I am continuing to share my thoughts on the vital issue of the effective preparation of Christian workers in general and of preachers in particular.  (Previous posts here)  Before looking at the specific role of the local church in this regard I want to make one more comment on where I believe Bible Colleges are failing churches and individuals at the present time.   Having spoken to a considerable number of lecturers in recent years I have discovered a deeply worrying trend.  Almost without exception, they have told me that their task is not to teach their students what they should believe but to give them a wide variety of views and allow them to make their choice from what’s on offer.   This is scandalous and explains the confused, biblically illiterate, and ill-equipped graduates that are being produced.   More than once, in my previous role as a mission agency Director I had former students confess that they were more confused about what they believed when they left College than when they arrived.   Over my years in that role I saw a steady decline in the standard of answers to doctrinal questions and a general reluctance to express a deep conviction about almost anything.   It’s true that very often, though not always, when you unpacked their written comments and talked things through with them, pressing them for a definite answer, they would affirm the biblical truth but they had grown accustomed to a culture where there is no such thing as dogmatic, exclusive truth and one shouldn’t be so bold as to claim to know such truth, let alone teach it to others.
This is a massive problem - but not a new one!   Iain Murray, in his introduction to ‘An All-round Ministry’ writes of  Spurgeon’s philosophy:

“Instruction, he maintained, should be given in definite, dogmatic form.   Tutors should not teach their students in that broad liberal manner which presents a number of “view-points” and leaves the ultimate choice to the student;  rather they should forcibly and unmistakably declare the mind of God and show a determined predilection for the old theology, being saturated in it and ready to die for it!”

I had some discussions a year or so go with the faculty of a leading UK Bible College on this very issue and they took the position that preachers today need to be well versed in various views propagated by liberal scholars, so that they can address them when raised by their church members.   They seemed quite taken aback when I told them that in 25 years of ministry no church member had ever raised such an issue with me!   The only reason so many of these views are still around today is because so-called evangelicals keep them alive by teaching them.   Why are evangelicals always reacting to the agenda set by the liberals rather than simply ignoring them?   Life is too short and time too precious to spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with the views of largely dead and discredited scholars who don’t accept the authority of God’s Word.  What we who are entrusted by God with this immense responsibility of training up Gospel workers have to do is, in Murray’s words, to , ourselves, be saturated in the “old theology” and thoroughly immerse our students in it as well.

As we continue to look at the problems in training up Gospel workers and preachers, in future posts I will look at more issues related to the roles of and the relationship between the local church and the Bible Colleges.  Today, I want to suggest some criteria for churches and individuals to use when deciding which Bible College to attend or to send their students to.

1. What is the theological position of all the faculty? As I highlighted yesterday, almost every Bible College in UK is seriously compromised in this respect and the situation appears to be worsening. We wouldn’t allow such false teachers in the pulpits of our churches, exposing our members to their teachings, so why should we send our students to learn from them at Bible College? The sort of areas we need to be asking about are:

• belief in the verbal inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture
• belief in the uniqueness of Christ as the only way to God
• belief in the need of a personal, conscious experience of Christ for salvation
• belief in the substitutionary nature of Christ’s death
• belief in the reality of hell as a place of eternal consciousness for all who die outside of Christ

None of these areas of belief can be taken as ‘givens’ today, even in reputedly evangelical training Colleges. We need to ask some serious questions of prospective places of study and if they are found wanting, we should have nothing to do with them.

2. What is the theological position of the Board? If, as is usually the case, the Board are ultimately responsible for the appointment of the teaching staff, then we must ensure that they hold fast to the non-negotiable truths of Gods’ Word. If the College Board includes men and women who have abandoned any area of biblical truth then you can be sure they will not be sufficiently discriminating when it comes to the appointment of lecturers, nor will they be willing to deal appropriately with those who share their erroneous views.

