You may recall that I set to make a list of requirements, instructions, or commands Paul has for Timothy and the rest of us pastors. In this chapter, there was only one. Quickly, what was it?
……….
Answer: "When there are strange doctrines or people are giving more attention to myths and endless genealogies, remain in that ministry."
It comes from the first sentence in 1:3-4. He supports it, states the purpose, speaks of God's mercy, etc. but the only command boils down to stay and correct false teaching and useless matters entering the congregation.
Too many coming out of seminaries in the last few decades seem personal goal oriented. They will take a little church in a small town to get the experience. Five or 6 years later they are looking for a bigger church, then a bigger one.
I have two major concerns about this. First, where is the heart for the flock? Seems what the seminaries produce are guys seeking career progression, not a minister concerned for the welfare of the people.
Second, how can a congregation treated like a stepping-stone grow spiritually mature? There are exceptions here, but for the most part these flocks are in a seemingly unending search for a new shepherd. This is a situation up with which they should not put (apologies to Churchill).
The solution is not going to be easy since the training one receives in college and seminary becomes so ingrained and the education is geared toward job preparation. That's the educational mindset of today's divinity schools.
As a member of the Rocky Mountain Bible Mission for the last 14 years, I've seen this kind of failure in neighboring churches. The rapid and often repeated coming and going of pastors can give a church a "we're being used" syndrome. This syndrome can be stopped… in time. RMBM looks for people who are committed to ministry in rural churches—not necessarily small, just rural. If you, pastor, or your congregation, needs help, let us know (http://rmbible.org).
Most seminaries are training us more in so-called "cutting edge" managerial theorists (like Peter Drucker) than in pastoring. This is one result of pastoral training being taken over by the Church Growth Movement. Hybels and Warren both treat their churches like businesses -- spiritual businesses, but still, businesses (Hybels even has a plaque on his wall reminding him to stay sensitive to their "customers."). Robert Schuller was one of the early pioneers of this approach, back in the 1970s. But DTS has done the same thing, so let's not blame it all on theological liberals like Schuller. So a natural side-effect of approaching pastoring through a worldly mental grid is to treat churches as vocational stepping-stones in one's career development path.
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