Should Baptist churches require candidates for the ministry to have or obtain training in a school offering religious studies before ordaining them? Is it a mandatory requirement or just the preferred credentials a church should look for in picking a pastor? Today the Baptist family in general answers these questions in favor of one having an education in order to become a minister. As in all practices of the Church, we must take the scriptures as our only rule of faith and order. If the Scriptures teach that a man must be educated in order to preach, then they will bear that out.

Looking at the God called men of the Bible we see that there were few educated men called to the ministry, Peter and John were referred to as being ignorant and unlearned (untrained). (Acts 4:13) We see no evidence that any of them were trained in order to qualify or improve themselves as ministers. On the contrary, Paul writes "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;" (I Corinthians 1:26,27). The educated ministers of the scriptures, such as Paul, obtained their education prior to their call to the ministry and not in order to become a minister. Christ chose his Apostles mostly from men that were unlearned thus establishing the churches authority to ordain untrained men who have the gift and qualifications the Apostles laid out in the scriptures. Nowhere in those qualifications is it indicated that a man must have formal education but only that he must be apt to teach. Thats not to say that a man should remain ignorant and unlearned while fulfilling the office of a minister. It is commendable for any man to take advantage of all opportunities to better ones self in this life but to do so in order to qualify or make him a better preacher is just not scriptural. No God called man should be sent or go to a man made school to teach him how to preach.

As in other areas the Baptist family has made great changes in their beliefs as to what is required in a minister pertaining to his qualifications. It appears that the majority of Baptists in this age believe it is mandatory to have a well-educated ministry in order to effectively carry on the work of the Ministry. Of course the modern Baptists belief as to what constitutes the work of the Ministry is completely different than what the early Baptists believed it was. The change in the modern Baptist belief away from irresistible Grace to the belief that the sinner can either accept or reject eternal salvation is the reason that so many hold to the belief that an educated ministry is necessary for the work of the Ministry and growth of the Church. The truth of the matter is that in the early church "the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2:47) and there is nothing in scripture to indicate that in the true Church today it is any different. The false practices brought on by those attempting to spread the Gospel and the subsequent change in belief concerning eternal salvation is completely foreign to the scriptural examples and practices we should follow.

To a lesser degree, the Primitive Baptists have to deal with this issue again, as there are a new group of changers among us who are promoting an elite, polished or eloquent ministry. Prior to and leading up to the new Primitive Baptist Missionary movement its leaders employed several methods to weaken the scriptural traditions of the Old Baptists. One method used was a teaching apparatus called Preachers meetings in which Scriptural traditions were replaced by the doctrines of men, which promoted the theories of the modern mission movement. This is not a new thing because similar schemes were introduced in the 1830s during the great Baptist split over the modern mission movement and again in the 1900s during the Progressive movement. It was led then as it is now by men who desire to bring the Church up in the eyes of the world, hoping for an increase in numbers. Their general theme is that they want to share or spread the Gospel to the world. Im sure there is some among them who genuinely desire the spread of the Gospel but for any one to add to or take away from scriptural practices using the spread of the Gospel as a pretense reveals their ungodly motives. Just as in times past those who oppose them are erroneously labeled as being against the spread of the Gospel.

For a Baptist historical perspective on the issue of ministerial training, the following statement by Baptist Minister Francis Wayland, who went with the 1830s Modern Baptist Missionary movement, but who still held some views that reflected the old order of Baptists, is worthy of note. As stated in other articles that Ive quoted him, I do not endorse his doctrinal views on salvation but because of his closeness to the Baptists split of the 1830s it is interesting and beneficial to consider his thoughts concerning the changes in Baptist doctrine and practices he revealed by his writings. His book from which this quote is taken, Notes on the principles and practices of Baptist churches is worth any Baptist reading in order to see just how far the present Baptist family has departed from scriptural principles.

Quoting from Francis Waylands book

"In my last number I endeavored to show what the New Testament requires in a candidate for the gospel ministry. It is obvious that these requirements relate exclusively to moral character, with one single exception, an aptitude to teach. No specific amount of learning is demanded. Aptness to teach is generally a natural endowment, which learning cannot confer. Were it otherwise we should not see so many educated ministers who have evidently mistaken their profession, and who would be more useful in some other field.

Now, if such be the rule of the Master, by what authority do we alter, amend, or abolish it? Is Jesus Christ King in Zion? Is he still the head of the church? Or shall we leave him, to follow the example of other denominations? Or shall we say that these directions were good enough for the times of the apostles, but that we have now outgrown them? By the very same argument we may establish the authority of infant Baptism, baptism by sprinkling, or any other practice which man has introduced into the church of Christ."

End of quote

Faithful Baptist have always held the view that the Lord calls and gives gifts to those he chooses as Gospel preachers and man is not instructed to aid the Lord by providing formal training or education in order that they be better qualified. It should be emphasized that those who hold to this scriptural belief are not against education as their enemies have claimed. They strongly believe that the more education one is bless to have is a benefit to him personally but it is not a requirement to qualify him to be a Preacher of the Gospel. The true Church of Christ must remain with the scriptural traditions of ordaining only those that qualify by the standards laid out in scripture. These standards give no indication what so ever that a God called minister requires training by man. The elite preacher with his outlines, his expository sermons and crowd pleasing abilities should be relegated to the heap pile of false practices that glory seeking men have created over the centuries. All the training (experience) a God Called minister needs is the exercise of his gift before the body of Christ (the church), where he will be laboring and ordained. The older ministers, as well as the members, will in most cases provide the needed feedback, encouragement and guidance a novice needs. During this process, the God Called and conscientious minister will grow in his natural abilities and spiritual stature having followed the Scriptural admonishment to "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" II Timothy 2:15. The last thing the true Church needs is a man called, man trained, man promoted ministry. To have such is an abomination to the Lord who himself qualifies all those that he calls to the ministry. -- Elder Claude Mckee