What has the Church done in the past to properly train ministers? What mistakes and successes have we had? And, most importantly, what have we learned from both the successes and failures that can help us today give ministers the best possible training?
This article, the first of two parts, looks at this important topic from the perspective of history.
In the beginning
Ellen G. White wrote repeatedly and specifically regarding both the importance and particulars of ministry preparation.1 It was, however, her husband James who in 1870 launched the first formal effort. He called it the Ministers Lecture Association of Seventh-day Adventists. For $5.00 a year (women Bible workers could join for $3), a member could attend a series of Bible lectures and receive grammar and penmanship instruction.
In 1881, a General Conference committee known as the Committee on Course of Reading for Ministers, established a six-year plan of required reading with the goal that "all our ministers, both ordained and licentiates, be required to pursue [it]." The plan called for the committee on credentials and licenses in each conference to examine ministers annually to be sure the reading was completed. The program, interestingly enough, only survived four years.
Minutes of a 1919 Bible Conference indicate early Adventist educators needing "good counsel and some principles that would help them in their work" of training young pas tors. A.G. Daniells, then President of the General Conference, confronted the problem directly when he challenged the "teachers (of pastors) to really change or greatly improve the class of preachers among us."2
Beginning in 1926, Adventist administrators worked to create a plan that would stimulate interest in, coordinate selection for, and train young men in pastoral work. During an April Annual Council meeting of 1929, Adventist leaders formalized a more inclusive method of training pastors entitled, "A Ministerial Internship Plan." The plan included financial assistance available to any one involved in what was called "field training" under the supervision of a senior pastor.3 Interest in this new plan was led by J. L. McElhany, new President of the General Conference, who wrote a lead article in the Review & Herald, where he commented, "of all the questions considered by the Council, this one proved the most interesting."4
One month later, in the July issue of Ministry Magazine, editor A.G. Daniells prefaced his reprint of the spring Council's action with these words:
"A provision of far-reaching import was launched at the recent spring meeting of the General Conference committee, destined to have a profound bearing upon the future recruiting, training, and utilization of young men for the gospel ministry and of young women for Bible work in North America. Introduced by Elder J. L. Shaw, a Ministerial Internship Plan, shared jointly in its financial aspects by the General, union, and local conferences, had free and deliberate discussion by the Council at large. The item was given detailed study and development in the Finance Committee, and lastly was adopted by the full Council. It has therefore become operative for 1929, and the reaction from the field to date is most auspicious.
"The provision is designed to fill the depleted ranks of workers in the North American conferences, many of which have given to the point of exhaustion to our world mission fields. It will bridge the fatal gap that has hitherto existed between the training school and the field. And it will give ministerial training its rightful place in the eyes of your youth as well as in our denominational plans. It is a step big with promise."5
In light of the then current practice that placed young, inexperienced men directly over churches, often with disastrous results,6 Daniells quoted numerous conference presidents heartily affirming the action taken. By September of the same year, the program's success (60 young men and women placed) fueled an "enthusiastic assent" to its perpetuity.7
Ongoing internship developments
From these first administrative discussions regarding ministry preparation, specific pastoral tasks/skills were identified as critical to pastoral success. From the first list of eight tasks mentioned in 1919 by A.G. Daniells,8 the list grew to twenty-four by 1926,9 and to fifty by 1990.10
Several Ellen G. White statements regarding the advisability of placing younger men alongside older, more experienced men undoubtedly influenced the adoption by the General Conference of the Ministerial Intern ship Plan in 1929.11 In 1932 the internship plan was structured so that field exposure would be accomplished under qualified supervision. "Local conferences benefiting by this plan shall assume obligation for direct supervision in training the interns. . .possibly by sending them out two and two or with experienced ministers who possess the ability and willingness to give the proper training to young ministers."12
By 1964 a Ministerial Internship Guide "was prepared to address what is expected during the internship training period with intern and min ister/supervisor."13 Rather than "being arbitrary, and recognizing that no two individuals were exactly alike," each minister was allowed to adapt the suggestions to his own pastorate or mission program.
With the passage of time, and an increased emphasis on academic ministerial preparation, limitations of formal pastoral education became apparent. David Schuller pointed out that an "awareness of relationships between conceptions and life ... can not be developed in formal classroom settings alone. Practical contact with the changing world ... is ... envisioned as essential to education in theological thinking."14
John Sweetman also expressed concern that "a student is deemed ready for pastoral leadership when he or she has obtained a degree, rather than develop [ing] character and pastoral skills under a caring and competent mentor."15 This concern is evidenced in one religious journal of the 1970s reporting that four out of ten Protestant clergy "have seriously considered leaving religious life."16 By 1980 Adventist administrators and educators sensed the need for both "better training of supervisory pastors in the field, and more effective, continuing education programs for pastors (interns) who have completed their Seminary work."17
A 1982 research prepared for the Dean of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University evaluated the post-seminary, field education its graduates experienced. One-hundred-twenty-four seminarians said their greatest need was for supervisors "who would spend more time with them modeling and training in all aspects of pastoral ministry." Similarly, 89 of the responding supervisors desired "more opportunity for supervision, modeling and reflection on progress." The research concluded, "in general, pastors did not do a great deal of showing interns how to successfully perform certain tasks vital to the ministry."18
A new approach needed?
