Preparation for Ministry

CHRISTIAN LIBERAL ARTS EDUCATION

Virgil Warren, PhD

EDUCATION FOR USE

Virgil Warren, PhD

The Teaching Task

            Bible colleges adapt higher education in partial preparation for ministry. On the one hand, they obviously differ from “secular” institutions by presenting courses from a Christian perspective. Unlike seminaries, Bible colleges begin ministry preparation at the undergraduate level. They differ also from Christian liberal arts institutions by including mostly those courses that have the greatest transfer to ministry, by teaching them with a view to ministering, by reducing the emphasis on liberal arts as such, and by including practical courses. On the other hand, Bible colleges do not try to become simply vocational-technical schools. In both practical and conceptual aspects of the curriculum, a governing principle for Bible colleges is “education for use.”

FORMAL PREPARATION FOR MINISTRY: THE 18-30 YEARS

Virgil Warren, PhD

            Graduating someone with a ministry degree does not necessarily increase the number of personnel in permanent ministry. Several factors contribute to significant attrition, especially during the early years of ministry.

KNOWING BY FAITH

Virgil Warren, PhD

Limitations of science

            Science has three major limitations. First, (1) science cannot deal with universals, or absolutes. It is subject to “the plague of particularity” because it is limited to the inductive approach. Science can form and test hypotheses, which are mental deductions from previous particulars; but these hypotheses are approximate, since they are based on limited previous experience. Since science cannot deal with the absolutes of universal space or eternal time, science cannot lead to an adequate understanding of “the big picture.” In short, science cannot produce a worldview. It deals more with particulars than with systematics.

LANGUAGE, EXEGESIS, AND THEOLOGY

THE GOAL OF A “THEOLOGICAL” EDUCATION

TRUTH AND EDUCATION IN A CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW

Virgil Warren, PhD

            At the trial of Jesus, Pilate remarked, “What is truth?” Jesus had just explained that he came into the world to “bear witness to the truth.” Interestingly, the truth issue does occupy the central reason for the personal incarnation of God into the world of human persons. It establishes the agenda for the followers of Christ, for “education that is Christian,” and for ministry preparation through an education process. As goes the view of truth, so goes the nature of education and the process of preparing for that education of the world that is called evangelism.