DANGERS OF FEW STUDENTS ENROLLING AT BIBLE SCHOOLS

We are seeing a decline of Christians entering formal Christian ministry by enrolling in a Bible School.  The past couple of years have seen a steep drop in enrollees.  This event is very dangerous for the Christian churches if not evaluated and acted upon.

I’m writing from a Southern Baptist perspective.  I don’t know the condition of the other Bible Schools in the Philippines.  I would like to focus on my own denomination.  It is my desire that we seriously study what is going on and find better and alternative solutions to this problem.  If other denominations find their way in this blog, I hope they would also take time to prayerfully study their situation and probably we can all work together.

I love to teach.  It is my gift and calling.  I used to teach at Luzon Baptist Bible School (LBBS) in Dagupan City.  However I resigned.  Christian institutions can’t get away from politics and I’m not interested to stay on that kind of environment.

It has been several times when the faculty of LBBS would go to associational meetings and ask for help.  They would make this plea of helping the school by sending students to study.  They have been losing students lately.  While there are some extension classes, the main campus is in dire difficulty.  And this drop of enrollees in the school has a very dangerous implication for all of us.

THE LACK OF ENROLLEES MAY MEAN A PROBLEM WITH THE INSTITUTION

I’m not going to write anything about what kind of school LBBS is.  I think they know better.  I love the school but they should first of all know what is truly besetting them.  To blame the churches for not sending students to study is to excuse themselves from their own responsibility of doing what is right in having a better school.

THE LACK OF ENROLLEES IS A DECLINE OF SB PASTORS

I think the math is very simple. Few students would mean few pastors.  Few pastors would mean few churches to plant. And that is if these graduate pastors would become church planters.  Few pastors mean few stocks to replace the aging pastors.  And probably the worse part about this is that if no SB pastor would replace a SB church, then some other denomination would come and lead the church to a different way of thinking and doing church.  That would be fine if it’s done in a truly Biblical way.  But experience have already told us that the risks are so high.  It is still better to have a SB pastor for a SB church.

THE LACK OF ENROLLEES MAY MEAN PASTORAL MINISTRY IS NO LONGER ATTRACTIVE AND REWARDING

Some Christians may not want to enter Bible School because there is no motivation for it.  When they look at their church, they see a lifeless body that goes through the motion of doing things.  There is no vibrancy or excitement.  They see the church filled with events but they don’t see life being transformed.  They don’t see a great deal of the purpose of the church.  If they can’t see that, why would they enroll and become a pastor?

Another troubling thing is when they look at their pastor, they see very few things why they should enroll and pursue a pastoral ministry.  They see their pastor struggle with finances and how they need to support their family.  The pastors of our country are underpaid and it gets worse when they are told that should “live by faith.” Do they truly understand this term?  They also see their pastor gripe about so many things.  The pastor tends to speak about so many negative things about God, the church and the ministry that you’d wonder why they did ever become a pastor in the first place.  When a Christian who has a desire to become a pastor sees this from his pastor, that his desire would fade over time.  Why become a pastor if you can’t feed your family and gripe about so many things?

Did it ever occur to us that if pastors exhibit a life of purpose and passion, his members may desire to become a pastor even without him telling them?  This is not to deny the fact that ministry is hard, but ministry is rewarding and we can overcome challenges because we have a big God!

I hope you can see this.  Something is happening to our churches right now and it is affecting how our members respond to God’s calling in their life.  How are we going to change?  How can we adapt?

Let me share something that excites me.  I know this can raise many criticisms but this problem we face in the lack of students in the Bible School can provide us a wonderful opportunity.

IT’S TIME TO REVIEW THE CURRICULUM

The Administrators may not like this at all.  Most of them believe that the curriculum is sufficient enough to produce a good and decent pastor.  If that premise is true, then we should still be the fastest growing church in the Philippines.

I’ll write about several subjects next time that may prove helpful and share why I believe they should be part of the curriculum.

A DIFFERENT WAY OF PRODUCING PASTORS & MINISTERS

This is the most exciting part for me.  One problem we have is producing pastors is that it is expensive.  I’m a graduate of Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary (PBTS) in Baguio City and during our time it wasn’t that expensive yet.  Right now the subsidy is not that big anymore.  And that means it is truly expensive.  So what are we going to do for those Christians who have a desire to become pastors and ministers?

Many would say that if they have faith, God will provide for them when they study.  Again it implies that we need to enter formal training.  I keep looking back at the 12 disciples who rocked the world and never once entered the University of the Pharisees of the College of Sadducees.  And yet they are far more effective in winning people for Christ than what those schools produce.  Why do we insist that seminary or bible school is the only way?  I know it has its merits.  But I’m addressing simple folks with great passion but can’t enter because of finances or intellectual difficulties.

It is for this reason that I know we have to change the way we think about how we produce pastors and ministers in our churches.  There is always a better way.  I’m going to try it.

Probably we need to change some of the curriculum.

Probably we need to stress more of the pastor’s life as the catalyst for members to enter ministry.

Probably we need more life application instead of head knowledge information.

Probably churches should develop their own curriculum and build their own training centers.

Probably we need to redefine what pastoral ministry is all about.

Probably we simply need to try something else if we desire to see our members become pastors and ministries.