When you visit the physician you look at the wall behind him, don’t you? What do you see? Signs of accomplishment. Your physician attended a real medical school. You physician has been licensed to practice medicine in your area and he has been admitted to this board or that of specialization. Those things are not a guarantee but they are a start toward credibility. The same is true of preparation for ministry.

The other day I was talking with a student at a local coffeehouse in beautiful downtown Escondido. He was telling me about his experience in seminary. He said he began at another seminary, even though his pastor recommended WSC, because he was attracted to what he perceived emphasis on the practical over the languages, theology, and history. The practical emphasis, he said, made the school seem “friendly” and accessible. After a while, however, he realized that starting with or even prioritizing practice over exegesis, theology, and history just didn’t work. It wasn’t very practical.

His experience isn’t unique. Lots of people have tried to skip the theory and get right to the practice. That move, however, assumes either that theory is irrelevant or that one already knows the theory and is ready to begin practice, i.e., the application of the theory. The first assumption (“I don’t need to know”) is widespread in Christian circles. It’s easy to see why one might make this assumption. We all read Scripture. We all pray. There are godly laymen out there who know the Bible and the faith really well. If one already has that sort of preparation, who needs seminary? Let’s look at those two assumptions by way of analogy. Consider the practice of medicine, specifically surgery. Would you let someone cut you open who had no idea where your heart, stomach, and appendix are? Uh, no. Before a surgeon is allowed to cut open a living person he must first learn a good bit of theory. He studies biology, to learn how living things function generally. He studies organic chemistry. Then he studies physiology and kinesiology, to see how humans function and move. Only after extensive training in theory and practice, after cutting open frogs, and fetal pigs, and eventually human cadavers, is a physician allowed to cut open a living human being.

That is the way it should be. Behind the assumption, “I don’t need to know” is another, often unstated, assumption that ministry is inherently easy, that spiritual qualifications are important but intellectual qualifications are not. In other words, though I suspect that almost every reasonable person would accept the notion that surgeons must be prepared, there are Christians who do not accept the analogy between ministry and surgery. To them I offer two thoughts: (1) Like a scalpel, the Word of God is powerful and sharp and it cuts deeply. A sound minister must be just as thoroughly and soundly prepared for handling God’s Word, for applying it thoughtfully, prayerfully, and wisely to God’s people as the surgeon must be prepared to handle a scalpel or a laser. In the hands of the untrained, in public ministry (we’re not now thinking about the right of laity to read and apply God’s Word for themselves) it can do real damage. I cannot recount all the stories I’ve heard over the years about foolish things said by ill-prepared people in the ministry. (2) Those who deny the necessity of training for ministry do not know the Word of God as fully, as well as they should.

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