Learn Basic Skills

The Lord gave His church one foundation, which consists of His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord (1 Cor. 3:11) and the teachings of prophets and the Apostles (Eph. 2:18-21). The apostles and prophets’ purpose were to equip the church with right doctrine. Once that foundation was laid for the church, God then gave the church pastors and teachers to equip it for effective ministry.

Just as Christ had specific leaders to train and equip His church, the U.S. military has drill sergeants to train and equip new soldiers for combat and military life.  The difference between the military and today’s church is that the military requires much more from their drill sergeants than the church does from its pastors and leaders.

“Drill Sergeants teach new recruits every aspect of Basic Combat Training—which means they have the great responsibility of shaping recruits into the best Soldiers in the world.”  (Drill Sergeant School)

The military only accepts the top 10% to become drill instructors. Before being accepted into the U.S. Army Drill Sergeant Academy (USADSA) located at the U.S. Army Training Center in Fort Jackson, S.C., these chosen few must fulfill certain requirements.  A few are listed below:

• They must obtain a commander’s evaluation by a lieutenant colonel or higher.
• Must have demonstrated leadership ability and potential, character, and ability to perform in stressful situations.
• Have no speech impediment.
• Display good military bearing (have good behavior).
• Drill sergeant candidates must hold the rank of E-5 through E-7.
• Sergeants must have at least one year of time in grade, have at least four years of active federal service and be a Basic Leader Course graduate.

Do you make the cut?

What is required to enter a seminary? 

• A pastoral recommendation. What pastor would hesitate to fill out a recommendation for a budding young pastor? The seminary doesn’t even know if the recommending pastor is actually called by God himself.

Unfortunately, these young men do not have to:

• demonstrate leadership ability and potential, character, or ability to be a spiritual leader.
• They may have no incidents of abuse for only being in their early twenties, but will they admit that they have moral issues with pornography or lack integrity?
• How about exaggerating the truth (lying)?  A case in point:  A young man I’ll call Steve, age 22, who had earned a B.A. from a prestigious university. 

• Have no speech impediment. Do you have to be a good speaker? I know of a pastor who has his doctorate in Expository Preaching, whatever that is.  Yet, this pastor is a horrendous orator.  When preaching he makes weird faces and hand gestures. When trying to sound intellectual or like a Puritan he stammers over his words.  He is difficult to watch and listen to because of his preaching antics. How he got a doctorate in preaching is beyond me, other than, since he was paying for his doctorate, perfecting good delivery skills didn’t matter?  He paid an institution for a degree in preaching. Since he was a paying customer, would they have told him that he was a rotten speaker? (I’m glad our family doctor had to prove that he could do his job before he got his doctorate.)  So, a person must not have to be a good communicator to graduate from seminary.  

• A potential seminarian does not have to prove good bearing (good behavior) to the school.   One seminary I reviewed required their candidates to submit a spiritual autobiography that was made up of three sections: 1) their understanding of the gospel, 2) their conversion and spiritual growth, and 3) their call to ministry and reason for applying.  All topics are very subjective and there is no mention of the biblical requirements for leadership.

As mentioned before, a drill sergeant candidate must be a proven leader and hold the rank of E-5 through E-7 for at least one year time in grade. They must also have at least four years of active service and be a Basic Leader Course graduate, among a long list of other qualifications.  While drill sergeant candidates have to prove that they are leaders, potential seminarians do not.

• No proof is required of his leadership background, or if he has been practicing the biblical qualifications for church elders/pastors.  All the future seminarian must do is submit his spiritual autobiography. 

• Undergo a thorough background screening? Not required for a seminary candidate or graduate to prove if they are biblically qualified. The school just assumes they are because they have been “called by God” and have a college degree.

When I asked a young pastor of 26 how long he had been in the ministry, this pastoral prodigy told me 13 years.  And then he told me that Timothy was a young man. (Read my blog ARTICLE, as to how old Timothy probably was “Let No One Despise You for Your Youth“) I guess he’s including the years when he was in his youth group!

