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WHATEVER
HAPPENED TO OUR BIBLE COLLEGES? PART IV -
Philip P. Eapen |
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Author's webpage:
http://philip.eapen.googlepages.com
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There is a widespread complaint that most
fresh graduates from theological colleges are to tally
ill prepared to pastor churches or to pioneer a new
mission work. Indeed, we know that this allegation is
not entirely baseless.
Let me first make an observation here that most Bible
colleges in India use a generalised curriculum for all
students. The diversity of students and the tasks to
which God has called them demand that each student be
seen as a unique person who needs a unique, tailor made
training programme. However, most colleges provide a one
size fits all kind of education.
Except for a few large colleges, no college even
attempts to provide optional subjects or training to
meet the specific training requirement of students.
Specialisations are often reserved for postgraduate
programmes.
Secondly, our Bible colleges underestimate the value of
hands on or on the job training. Or, in other words,
they fail to realise that theological graduates will up
end doing what they were made to do repeatedly while in
college.
For instance, a seminary that focuses on good academic
writing will make its students write as many research
papers or academic essays as possible. Each student ends
up “doing” this mostwriting and editing his/her own
work. Therefore, after graduation, students from this
college will naturally excel in the art of writing
academic papers! But is “academic writing” the most
important task that a pastor or preacher or missionary
supposed to do after he/she graduates? Certainly not.
Good academic writing is certainly a skill that is
required at the Masters or Doctoral level. Only those
students who intend to pursue higher studies or a
teaching career in a seminary should be made to spend
most of their time writing academic papers.
Those who plan to enter pastoral ministry or missionary
work should certainly be given hands on training in what
they are most required to do as a pastor or a
missionary.
That brings to mind the allimportant tasks that a pastor
or preacher does or is expected to do during his career.
A pastor has to preach at least one sermon a week in his
church. In most cases, a pastor ends up preaching two or
more sermons every week. Therefore, sermon preparation
and delivery are very important activities in a pastor's
life. Judging from the importance of these activities,
you may think that students in a seminary are constantly
given practical training in these areas. Can you guess
how many hours of supervised sermon preparation and
sermon delivery take place in a student's life while
he/she is in seminary?
Most seminary students preach just one sermon in their
main chapel during the entire course of their study! And
this happens usually during the final year of their
study. For most seminarians, that one opportunity to
preach before the entire college is a nightmare. Why are
they so scared if they are sufficiently trained to take
to the pulpit? Aren't they taught Homiletics the science
and art of preaching? Yes, most seminaries offer just
one course on Homiletics. During that course, every
student may get to preach one or at the most two
supervised sermons! How many sermons does each student
prepare under expert guidance? Just one or two in most
cases. Do we need to look elsewhere for reasons to
understand why many of our pastors and preachers are
utter failures in the pulpit? Those who preach well in
spite of this faulty system of training are those who
learned to preach through their own hard work.
Theological institutes might defend themselves from any
charge of inadequate or misplaced training. They may say
that students are assigned to churches during the
weekends to get sufficient hand on ministry experience.
In reality, pastors of most churches do not actually
give hands on training in practical pastoring. Students
from seminaries may be allowed to preach for a few
minutes or to teach a Sunday school class. Such exposure
can be obtained by any diligent member of a church. One
need not go to a seminary to get a few minutes of pulpit
time on Sundays.
These pastors who are supposed to supervise and train
seminary students who are assigned to them are
themselves not expert trainers.
Therefore, they may not understand the importance of
hands on ministry training in spite of the 'orientation
sessions' they are put through. They certainly do not
allow seminarians to handle a 'live' church situation
such as chairing a church committee meeting, organising
a gospel meeting, counselling a family in distress, etc.
Conducting baptisms or officiating at the Lord's table
are certainly not for 'trainees!' Keeping aside all
these practical pastoring situations, what kind of
practical training does a seminarian get? They just get
to meet some well meaning people during the weekends,
have some homely food from the parsonage and then return
to their seminary or college for another week's studies!
At the end of a semester or academic year, pastors
readily oblige and issue a certificate to show that
their 'apprentices' fared well under their supervision.
Take another task, for instance, that a pastor has to do
on a regular basis personal evangelism. Students in
seminaries are taught about various religions. They are
taught a subject called “Evangelism.” They may also be
fortunate enough to study a course of “Theology of
Missions.” Yet, how many seminary students get to share
the gospel as a part of their training to people of
different faiths even as they are supervised by an
'expert' in this field? I don't think any college or
seminary in India has a practical training session in
personal evangelism where a student's encounter with a
person of another faith is recorded, reviewed and
assessed. Is it any wonder then that our seminary
graduates are no better than untrained lay people when
it comes to evangelism?
Or for instance, take the task of pastoral counselling.
Except for a few seminaries that offer practical
training in 'Clinical Pastoral Counselling,' often in
association with other agencies, no seminary or college
gives practical training to its students in basic skills
such as talking the sick, the dying, the bereaved, or
even to an agitated church member.
A salesman gets frequent practical training in
'pitching' to a customer. A student nurse gets to do
dozens of medical procedures on patients on a daily
basis before she passes out of her college. Similarly,
the training of medical students, technicians, firemen,
airhostesses, pilots, accountants, lawyers, etc.
includes a large percentage of supervised hands on
practical training. Why then are seminary students
denied such training?
Any training programme that does not “train” people to
do what they are supposed to do after they finish the
programme is not worth pursuing. Real “training” is much
more than the passing on of some information or
knowledge. If Bible colleges fail to give hands on
training in whatever tasks their students are supposed
to do after they graduate, their programmes are a mere
waste of time and resources.
This is why experts in the field of education recommend
a “medical college model” of training for Christian
ministers. A medical college is always attached to a
hospital. The teaching of 'theory' is seamlessly
integrated with practical training in the college
hospital.
Similarly, a college that trains pastors must be an
integral part of a church. A college that trains
missionaries must be an integral part of a missionary
team or organisation. True, there are many
churches/missions that run small Bible/Training Schools.
Such small schools have always suffered from a lack of
resources and a shortage of well trained teachers. While
these schools must get the benefit of good
theoreticians, larger Bible schools should seek
strategic integration with large churches to provide
sufficient space for practical training to their
students.
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This page
is updated on June 8, 2009 |
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PRAISE THE ALMIGHTY
10 YEARS CELEBRATION
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