3. What accountability is there to the home church of the students? Is the College committed to a meaningful and mutually accountable relationship with the churches that supply the students? Are they willing to provide reports on the student’s progress and raise issues of concern? Are they open and responsive to the views and concerns of the church leadership?

4. What is the experience of those training preachers? One of the biggest weaknesses in this area is that so many who are training preachers are not really preachers themselves. They may preach from time to time because of their standing in the Christian community but they are really, at worst, theorists and at best lecturers and teachers. No wonder so many coming out of the Colleges and into the pulpits of our churches are dry as dust and cerebral. Those teaching homiletics courses should be great role models of passionate, faithful expository preaching.

5. What is the actual experience of previous students? Have those who have studied there found it as it has been described, or is the reality different from the reputation? Has the faith of previous students been built up or undermined? Has their knowledge of Scripture been significantly increased? Is there clear evidence of growth in grace and equipping for effective service? Regardless of what academic achievements have been attained, if these things are lacking then serious and precious time has been wasted.

6. What is the goal of the College? I want to look at this issue in my next post but here is, in many ways the heart of the problem today. Is the goal to achieve certain qualifications or degrees or is it to prepare God’s people for works of service? There is no doubt in my mind that for most institutions in UK, the former has become the overriding objective and the latter has become increasingly sidelined. With the result that we are producing expert missiologists and lousy missionaries, competent biblical textual scholars and incompetent pastors and Bible teachers, men and women conversant with every liberal theory and view but who don’t know their Bibles.

In last week’s quote from Spurgeon, there was this hugely significant phrase: “Let the world educate men for its own purposes, and let the Church instruct men for its special service.”  I believe that goes right to the heart of the whole reason why Bible Colleges, certainly here in the UK, are not producing powerful, faithful preachers of God’s Word.   Spurgeon’s vision of men trained for ministry by their own churches is a great one and one we should probably strive after, but in reality, I suspect, it is beyond the attainment of the average church.  Even where the church is able to provide some sort of apprenticeship to up and coming preachers, it is probably unlikely to be able to provide the broader and necessary theological framework in which a good expository ministry needs to be set.  I think that more often than not, this needs to be done in an effective partnership between local churches and Bible Colleges.  

In m own personal experiene, I had the great privilege of three years excellent study at the Bible Training Institute in Glasgow, now the International Christian College, though it is not really the same, to be honest!   At the same time, for those three years I was assigned to work alongside a very godly and experienced Presbyterian minister who exposed me to various aspects of ministry, gave me many opportunities for preaching and leadership and mentored me.   There as good interaction between church and college, sound theological study at the college and good practical experience at the church.

That, for me, highlights immense issues that seriously need addressing by churches and colleges today if we are going to remedy the present problems we have tried to identify, and I want to look at some of these in coming posts and am really keen to get your comments, experience and wisdom.

The first problem seems to be that the churches have handed over responsibility for the training of their students to the colleges but there has been no meaningful relationship by which the colleges have been held accountable for the training they have been provided.   Whenever churches complain about the training their students are getting I always ask them whether they have spoken to the College and expressed their concerns, and invariably the answer has been no.   This seems amazing to me.   Why would we hand over those God has put into our spiritual care to others without some accountability and dialogue?

The second problem is that, here in the UK, and partly as a result of the failure I have just referred to,  the Bible Colleges have all, with only two exceptions that I know of,  got mixed faculties, in that they have on their teaching staff men and women who don’t hold to the traditional evangelical doctrinal beliefs.   I could take you to Bible College lecturers who deny the reality of hell, the lostness of those who die outside of Christ, the penal substitution aspect of Christ’s death on the cross, the uniqueness of Christ as the way of salvation and much more.   Why should we allow such false teachers to train our students and prepare them for Gospel ministry?   If our Bible believing churches stopped sending our students to these places they would have to start putting their houses in order or close down.

Tomorrow, I want to detail what I believe churches should look for in Bible Colleges to which they send their students.