The Long-Term Advantage of Pastors Training Pastors
One of the most important aspects of The Cornerstone Bible College and Seminary is our pastor-professor model of instruction. Our faculty, all serving pastors in local churches with an average of over twenty years of pastoral experience, bring a wealth of real-life wisdom, insight, and experience to the classroom. This, combined with their excellent theological training, provides a unique educational environment where exegesis, theology, and historical study are all conducted with a focus on pastoral application in the local church setting.
An Ideal Environment for Theological Education
We believe this framework creates the ideal environment for theological education. Careful study of the biblical text, synthesis of doctrinal truths into a coherent theology, and thoughtful examination of our spiritual heritage are never sought for their own sake or merely to stock the student’s head with knowledge (1 Cor 8:1). The aim of all our instructional labors is the health of the local church (Eph 4:13-16), the real-life spiritual growth and obedience of God’s people (Col 1:28), the salvation of sinners (2 Tim 4:5), and the equipping of the saints for ministry (Eph 4:11-12).
Without substantial experience in pastoral ministry, it is difficult to see how a man can train other men forpastoral ministry. Yes, a professional theologian may be able to articulate biblical doctrine, provide exegetical tools, and disseminate knowledge of church history, but without real-life, in-the-trench work of pastoral ministry, much of this teaching may lack appropriate balance and run the risk of misapplication. I say these things because I’ve experienced this lack of balance and wisdom firsthand.
Years ago, I sat under a professor who gave what I judged to be exceedingly poor advice for handling text-critical difficulties in the pulpit. How could this happen? Most likely because this man, though highly skilled in biblical languages and the technical aspects of exegesis, lacked the requisite wisdom for shepherding people through these kinds of crucial issues. I’ve heard lectures on apologetics that had little relevance to the common Christian seeking to defend the gospel and evangelize the lost. Some of the driest, least-edifying sermons I’ve sat under have been from men whose only experience was in the academy as a professional Christian scholar.
The Long-Term Risk of Non-Pastors Training Pastors
While these men may be on the cutting edge of their field, their studies are disconnected from the pastoral role and, therefore, disconnected from a pastoral aim—an aim that would shape their studies and breathe wisdom into their classroom instruction and sermons. Actually, if we follow the biblical model, theologians would not be allowed to teach theology without extensive pastoral experience, for pastoral application is the purpose for which God breathed out Scripture (2 Tim 3:16-17). Biblically speaking, there is no such thing as doing theology without a pastoral objective.
Over the long term, theological training conducted by non-pastors runs the risk of creating graduates who preach, teach, and disciple in a way that is disconnected from the people themselves. The preaching may be logical and doctrinally sound, but it simply will not land with much effect because the pastor did not learn his theology from someone who had run his classroom instruction through the gauntlet of ministry. The words we use, what we choose to emphasize, and how we direct students to apply what they are learning will be influenced by our experience (or lack thereof) teaching these same things in the church setting. If a man’s theology and articulation of it haven’t been tested in the painful rigor of ministry, he will reside in the realm of the theoretical and be of little use to those who don’t have the luxury to indulge in inconsequential theology.
We believe that our pastor-professor model is one of the primary reasons for the high success rate among our graduates. Over 95% of our seminary alumni are still active in ministry. By God’s grace, burnout, moral failure, and heavy-handed shepherding do not characterize our graduates. While no instructional model can guarantee the long-term success of a seminary graduate, some models are more closely aligned with Scripture and its vision of pastoral ministry. We believe the pastor-professor model corresponds with Scripture’s teaching on the goal of theological instruction and the nature of ministry itself. Students leave TCBS with a deep, well-rounded education that prepares them to shepherd Christ’s flock with doctrinal precision, patience, wisdom, and love.
Come Join Us
If the Lord is stirring your heart for pastoral ministry and the church is affirming your spiritual gifts, we invite you to join us. Our pastor-professors will feed you rich instruction from God’s Word and our wonderful theological heritage while preparing you for pastoral ministry’s real-life joys and challenges.
What are you waiting for?