I would say that a Moore College degree is a sign you're a true Anglican, like sitting up the back, being afraid to raise your hands in 'worship', knowing the Nicene creed backwards and keeping a stash of two ways to live handouts in your handbag. (It's an accepted fact that all good godly women bought a bigger handbag to fit the Essential Jesus booklets this year, but that's another story for another day...)
But my question is, what qualifies someone to teach? There is frequently lay teaching at my church at the moment, from great, respectable, godly men of varying ages and none of them have been to Moore. Conversely I've also been in the situation where I felt someone untrained was taking on a role beyond himself.
Is it just a matter of check listing off 1 Tim 3? Should untrained people be double-checked by someone at least more experienced? What about church planters and rural churches? Does the importance of spreading the gospel in its simplicity over-rule the fact that teaching further down the track isn't as spot on? Are these people considered 'false teachers'?...
1Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer,[a] he desires a noble task. 2Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5(If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) 6He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap. [1 Tim 3:1-7]
10By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. 14If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. [1 Cor 3:10-15]
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To stir the pot a little, I reckon it's worth nothing that many of the great preachers (that we know of) in history would be frowned upon today.
ReplyDeleteThe famous Charles Spurgeon began preaching, un-trained, at the age of 16 (admittedly he was a freak-of-nature brainiac).
John Bunyan, author of the Pilgrim's Progress, was an uneducated metal-worker. He didn't know any ancient languages. Yet his contemporary, John Owen -- who knew Latin, Greek, Hebrew, had numerous letters after his name, and has given us one of the biggest commentaries ever written on Hebrews -- would come and listen to him preach.
One story says that King Charles II asked Owen one time why he bothered going to hear an uneducated tinker like Bunyan preach. Owen replied, "Could I posses the tinker's abilities for preaching, please your majesty, I would gladly relinquish all my learning".