Instead of being honest, young seminarians and pastors feel the need to puff up their Christian credentials to give themselves validity.  While our military only takes the proven top ten percent to be drill sergeants, seminaries will accept any person who says he has a “calling from God” to be a pastor.  No proof required.  Is there a wonder why the church is in such a state of confusion?  Its foundations are no longer the scriptural requirements of Titus 1:5-9, 1 Tim. 3:1-7 or 1 Pet. 5:1-4, but a subjective “calling from God”.

Have you heard anybody say, “I just want Christ, not doctrine” or “Don’t give me doctrine, I just want to follow Jesus.”? What is it about the word doctrine that rubs people the wrong way?

Sadly, the Christian church has this same view!  “We want a seminary graduate, not doctrine!” “Don’t give us doctrine, just pick us a seminary graduate!”

Most Christians, as well as many pastors, obviously don’t know their fundamental Bible doctrine regarding biblical leadership. They’ve never thought to study God’s Word to find out that there is Scripture regarding how to choose pastors and elders. Some pastors will avoid teaching about biblical leadership to their congregations for one reason or another.

An excerpt from “Got Questions:”

“Biblical doctrine helps us understand God’s will for our lives. It teaches us the nature and the character of God (Psalm 90:2; 97:2; John 4:24), the path of salvation through faith (Ephesians 2:8–9; Romans 10:9–10), instruction for the church (1 Corinthians 14:26; Titus 2:1–10), and God’s standard of holiness for our lives (1 Peter 1:14–17; 1 Corinthians 6:18–20).

“However, the Bible is not always the foundation upon which people or churches build their doctrine. Our sinful nature does not readily submit to God’s decrees, so we often pick and choose the parts of the Bible we are comfortable with and discard the rest. Or we replace what God says with a man-made doctrine or tradition. This is nothing new. Jesus rebuked the scribes and Pharisees for ‘teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’ (Mark 7:7, ESV; cf. Isaiah 29:13). False doctrine was rampant in New Testament times, and the Scriptures tell us it will continue (Matthew 7:15; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 4:1). 2 Timothy 4:3 says, ‘For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.’

“The Bible gives stern warning to those who would teach false or incomplete doctrine simply because it is more compatible with man’s ideas. 1Timothy 6:3–4 says, ‘If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.’ The apostle Paul wrote harsh words about perverting the gospel with false doctrine: ‘Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!’ (Galatians 1:7–9).

“Doctrine is the worldview by which we govern our lives. If our doctrine is based soundly upon Scripture, we can know we are walking in the path God designed for us. However, if we do not study the Word of God for ourselves (2 Timothy 2:15), we are led more easily into error. Although there are a variety of minor issues upon which Christians disagree, correct doctrine is clearer than many imply. 2 Peter 1:20 says that ‘no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation.’ There is a right interpretation of everything God says, and it is our job to discern that meaning, not create an interpretation to suit our tastes. God wants us to know His heart and has given us His Word upon which we can build godly lives (see Matthew 7:24). The more we study true doctrine, the more we understand God and ourselves”.

(What is doctrine?)

There is specific biblical doctrine regarding church government and how pastors and elders should be chosen. However, since most churches are based on denominational structure rather than a biblical one, they’ve come up with their own traditions in hiring pastors and leaders. Because churches don’t train up their own leaders; they have to shop for them from a seminary. Their attitude is “It’s the way we’ve always done it!” or “That’s the way other churches do it!” They hire men they know nothing about. I’ve even heard of new seminary graduates taking pastoral jobs knowing they have different theological views from the church hiring them. They try to keep their ideology to themselves, but this is dishonest.  Wanting to get their foot in the door to be a pastor, they are willing to put aside their integrity and hope that the church doesn’t find out about their differences.  The spiritual battle is in the church’s own ranks.  

Back to Basics = stressing simplicity and adherence to fundamental principles.

One of the primary purposes of churchfm316 is to bring the Christian church back to the basics of God’s Word in choosing biblically qualified leadership. Pastors aren’t following their biblical directive in helping to identify and raise up future leaders in and for their church.  Churchfm316 will address what a biblical leader is according to God’s Word.

By Rob Robbins, March 2020, churchfm316.com

Editing and Proofreading by Laura Robbins