Why Theology Is Necessary for Ministry
I wrote this a few years ago and presented it to a gathering of pastors. Some received it enthusiastically and others said nothing. (At least nobody criticized it!) Occasionally I post something here that I wrote but never published. This essay never found publication. So I’ll publish it here.
Recently I’ve heard several Christians in ministry say something like “Theology? Oh, that’s not practical.” So here is my response. It’s a bit lengthy, but I hope you can endure it to the end. Feel free to save it in some form and read it at your leisure. (I apologize that some of the formatting seems to have been lost “in translation” between word processors!) I value and look forward to your feedback.
WHO NEEDS THEOLOGY? HOW THEOLOGY CAN BE USEFUL IN MINISTRY that he would leave his estate to whichever church could best answer his theological questions such as “Is it really necessary to be born again?” Sixty-plus ministers and lay people from various churches packed Goward’s living room in Pine City, Minnesota one beautiful Autumn day–all hoping to convince him that their theology is right and he should leave his money to their church. At last report Mr. Goward was not satisfied with any of the answers he received and is still trying to make up his mind about his legacy.
Somehow I don’t think this is what the Center for Ministry Effectiveness had in mind when it asked me to speak on the usefulness of theology for ministry. But, why not? You never know when theology might come in handy. Seriously, however, what I want to say to you today is that theology is more than useful–it is necessary for ministry . Without theology–correctly understood–ministry becomes little more than church administration and spiritual therapy–“ecclesiastical bean-counting” and “chicken soup for the church-going soul.” Now please don’t get me wrong–there’s nothing bad about church administration or spiritual therapy unless they are disconnected from theology. Any Christian function needs theology to be “thick” as opposed to thin . Shallowness, tediousness, futility follow all kinds of “ministry” devoid of theology just as theology disconnected from ministry leads to ivory-tower, academic speculation irrelevant to the needs of real people struggling with real life.
Before I explain why theology is more than useful and even necessary for good ministry, perhaps I should define these terms. It’s always helpful to know that we are on the same page and clear agreement on terms and concepts is indispensable to communication. So, please bear with me as I do my best to explain what I mean by “theology” and “ministry.
Karl Barth Eschatology - News
Twentieth century Swiss theologian Karl Barth said that the greatest danger to the gospel is not that people will reject it but that they will too easily accept it and make it respectable, placing it alongside all the other things they have themselves
Christianity Against Religion? | Storied Theology
I was ready to rage. I was ready to rebel. I had my black highlighter at hand.
“The Revelation of God as the Abolition of Religion,” the chapter title proclaimed.
All I could hear in my head was “Christianity is not a religion, it’s a relationship!” And I was not ready to hear this line endorsed by Karl Barth. I was thinking immediately of what the college religion professor would say: “Um, no, really: when people get together to worship God they are engaging in religious activity, participating in a religion, by definition.”
I was scared.
And then came one of the greatest chapters of theology I’ve read in years.
Barth begins by saying, Yes, of course. To affirm that God has spoken and acted within the sphere of humankind is to affirm that what we do as Christians is measurable and comparable with other religions. Because humans are involved, we as recipients of God’s revelation participate in a human phenomenon and this phenomenon has numerous parallels and analogies.
And yet, as always, Barth is keen to keep the revelation horse ahead of the religious cart. For Christians, the revelation of God must always indicate what sort of religion is faithful to God–distillation of religions in general will never point the way to what is holy and righteous and good about Christian faith.
And, importantly, the Christian religion will never be something that shows itself to be the epitome of what everyone else was always actually striving for all along. There is a resistance to apologetic here that keeps Barth’s discussion well grounded.
Having gotten through §17.1, I was about to let down my guard entirely when I read the title for §17.2: “Religion as Unbelief.” Uh oh, is the shoe going to drop now?
No so much.
Revelation singles out the Church as the locus of true religion. But this does not mean that the Christian religion as such is the fulfilled nature of human religion. It does not mean that the Christian religion is the true religion, fundamentally superior to all other religions. We can never stress too much the connection between the truth of the Christian religion and the grace of revelation. We have to give particular emphasis to the fact that the Church lives by grace, and to that extent it is the locus of true religion. (298)
Living by grace will mean living by the grace of God in Christ. There is a particular identity to the church as the grace people–an identity tied to the name Jesus Christ and the story of his life, death, and resurrection.
Karl Barth Eschatology - Bookshelf
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Karl Barth Eschatology
Karl Barth eschatology views Christ as the consummation of Israel. For Barth, hope is only real and realized in Christ.
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