We Need More Pricks!

This past Sunday I had the privilege of attending an ordination council. For the non-Baptists out there, that is the final step someone has to do before becoming ordained. In the council, the individual reads a paper describing his or her religious life, call, and theological beliefs. The council, made up of pastors and lay people from nearby churches, will then ask questions of challenge and clarification. The purpose is to discern if the candidate has (1) an internal call – or a sense that God is calling him or her to a specific ministry in one way or another (normally pastoral ministry). (2) the external call – or a sense that the candidate has the abilities necessary, and a faith/theology within the norms (broadly construed) of the community.

In the past these councils were places where the candidate was grilled about things like the Atonement, the divine nature of Jesus, biblical interpretation, and many other things. Yet recently they seem to have become pro forma – a step that does not seem necessary. A committee has already worked with the candidate and made sure that his or her paper is acceptable, and the council is just supposed to give the stamp of approval. Thus most of the council questions have this flavor:

Q. – In your paper you say that you love God. How much do you love God?
A. – I love God a lot!
- Thank you.

Q. – I see that you like to quote a lot of scripture. Is that because the Bible is important to you?
A. – Yes
- Thank you.

Q. – Can you tell me more about your awesome experience of conversion?
Q. – Describe to me how great God is.
Q. – You’re such a great guy/gal. Why do you think that is?

You get my point.

So recently we had an ordination council. While most of the questions were not this easy, they were not specifically challenging, and perhaps more importantly, there were not a lot of them. There were a number of questions about the faith journey, which is important, as well as the sense of call, but not a lot concerning theology. This is disturbing to me. It gives me the impression that churches are not concerned if an individual shows that he or she has taken the time to really think about things like salvation, despair, and the church. So I ended up asking the majority of the questions in the theology section.

Because of this I left looking like a prick – someone who wanted to show off their learning. I don’t think I asked anything that anyone who has a seminary degree would have been able to ask. Actually, a critical reader would have been able to find the discrepancies in the paper. Yet I got to be the prick. Oh well, soon they will have to call me Dr. Prick, PhD.

It is a serious concern when the ordination council becomes so easy and basic. We need to take the time to really be sure that the candidate has an internal call, and why that is so strong. As I often ask, “if there is anything else you can do, then do it. If not, if you have to be ordained because there is no other path, then go for it.”

We also need to push people, especially pastors, on their theology. I am not saying everyone has to believe what I believe (even though I am right, if I may humbly say so), but pastors need to be able to articulate their faith, be aware of inconstancies, and continue to address them. A recent article in the Christian Century suggests that Christians have become to nice, and push a morally relativistic religion. I’m not going to get into the details of that article, except to say that if we don’t push people on their articulation of their faith, a mushy, nice religion is what we get.

So ask questions. Don’t be a wuss.

Signed,
Dr. Prick, soon to be PhD.