Continuing education is not new! The current emphasis on professional growth experiences appears to be rather recent, but the practice is not. Regular academic graduate programs, summer conferences, denomination-wide seminars, extension schools, various institutes, and intern-orientation programs have been conducted for some time.
Mark Rouch's definition of continuing education describes what many ministers in many periods of the church's history have engaged in; to wit: "Continuing education is an individual's personally defined program which begins when basic formal education ends, and continues throughout a career and beyond. An unfolding process, it links together personal study and reflection and participation in organized group events" (Competent Ministry: A Guide to Effective Continuing Education [Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1974], pp. 16, 17).
An effective continuing education program may fulfill several purposes: the need to be brought up-to-date on the recent trends in scholarly discipline; the necessity of acquiring competence in a new specialty; a consciousness that the church must be in constant dialogue with the contemporary world of which it is a part and the need to clarify and redefine her mission in the context of an enlightened understanding of society; an awareness that a minister may serve more effectively in another form of ministry and the development of competence for it; or simply satisfying the desire for an advanced degree.
Whatever avenues of continuing education may be developed by seminaries, colleges, universities, or other institutions, it must be remembered that the heart of any such program is the serious study that should take place daily as the seminary graduate prepares to minister effectively in an ever-changing society. There is no substitute for this daily program if the pastor is to be biblically literate, historically clear, and theologically sophisticated. Other forms of continuing education, whatever their source or direction, should enhance this effort and not in any way attempt to displace it.
Continuing education must have some end in mind; it must not be simply an activity for activity's sake. But before we can establish the purpose or even the desirability of extending theological education, we must come to some understanding as to what it properly attempts within the scope of its present professional curriculum.
To a large degree, ministers function as teachers; they are ordained as pastor teachers. Since the ministry of Jesus Christ belongs to the whole people of God, the theological education a semi nary gives should enable its graduates to "equip the saints" for ministry. Seminary training should also assist the student to become a self-learner; it should create a lifelong thirst for study and growth. No quantity of schooling is an adequate substitute for this. A program of continuing education, then, is not merely an opportunity to "get more in," but must serve, in a very real sense, to encourage the seminary graduate to be a perpetual student.
There are several continuing education programs that can assist ministers in this task. Perhaps the most obvious is that of formal graduate study at the master's or doctoral level. Many universities and seminaries also offer convocations, conferences, and institutes on a variety of subjects that may or may not be part of a degree sequence. The opportunity to spend some time—perhaps a week or two—in concentrated study as a "pastor-in-residence" on a seminary (or perhaps a college or university) campus can be professionally helpful as well as spiritually refreshing. Home-based continuing education courses (such as are provided by the General Conference Ministerial Association) are an inexpensive option that allows private study at one's own pace. Bibliographies, books, and scholarly journals from semi nary and university libraries also provide opportunity for personal and professional growth. All of this is a part of continuing education.
In his early work Reinhold Niebuhr expressed his view of the Christian ethical norm, the ethic of Jesus, as "the impossible possibility." The demands on their time and energy ministers face today sometimes make the task of continuing education and allowing it to mold their ministry seem impossible. Yet the many resources and opportunities now available provide fresh hope that the impossible may become possible.
—Rex D. Edwards.