To assist and enhance intern/ supervisor interaction, the General Conference Ministerial Association, in 1990, prepared the Manual for Seventh-day Adventist Ministerial Interns and Intern Supervisors.19 This 116-page manual was intended to regularize and improve the internship experience for Adventist interns by exposing them to 50 ministerial skills/functions, which would be learned or reviewed while in a supervisory relationship with an experienced pastor.
Frequently, and for many reasons, this approach became either task oriented, superficial, or transitory. Presently, few supervising pastors or interns follow this equipping manual or have substituted a satisfactory alter native.20 Inasmuch as a more relevant replacement is needed, the climate is ideal for implementing a new intern training attitude and tactic.
It was to address this void that union conference presidents in 1997 began considering an alternative option for theological education at Andrews University. The next installment (to appear in the October issue of Ministry) will describe this new option.
1 For example, in her compilation, Pastoral Ministry (Silver Spring: Ministerial Association, 1995), 43, 44; "The times demand an intelligent, educated ministry, not novices . . . Our ministers must be men who are wholly consecrated to God, men of no mean culture; but their minds must be all aglow with religious fervor, gathering divine rays of light from heaven . . . The cause of God calls for allround men, who can devise, plan, build up, and organize . . . Their education is of primary importance in our colleges, and in no case should it be ignored or regarded as a secondary matter ..." See Appendix A for inclusion of several other EGW quotes regarding qualification and preparation of young pastors.
2 Official minutes of August 1, 1919, Seventh-day Adventist Bible Conference, 1256.
3 Provision was made for up to 100 students, 15 of who were to be female Bible workers. Further evidence for female inclusiveness is found in the 1932 Autumn Council minutes: "Young men and women in our training schools desiring to make application for ministerial internship shall fill out completely the application blanks provided."
4 The Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, June 9, 1929. Also very positive review by Joseph M. Ramsey, ed. "Reviews" The Expositor (Cleveland, Ohio: F. M. Barton Co., 1929), 1178.
5 Ministry Magazine (Washington, DC: Review & Herald Pub. Assn., July 1929), 6.
6 Ibid. Minutes indicate much concern voiced over the lack of field education. For example, E. K. Slade, President of Atlantic Union responded from the floor of the GC Council: "There is no branch of our organized work (pastoral implied) where there is more uncertainty. ... Our present policy is to place inexperienced men in charge of districts, making them pastor of churches, or perhaps we might call them president of little conferences placing them in these positions right from the start. Consequently, these young men are coming up against problems which they are not prepared to handle."
7 General Conference Committee Official Minutes of April 30, 1929. As the primary design was to service candidates under the age of 30, exception was made for those who "in later life have had to postpone the advantages of a Christian education, and who may be accepted up to thirty-five years of age."
8 Ibid., 1919. These include: (1) Honesty, sincerity, true to their consciences, (2) The importance of studiousness, (3) Regularity in their habits of study, working and living, (4) The importance of Bible study and constancy with the Bible, (5) The appearance, the manners, the deportment of the minister, (6) The use of chaste, select language, (7) Methods in public his conduct, (8) Pulpit manners.
9 Ibid. General Conference Autumn Council Minutes of 1926.
10 Manual for Seventh-day Adventist Ministerial Interns and Intern Supervisors (Washington, DC: General Conference Ministeriai Association, 1990).
11 "In gaining a preparation for the ministry, young men should be associated with older ministers. Those who have gained an experience in active service are to take young, inexperienced workers with them into the harvest field, teaching them how to labor successfully for the conversion of souls" (GW 101). "It is God's desire that those who have gained an experience in His cause shall train young men for His service" (GW 102). "Brethren of experience . . . should feel a responsibility upon them to take charge of these young preachers, to instruct, advise, and lead them, to have a fatherly care for them" (IT 443).
12 General Conference Autumn Council Minutes of 1932, 8.
13 General Conference Autumn Council Minutes of 1964, 12.
14 David S. Schuller, "Part I: Theological Education at Level II," Theological Education, Spring 1968, 675, 676.
15 John Raymond Sweetman, "The Assessment of a Self-Study Course Designed to Develop Mentoring Commitment and competency among Australian Baptist Church Leaders," D.Min. diss., Denver Seminary, 1999, 4.
16 Theological Education 9, (autumn 1972) 33, 34.
17 Philip Follett, "Training of Pastors," March 11, 1980 transcript.
18 Roger L. Dudley, Kim White, and Des Cummings, Jr. A Study of the Ministerial Internship as Perceived by Seminary Students and their former Supervisors. A report prepared for the office of the Dean of the Seventh-day Adventist Seminary, May 1982. The report concluded "that the major weakness of the internship program is the lack of experiences in which the supervisory pastor models ministerial behaviors for the intern and in which the pastor observes and critiques ministerial behaviors performed by the interns," 19. A contrary opinion can be found in Earlington Winston Guiste's Ph.D. thesis, "An Assessment of Practicing SDA Ministers' perceived Administrative Skills: Implications for Curriculum in Ministerial Training" (Michigan State University, Ann Arbor, Michigan). "SDA Ministers are not academically prepared to adequately assume the administrative responsibilities of the local churches, and they are victims of the church's educational system," 2.
19 Manual for Seventh-day Adventist Ministerial Interns, op. cit.
20 Worthy exceptions and adaptations occurred in some conferences and unions. See David VanDenburgh, "The Intern Supervisor training Event," an article in Ministry, October 1995, 20. The author advocates a certified training course focusing on developing persons rather than skills and promoting relationships between intern and supervisor. The training combines mentoring, spiritual friendship, and teaching via the use of critical incident.
