Must a Pastor Be Seminary-Trained to be Qualified to Preach and Teach?
MUST A PASTOR BE SEMINARY-TRAINED TO BE QUALIFIED TO PREACH AND TEACH?
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Sometimes the question comes up as to where I went to seminary. I think this is an interesting question because sometimes it comes from a genuine desire to know my doctrinal leanings, but other times I sense that it is asked somewhat condescendingly, as if to call into question the legitimicay of a pastor’s call into ministry if he is not seminary-trained.
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I’ll begin answering this question by saying that one of my mentors, Dr. Jerry King, DD, who is seminary-trained, said at the age of 78 that he is on the steepest learning curve of his life. Most of what Dr. King possesses in his vast knowledge was not obtained from seminary. Seminary can indeed be an important course of study, but having a seminary degree doesn’t necessarily qualify a person for ministry, and not having one doesn’t disqualify a person either. Dr. King, who again is seminary-trained, ordained me, knowing that I am not seminary-trained, because he understands that there is more to being qualified to the ministry than a formal education. An excellent and deep understanding of the Bible has to be there, of course, but that knowledge does not have to come from a professor in a classroom.
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It must always be emphasized that everything we do and believe as Christians needs to be weighed against the authority of Scripture, and there is no verse in the Bible that suggests that a person cannot pastor unless he has a seminary degree. After all, Jesus chose simple, uneducated blue-collar men to be His disciples and change the world, and yet it was the religious scholars who He condemned. Let’s not forget that in order to be a Pharisee, training would begin as early as age six, one had to memorize the ENTIRE Torah (the first five books of the Bible) in these formative years, and the entire Old Testament by age fifteen or so. The Pharisees were the most well-educated people in the scriptures of their time. Yet in their knowledge they missed the very One — Jesus — that the Scriptures point to.
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One’s educational pedigree, therefore, does not necessarily qualify a person to preach and teach the Bible. The Chinese undeground Church is occupied by many people who never had a chance to get a formal education, but who God is nevertheless using to lead the biggest church movement in the world today. If the Bible teaches us anything about the nature of God, it’s that He LOVES using nobodies and castaways to do His greatest work, and those who think they are big stuff He will overlook. God uses humble people to demonstrate His glory, and He passes over people who take the glory for themselves. In fact, the man who I grew up under as my pastor, a very learned, humble and accomplished pastor, is not seminary-trained, yet he has been changing people’s lives for more than 20 years.
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I went to the “seminary” of 30 years of Biblical study, guidance from the Holy Spirit which every Christian has access to, guidance from several learned and godly men in the faith, the reading of literally dozens of books from many doctrinal camps, and the school of hard knocks. Seminaries are fine in many respects, and I always see merit in higher education, but some of the worst heresies in history have also come out of seminaries. Everything that is taught in seminary is accessible by all of God’s people who diligently search for truth.