It is not because am a Theologian but I insist that the senior pastor and the one in charge of doctrine and pulpit content at every fellowship must be a trained and called Theologian.
The Holy Spirit inspires existing capacity. The Holy Spirit is not like leaven that pumps space. The Holy Spirit is not a fertilizer, holy spirit is not a power but God himself and if God is gasoline, he needs an engine in place and once it is in place, diesel will not be inserted into a petrol engine and we expect by prayer and fasting that the engine to work.
Ministers without a theological training and without a calling should be assigned to other duties of their calling and potential.
I have also to mention that a theological training has nothing to do with one holding a degree in Theology as per transcript, many have these papers as an apology for their theological ignorance. Theology is way beyond just a paper. Many are theology graduates but have no idea what the Bible is about. Others are scholars and not pastors. In fact, there are many heathen and atheist scholars.
Again we must also understand that Theology is objective. Many have studied Subjective Theology (what your religion believes about God or believes God is saying) and have these papers of opinion as opposed to the proper Logos of the ultimate Theos. So what President Kagame is demanding for as a politician is politically right but in reality a huge beast that needs time and power to muster.
So we need to dwell on this matter and digest as well as dissect what exactly we mean when we say a pastor must have a Theology Degree.
And the only way we can do that is by concentrating on this book known as the BIBLE. Through and by it alone we will tell who a Theologian is (with or without a transcript).
But THEOLOGY is fundamentally important for anyone you consider to be a spiritual father/mother in life. You need a pastor who understands what the original languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) say. You need a Pastor who can exegete and analyze the text. You need a pastor who can dig the historical background of a passage and present a rationale of why all that happened to over 2000yrs ago has something to do with you today.
Your Biblical pastor must have that capacity, or else he should be serving in the choir or in the accounts office and leave the Bible alone. The Bible is a serious business that exclusively deals with eternal life and death matters. We cannot afford to shoot and then aim. We must aim now or never.
God has never used any illiterate for any serious mission. We have the Old Testament because of the educated and spirit-filled Moses and we have the New Testament because of the educated and spirit-filled Paul. It is not that those who have not studied Theology are banned from serving or actually using the Bible, but rather, that they should serve in particular offices they qualify for and use the Bible for other devotional and emotional reasons but not to construct and ordain FAITH.
I wonder why none of us, when sober, would allow anyone who is not a qualified lawyer to defend them in court. No one wants a riffraff kind of medical worker to handle their medical conditions, and none of us would a board a car whose driver is only filled by the Holy Spirit but doesn’t know how to drive. But we are comfortable in the hands of a Bible teacher who has never attended a Bible theological college?
LISTEN: If you are serious about your faith, you need an Evangelical Theologian and by evangelical, I mean a Pastor who uses the Bible to answer the four essential worldview questions. The rest are details.
Pr ITM White
The Gospel Hawker
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24) 