What the Scriptures reveal about what Christ has created His church to be and do (ecclesiology) ought to provide a standard by which patterns of ministry are discerned to be profitable or even permitted for Christ’s bride.

All theology is practical theology. This was the conviction of the Westminster divines when they penned their catechetical answer to the question, “What do the Scriptures principally teach?” The answer, in both the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, was theology and practice: “The Scriptures principally teach, what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man” (WLC 5; WSC 3).

In this answer, the divines followed in the footsteps of John Calvin, who wrote his magisterial Institutes of the Christian Religion not merely as a “sum of Christian doctrine” but also as instruction on how this doctrine affects the Christian life. Calvin stressed that he was expounding “a doctrine not of the tongue but of life,” and his Institutes not only is threaded with pastoral and practical insights but features several chapters on the practical implications of his theology. We see this most notably in its seventy pages on prayer.

Better still, the Westminster divines followed the Scriptures themselves, which, for example, commend Ezra for his heart not only to study God’s Word and teach it but also to do it (Ezra 7:10). Similarly, Timothy is commanded to teach and practice sound doctrine (1 Tim. 4:6–16) as he is reminded that the very nature of the Scriptures is to be put into practice (2 Tim. 3:16–17). Theology, insofar as it is the theology of the Scriptures, teaches us what to believe and do before the face of God.

For this reason, pastoral training often includes a distinct discipline called practical theology. All too often, this discipline functions under the assumption that what is learned in theology class is inherently impractical and that, to be effective in ministry, one must get past being theological and get practical about how the church actually works. But genuine practical theology ought to be (as it was with Calvin and the divines) the organic application of theological study to the pulpit, soul care, evangelism, worship, and any other expression of walking and working for God’s glory as God’s people.

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