An Educated Ministry

By Ellis Crum

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     The church today needs an educated ministry. This can be accomplished without great expense to the brotherhood. It can also be brought about through the one body without disrupting the peace of the church. The educated ministry to which I refer constitutes the whole body of believers. We cannot have an "educated ministry" by sending a few men to a theological seminary! The cause of Christ needs a working membership, educated in the truth of God's Word, and led by a competent leadership.

      Evangelists, in order to lead God's people and train men to lead the flock of God, need to be educated men. They must be men who are ardent students of the Word. Realizing the "law of the Lord is perfect" they will delight in this law, and "in his law...meditate day and night." While he may be able to quote the pagan poets, he will primarily portray the Prince of Peace and extol the love of God. The gospel preacher may possess great worldly wisdom, yet his "speech and (his) preaching (should) not (be) with enticing words of man's wisdom" (I Cor. 2: 4). He will never use big words just to make an impression. He will remember that His Master so spoke that the "common people heard him gladly" (Mk. 12:37). If he possesses a great secular knowledge he will not be continually reminding his hearers of this fact. He will not seek to impress with his station, but rather with his message.

     The "uneducated" are sometimes the most educated in the one volume. Some measure a preacher's degree of greatness by the number of degrees after his name. Men of degrees seldom possess as great a degree of Bible knowledge as those who just strive for Biblical mastery! Preachers sometimes become so interested in their master's degree that they forget the Master's decree! Their thirst for worldly wisdom becomes greater than their desire for the waters of life. Intoxicated on their own exuberance they parade their achievements before the brotherhood and proudly ascend the platform and proclaim the story of the meek and lowly Nazarene. What a paradoxical picture! A leading "evangelist" of this generation "lives humbly on fifteen thousand dollars a year." Some of our brethren are not far behind him. The love of this world seemingly caused Demas to quit preaching. This wrongly centered affection is still causing many capable evangelists to leave the field. More will be said on this subject later.

     J. W. McGarvey wrote a treatise on "Ministerial Education" which appeared in Lard's Quarterly in April 1865. Speaking of the Bible colleges of his day, (Bethany College and "colleges of the Reformation") he declared: "It is in respect to the first and most essential element of their education, a knowledge of the word of God, that the preachers furnished by our colleges are most deficient. Our young graduates are better prepared to lecture on some scientific or literary topic, than to preach a sermon. They are more familiar with the odes of Horace than with the Psalms of David; with the adventures of Aeneas than with those of Paul; with heathen mythology than with Christian antiquities; with the solar system than with the kingdom of God. They can explain any problem in Euclid better than they can the apostolic commission; and are far more familiar with the fables

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of Aesop than with the cases of conversion. On this account, their sermons often have in them more science and literature than gospel" --Lard's Quarterly, Vol. 2, page 245. If brother McGarvey were alive today he would note the same conditions which he condemned so long ago. In many places the "pulpit" has become the stage to show off the preacher's academic attainments. The "doctors" need to return to the Great Physician for the healing of their souls. Many are well "heeled," but this only contributes to their sickly spiritual condition. How can these "doctors" expect to heal others in their present condition?

     In the same article brother McGarvey calls attention to another problem. "He listens to a daily Bible lecture... Even while hearing the lecture, his attention is often distracted by Greek conjugations and mathematical problems which are forced upon him by the severe examination to which he is subjected in the other departments. Whatever may be his desire, therefore, to acquire Scripture knowledge, he finds the necessity for graduating within a given time an insurmountable obstacle in the way." Whether attending a seminary or state school, the gospel preacher is likely to find Biblical knowledge being crowded out in his vain attempt to become a man of letters. I am not speaking disparagingly of education; I may someday take some more college training. A good education can be a great asset to the cause of Christ; it can also be a hindrance. A man who is highly educated, or who possesses great natural abilities without a good knowledge of the Book is a very dangerous person. Smooth talkers caused trouble among God's people in older times; they are still causing plenty of trouble! It was Alexander Pope who said: "It is with narrow-souled people as with narrow-necked bottles: the less they have in them, the more noise they make pouring it out." Don't just go by the "sound" of a thing. In all religious matters make sure it is according to "sound doctrine."

     In New Testament times evangelists were trained by traveling with a mature soldier of the cross, as in the case of Timothy and Paul. The church still has this power of producing its own workers without the aid of foreign bodies. Older evangelists need to be willing to take and train younger men. Congregations need to get back of the trainers and those being trained. Evangelists need to educate those whom they are developing to think for themselves. Young men should never teach something because brother So-and-So teaches it, but because they believe it and their belief is based upon the teaching of the old Book. Evangelists have a grave responsibility resting upon them as teachers. (See James 3:1.) Young preachers should never be "rubber stamps" for certain preachers. Commentaries and other books written by the giants this side the apostolic age need to be carefully weighed in the balances of the divine standard. What power preachers possess! Students have been known to fail to do what they knew to be right and proper for fear of what their former teacher would say. Evangelists, and those of you who may become evangelists, remember your responsibility first of allis to God. Learn all you can from other students of the Word, but never forget that these men are human. They can make mistakes, and serious ones. Follow men only as long as they are following God. Do not "worship" any man or regard any book as "law and gospel" but the New Testament. Study for yourself. Remember: you must not let any man do your thinking, nor ever try to think for God.

--Ellis Crum