the privilege of praying with you as you commune with God, they will begin to replicate what you do.
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How a Bible Tweet Led to a Battle for Free Speech
As Räsänen points out herself, one does not need to agree with her beliefs to agree that everyone should have the right to speak freely. As Räsänen waits for the ruling of the Court of Appeal, expected before November 30, a lot lies at stake. The verdict will reflect the state of regard for free speech in Europe. This is one to watch as a cautionary tale – not only for Europe, but for the rest of the world as well.
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Where are the Peaceable Presbyters?
I implore my fellow elders to quit trying to solve denominational controversies in 280 words or less. Let us return to true dialogue and persuasion, taking the time to develop our thoughts and measure our responses. This could be in blogs (remember those), articles, and yes overtures which are meant to be debated in person in the church courts.
A recent dust up on Twitter has me asking, “Where are all the peaceable presbyters?”
Several years ago, I had a personal Twitter account. It seemed like every PCA pastor was using it, and I felt like I was missing out on important debates and issues. I deleted my account after a fellow elder confronted me about something I posted. I appreciated this brother’s courage to call me out. We still disagreed about the substance of what I posted, but as I looked at it again, I saw how my tone was not inviting dialogue or seeking to persuade. Twitter was full of hot takes and quick thumbed retorts, and I, consciously or unconsciously, was replicating what I saw. It was not a space promoting dialogue. Instead of feeling engaged with the issues facing my denomination, I grew increasingly self-righteous and assumed many motives behind what others were posting. A few years later, I created a new Twitter account because I kept receiving links to Tweets and threads. I never interact just observe. My observations have caused me to read Paul’s words to Timothy on the character traits of Elders, specifically that they be “peaceable” (NASB).
“Peaceable” in the NASB is translated as “not quarrelsome” in the ESV. Philip Towner in his commentary on the Pastoral Epistles writes, “This tendency betrays an inability to get along with and accept the views of others, and perhaps deeper personality flaws as well.” This inability to get along must have been a problem in the early church. Paul elsewhere encourages his readers that as “far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men” (Rom 12:18). Our connectional church means that we have to find ways to be at peace with one another. My fear is that we are not living up to the qualifications of our office as we engage with one another online.
Brothers, are we peaceable presbyters? If our church members read our Tweets, would they recognize us? Would they be shocked at the derision we lob at one another? Would they see Christ glorified in our hasty judgments of others motives? The ridicule and scorn we seem to revel in? Let’s be honest are we Tweeting to win a brother or slam him?
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