
JONATHAN'S BLOG:
Seminary Trained Plumbers


Do you have to be a minister... to do ministry?
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
"A fireman."
"A doctor."
"A pastor."
Is one of these more noble than the next? Is only one of these jobs "ministry?"
The Washington Post just posted an article about seminary grads who have no plans to become pastors, like Alethea Allen, a Virginia resident who graduated this week from Wesley Theological Seminary in Northwest Washington. She is going to be a pediatrician.
“I see what I’m doing as a form of ministry.” She said.
The article reveals that only 41 percent of master’s of divinity graduates expect to pursue full-time church ministry, down from 90-something percent a few decades ago.
Maybe this isn't such a bad trend in a world where people are growing increasingly skeptical of the church. Don't get me wrong, I don't want a shortage of pastors. But I can't say that I'd be bummed if we raised up a generation of people who studied God's word... and lived it out in their own jobs, their own homes and their own neighborhoods.
I WANT TO READ MORE