For a few years now, I've been telling men I think a law degree and some experience litigating should be a prerequisite for ordination to pastoral ministry. Seriously.
Where am I coming from?
Think of the reformation of preaching this would produce.
Men who preach would have been trained to say "no" and to speak towards the inevitable judgment. They would understand their purpose and the effect going beyond yes to no would have on the souls under their care. They would have been acclimated to controversy and would view adversity as the necessary environment for truth to be revealed so it may be embraced. For error to be revealed so it may be rejected.
The curriculum of most seminary training today is...
that pastors who cause conflict in their church have failed. Law school, on the other hand, takes conflict as a given and teaches students to fight for truth and justice. It's a short step from truth and justice to the God of righteousness and the righteousness of God.
Let me put it this way. If a presbytery had to choose between ordaining a lawyer who's butch or a seminary grad who's effeminate, would you fault them for choosing butch?
Tim serves Clearnote Church, Bloomington, Indiana. He and Mary Lee have five children and big lots of grandchildren.
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