How much education does a pastor need?
There's an uncomfortable truth for us pastors: we're not academics with sacraments.
Luther Seminary has received a donation of $21.4 million dollars in order to pursue a pilot program for a two-year Master of Divinity degree. Since the M.Div degree is usually a four-year program in the Lutheran church, cutting two years is a major change.
After this followed the inevitable and probably necessary debate about whether this was a good thing. In particular, many people in my circles voiced concerns about how the academic side of the degree was being watered down. The familiar refrain was then repeated: the pastor’s job is becoming less theology and more community organizer with sacraments. This line is nothing new. Our own presiding bishop has said something similar several times.
A year or two ago I went to the Gamaliel Network’s National Leadership Training. It’s basically boot camp for community organizers. I tell you the truth, brothers and sisters, I haven’t failed so badly since I failed handwriting in the fourth grade. I was not good at what they were training me for. This is not to say that the two calls cannot be reconciled. One need look no further than Martin Luther King Jr. and the many who worked with him. All I am saying is that I would not be a good community organizer.
