Comments on: Bi-Vocational Ministry & Theological Education

By: jrrozko

jrrozko — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:35:34 +0000

Great comments. Sounds like there's some stuff we can learn from theological education in Scotland.

By: jrrozko

jrrozko — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:33:29 +0000

Hey Gus. That's too common a thing. Hoping for a theological future where that's not the case.

By: Gus Macaulay

Gus Macaulay — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:33:31 +0000

Further to my last comment, I did a stint in Cambodia and quickly discovered that the most crucial pastoral situations had to be dealt with in a "mission" context, not helped by those who were lightly trained in pastoral matters. I then came back home to Scotland and, after being called into a local church, noticed that my ministry context was actually one of undiluted "mission".
The Scottish Baptist College has some great thinkers and progressive, sound , biblical leaders. I understand they're moving aqway from a ministry/mission split in whoever they train, and see all their students as one who are to bear witness to Jesus, wherever/whatever they end up doing.
In short, I suppose all pastors must be missional, and all missionaries must be pastoral, and they should both be found in the same person, and trained that way.
Thanks again for the posts.
Gus.

By: Gus Macaulay

Gus Macaulay — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:32:54 +0000

Hey, thanks for your posts. I'm a bivocational pastor in Scotland (one of very few here!!) and I've appreciated the virtual fellowship! I've got a Twitter page called 'bivocational' and although not big fan of Twitter I use it to post links to web articles on bivocationalism.
My first degree was in law and I practised in that before a call to bivocational ministry (and still do). However, I actually thought I was going to be called to Cambodia and did a "cross-cultural" track in my theology degree. I noticed a big split between courses and students who were studying for "ministry" and those who were studying for "mission" (and there was little crossover).
That is, the ministry folks were looking to be called as a pastor into a local church, and the mission folks were looking to go overseas to a mission situation.
Blessings to you,
Gus.