Toolbox For Faith

This article was written by James Armentrout, pastor at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Roanoke, Virginia.

I remember being told as a seminarian that my seminary education would be sufficient to carry me through the first three years of parish ministry. We had covered the basics very well: New Testament history and theology, Old Testament theology and history, the Lutheran confessions, Hebrew, Greek, pastoral care, preaching, worship planning and leadership, etc. There was a lot of material to cover in the three years we were in the classroom. There was very little room in our schedule for electives, for in-depth classes focusing on something very specific. So we were told that in order to have any hope of a vital, relevant ministry beyond those first three years would mean life-long continuing education. What that told me was that I, along with my classmates, were about to become general practitioners of ministry. We were prepared to do the basics of congregational ministry: administer the sacraments, proclaim the gospel, lead worship, teach the scriptures, provide pastoral care, etc.

That’s how most of us are trained in seminary. We’re trained to be generalists and that’s great. The church needs general practitioners of ministry. Many congregations are well suited for the likes of us who haven’t been prepared as specialists. The various maladies these members of the body of Christ (congregations) deal with from time to time like financial sniffles or flu, B.O. (body odor or “bad outreach”) or altar guild amnesia are the kinds of things a well-prepared, attentive general practitioner can treat. Many congregations, like the individuals who comprise them, are healthy enough for a general practitioner to serve them. What happens, though, when a congregation needs more than a generalist? More to the point, what happens when a general practitioner of ministry tries to serve a congregation for whom the norm is not wellness but chronic illness?

The reality is this; some congregations are chronically ill. Some congregations are seriously diseased and need the skills of a trained specialist, not a general practitioner. Too often, though, it’s the general practitioner who is sent to serve them rather than the person who has the specific training and skill set to be effective. Why? Is it because there aren’t enough pastors with specialized training? Are we not identifying the chronically ill congregations well enough and so aren’t making use of the specialists we do have? Are there not enough opportunities to provide specialized training? Perhaps it’s some combination of all three. I’m not sure so I don’t have the answer but maybe it is time we started to have the conversation.