Following the Call
My decision to enter into ministry was a process that took a number of years to realize.
Education
A Generous Theology
One of my favourite authors, Northrop Frye, claims that if imagination is stoked (educated) with ideas from other times and places, you quickly realize there are better worlds than the one around us right now; there are worlds we want to live in.
Faith and the University
When I was a teenager, someone in my congregation gave me a dire warning about university. He made claws with his fingers and got a nasty look on his face. “They’re wolves,” he said. “And they will rip you apart. They’ll tear the Christian faith right out of you.”
Preparing the Preacher
“The challenge of theological education today is to prepare leaders for a church that we can’t quite see yet.” Rev. Dr. John Vissers speaks from long experience.
A Rabbi Walks into a Seminary
I am a middle-aged man who is in the early stages of a second career. I have passed through many doors in my time. But when I met the Jewish Rabbi who is on the faculty of my theological college, many more doors opened in my mind.
Lead On
Sunday schools have been run by well-meaning volunteers ever since Moses rocked in a rush basket and the impulse to help is good one. But we must ask ourselves honestly, can we properly offer programming for these groups of kids if we have no one on the ground trained in special needs?
Shaping the Future
Responding to Changes in Church and Society – Knox College, Toronto In May, Knox graduated 25 students—men and women who have begun their ministries in […]
Aids and Gender Stereotypes
“It dawned on us that by working with only women, we weren’t having much of an impact on HIV and AIDS. It wasn’t working if […]
Preparing students for modern ministry
Tara Bentall King, co-ordinator of student recruitment at the Vancouver School of Theology, recently attended a conference on spirituality in the Pacific Northwest.
Experiencing the church
In the multicultural post-Christian era, theological schools across the country are taking a long look at how they prepare students for active ministry — changing not only the curriculum, but also how it is delivered to a widely diverse group of students.
Ministering to new ministers
I have an idea. Let's prepare ministers of Word and Sacraments for pastoral ministry in this way: Three or four years of theological education, a few hours a week of placement in a congregation under the direction of the minister, and if they are motivated (or financially strapped) perhaps several opportunities for pulpit supply. Then let's release them to the church. Oh, wait a minute. That's what we do right now. And it seems to be working out alright. Or is it? Well, how would we really know? We've heard the statistics before: Ministry burnout is on the rise, especially in the first five years following ordination, turnover in ministry staff is high, and church conflict is rampant. Why? It must be the people in churches. It must be the colleges' fault. It must be the individuals we're calling into the ministry. Certainly, each of them have a role to play in the situation we find ourselves.
The first six years of life: They're too important to ignore!
What is more joyous than the birth of a baby? Ironically, following this joyous event, congregations often neglect or even ignore children in the first six years of life. Small children are shuffled into nurseries — often poorly equipped — because they make noise. 'Teaching' of small children often consists of a haphazard and random list of volunteers. Yet these early years are incredibly important. Physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual achievements are enormous in the first six years.
Baking better bread
"What makes your 'call' as a ruling elder or clergy different from a job in the secular market place or a volunteer position in a social agency?" The question opened a workshop led by the Elders' Institute, a program of St. Andrew's Hall in Vancouver, in the Maritimes last October.