Page cautiously optimistic about SBC, predicts shortage of traditional pastors

I am so very encouraged that the concept of disciple-making is central to your pastoral philosophy. I too hold to the principles of disciple-making and filter/funnel all other pastoral duties through it.

Bless you in your faithfulness to the Gospel...

Peter

 

Missionaries and seminary professors have been fired because they refuse to sign. I'll bet if you started preaching supporting something like woman pastors or accepting homosexuals with all others into your church you'd hear about it. What about preaching against eternity security?

 

Then you are not Baptist.

And yet paul told timothy to preach the Word! 2 tim 4:1-4. The Word Pastor is biblical and necessary in both the Old and New Testament. If we remove the Pastor from the pulpit then we have removed Gods biblical mandate from the church.

It is false to say that in order to get rid of the problems of the church by we must remove "tradition". Tradition is not the problem. The problem is in the hearts of the people. We have set aside church discipline, we have brought on to out membership roles those who have not shown an authentic godly walk and in fact we have allowed goats into the church.

Catering to culture does not prove what is "authentic". But in fact proves what is not authentic. In the end the Emerging Church movement is a fad that will pass, as it should.

 

yet the term pastor occurs once in the NT and is linked with teaching...interesting. Let me begin by pointing out I didn't get into my entire thoughts on this so do try not to put words into my mouth. I'm still saying that there will be teaching pastors in the NT church, I'm just suggesting that the buck doesn't stop with just them..but a plurality of elders/leadership in the NT church.

NOt only a teaching pastor, but also music pastors, education pastors, administrative pastors, and so forth...all of which work in cooperation within the leadership structure of a local church.

No one is saying we have to remove the roles, rather I'm suggesting that for the church to operate effectively in this century we might need to realign their roles and responsibilities to better keep them in stride with the NT thought.

Again I don't anyone is suggesting the culture should dictate our methodologies. Rather we can learn from culture which will help inform our expression of the function of church, while maintianing the core foundational beliefs. Besides the emergent church is just another subculture, imho a necessary one, but I don't you really understand the emergent church.

 

Cheerio Peej, Cheerio........Page makes a good point, the seminary statisticians make good points, and you make good points. I especially like the earlier point that stated seminaries are not responsibile for creating "pastors." My pastor has had a ministry intern every semester for the last 5 or 6 years. As a Southern trustee, he is committed to the training of young pastors in a viariety of fields.

I am not sure that this is a "looming crisis" either.....other than the fact that we will never have enough "workers in the field." The whole emerging/traditional dicotomy within the SBC should not alarm anyone. It is not the worship style that kills a church. It is the tempurature of her heart. It is God who removes lampstands and it is God who places His men in positions of leadership within His church. Everyone needs to come together and worship God. We "young folks" have been so disenfranchized with the "old folks" that we have ignored then, shut them out, quit their churches, planted our own, and left the "least of these" to fend for themselves........and now we call them "dead." I too long for a multigenerational church who ministers to all generations.

One of my prayers is that God use me and my personality in a church that is dying. What greater joy could there be than to water and nurture a dying church while God breaths new life back into her. I would be the most blessed man on earth to be part of such a project. We have been planting and planting and planting over the last couple of decades.....all the while we have existing churches that just need a little love.

Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has a DMin. in Church Revitalization.....anyone had any experience with such a degree?


K