Podcast Episode #051
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Pastors receive a great deal of training in seminary and Bible colleges. But even the most scholarly pastors do not learn everything they need to know in a higher education environment. Like any other field, there is always a share of on-the-job training that you only learn once you are in the field. This week, we discuss 10 of those areas in which pastors will likely receive no formal training but still need in order to be the most effective pastor possible. The 10 areas are:
- A new language—social media.
- A non-Christian culture.
- The decline of cultural Christians in churches.
- A new work/life balance.
- Unregenerate church members.
- The community as a mission field.
- Less automatic cultural respect of church leaders.
- A more critical world.
- A greater need for leadership skills.
- More churches in need of revitalization.
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This podcast was brought to you by Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Doctor of Ministry program. If you want more out of your ministry, want to study with a world-class faculty and need to stay where you currently serve, the DMin at Southeastern is the answer for you. Visit SEBTS.EDU/DMIN for more information.
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Thanks for these important ideas. I see from my seminary day my teachers were a generation older than I often using texts/ideas/methods from a generation before them.
How do we get our seminaries and denominations take up this important information and move forward by teaching looking toward the future rather than looking back? I know it’s a difficult task to do, but it needs to be done. Those in my kids generations (they stretch from 13-33) don’t want to look back, rather they desire to look forward. The danger of course is throwing the baby out with the bath water. Not an easy task, but oh so important.
Hi Dr. Rainer:
Thank you for your wisdom and service in so many areas of leadership. It has been a great source of encouragment for me as I serve my church community!
I serve at an ethnically Armenian church in Rancho Cordova, California. One of the tempatations in America for single ethnicity churches is to downgrade their ethnic distinctions to accomadate for any and all ethnicities. In other words, a single ethnicity church like mine often feels pressured to assimilate their ways into “American Christianity.” And if we do not assimilate, then we must be too old fashioned or ignorant of the times. Simply put, ethnic diversity is important and encouraged in America; however, ethnocentrism is not. However, without being ethnocentric, the diverse ethnic groups run the risk of assimiliation, where all ethnicity is the same ethncity, and therefore, there is no ethncity. In other words, ‘Christian’ becomes an ethnicity. Thus, with ‘Christian’ as a third race or ethnicity, I am no longer an Armenian in Christ, but rather my identity as an Armenian in Christ is destroyed. Unfortunately, I do not want my ethnic identity in Christ to be dissolved; rather, I still want to be an Armenian in Christ. Hope this makes…
Thus, my question is this: how can leaders and pastors in single ethnicity churches continue to maintain their ethnic identites while still living faithfully in Christ? I believe this is an area of church leadership that is often neglected with little training provided at Seminaries.
Thank you for your thoughts on this and I hope to hear from you soon!
Thanks again,
Joseph