Theological Education: the Next Battlefield

Posted on October 20, 2009 
Filed under Opinion

Mark Thompson, Academic Dean of Moore College and also President of the ACL, writes about a challenge we need to be aware of –

“Strategic thinking, generous support and courageous initiatives are needed now.”

It should come as a surprise to no-one that theological education has emerged as a new battleground in the war against liberal revisionism. The leaders of liberal churches such as The Episcopal Church in America, reeling at the resistance their program of revision has encountered from the Global South and conservative elements in the West, have embarked on an ambitious plan to win the long term struggle by taking charge of the agenda for Anglican theological education and infiltrating seminaries in the two-thirds world.  

We sometimes underestimate the determination of these forces to win. For them it is a gospel issue: they believe they have uncovered the heart of the Christian gospel and they have put all their resources behind ensuring that their version of the gospel prevails. The inclusion of all people in the unfolding kingdom of God, irrespective of belief and irrespective of behaviour, must replace the ancient gospel of faith and repentance flowing out of the incomparable mercy of God in Jesus Christ, the only saviour and the propitiation for our sins. Millions of dollars have already been spent to get their people on the ground and to finance programs of ‘re-education’. There is not the slightest sign that they intend to give up any time soon.

The sad thing is that this challenge to the long-term progress of the gospel comes at just a time when some in the West are questioning the value of a theological education, especially the kind of rigorous theological education that has nourished the evangelical witness of this diocese. It’s so expensive, it’s so resource intensive, it’s so dislocating — after all men and women leave ministries to go into College in order to train for ministry. And the results are not uniformly encouraging. Perhaps we can do without it and just let people get on with the job.

Yet what the churches of the mid-twenty-first century will need, both in the two-thirds world and in the West, is pastors and teachers who are deeply shaped by the word of God, who are able to bring the teaching of Scripture to bear on the new problems that will be faced then, and who have a depth of perspective that comes from serious engagement with two thousand years of faithful and thoughtful conversation about the teaching of Scripture. They will need leaders who are not tossed around by every new idea, technique or personality but who are able to make theologically-informed decisions, decisions which will bear lasting fruit for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We need to be alert to this new challenge. If we do not give ourselves to passing on the gospel of sins forgiven and eternal life in Christ alone to the next generation of pastors and teachers and the congregations in their care, then be assured others will pass on a gospel of their own. Too often and in so many areas, liberalism wins because evangelicals have not even entered the field. But this time the stakes are incredibly high. Strategic thinking, generous support and courageous initiatives are needed now. Even a year from now may be too late.

– Mark Thompson wrote this article for the October 2009 issue of The Australian Church Record.