Lausanne World Pulse – Themed Articles – Facing the Empire: Trends in Ministry Formation

By Ron Fraser

Sadly, the West’s story—that “enlightened” people have outgrown their need for God—has led to what historian Andrew Walls calls the “largest and fastest recession in Christian history.”

“Change” is not the first thing a person associates with education. Words like “tenure,” or pictures of ivy-covered stone structures designed to keep threats to privilege from rushing in, are more likely the first picture we have in our minds. As the purveyor of treasures of “wisdom” to the young, we can perhaps justify a sense of permanence.

It is, however, the growing array of questions surrounding what those treasures are, and how they are being passed on, that begs us to “situate” the contemporary educational enterprise, inscribed as it is within a veritable Empire of Enlightenment rationalism (hereafter referred to as “Empire”). These questions become particularly poignant as they relate to Christian ministry formation, the task of entrusting faith to faithful people, to be distinguished from much contemporary “Christian higher education.”

Jesus’ Idea of Ministry Formation
The first picture of ministry formation in the Christian story is that of Jesus inviting twelve apprentices: “Drop everything! Follow me!” They did! He showed them how to pray, how to live authentically out of the presence and promise of God’s kingdom, and how to interpret the story they were in. He gave them practice in announcing the good news by sending them out two by two with virtually only their encounter with him. Through Jesus’ storytelling, the apprentices learned that following Jesus was a reflective adventure in living and relating in revolutionary ways. They learned the pulse of Jesus’ heart, loving obedience through his modeling, and the intimate bonds of comaraderie. They did not “go to school”; their learning “arrived” in the midst of their life together. Ministry formation was relational to the core!

Jesus’ disciples were called to respond, not just to exercise intellect. And yet, even under the best educator who ever lived, they did not always get it right. This is a sobering reminder that “learning” is more than “teaching.” But seeds were planted, which sprang to life after the resurrection.

Paul, with apprentices beside him, provides a similar picture of building into others the living realities of God’s presence in loving service. He, too, illustrates a well-established practice of ministry formation as apprenticeship.

Ron Fraser has served as president of Alberta Bible College in Calgary, Canada, for the past twenty-three years. Prior to this, he served as a pastor, public high school teacher and college instructor. He is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Alberta, where his research interest has to do with understanding pedagogies that are appropriate to nurturing robust human and spiritual relationships, particularly in theological education.