I’m often asked by students to serve as a reference when they begin to get their resumes in order and start searching for ministry placement. I’m always happy to do so for those whom I’ve gotten to know and have been responsible in their work. I’m always surprised at the few who’ve never taken a class with me, haven’t had two-minutes’ worth of conversation, or have been less than stellar in their performance who ask me to be a reference. Is it chutzpa or something else, I always wonder? For those few, my usual comment is, “Oh, thanks for asking, but I can’t do that.” Most leave it there, only one has asked why not, and I had to tell him.
Yesterday I received a phone call from a local church pastor who called me as a reference to a student. They were looking for the elusive youth-and-children’s program staff member for their church–a position every third church in the country seems to be looking to fill, given the current dearth of children’s ministers and specialists. The student in question had some experience in youth ministry, but not in children’s work. I was able to give the student a positive recommendation, he was personable, mature for his age, did responsible work in class, worked well with his peers, is intelligent, and most importantly, had some experience in the local church.
Most people who call for references seem easily satisfied with general and benign feedback on potential candidates like the one I gave. But this pastor took the opportunity to vent his frustration about church program staff. He shared the frustrating experience he’d had with the previous two persons who occupied that position, and ended by expressing his frustration that the seminary was not cranking out experienced youth and children’s ministry staff.
Since he opened the door to making the conversation about something other than a reference call, I thought it o.k. to take the opportunity to do some “educating” of my own. I told him what I usually tell churches about young seminarians: “His/her only limitation is inexperience and a lack of maturity given their age. But this is the kind of person whom, if your church invests in their growth and development, within five years you’ll have a stellar staff member whom other churches will be trying to steal from you.”
The fact is that seminaries cannot turn out “experienced” and veteran staff members. Unless the student has come to seminary having spend time working in the congregational setting, what you’re going to get is a “seminarian.” Here’s the truth: the formation of the minister does not happen in seminary—it happens in the congregation. Seminaries can help shape good students’ persons who can think critically, theologically, who know the texts and corpus of their professional field, who can handle the biblical text responsibly, who learn important things about congregations, ministry, people, etc. But the shaping of the minister is the job of the congregation, and they need to take responsibility for that.
Simply put, you don’t learn to be a minister (or a good youth or children’s staff minister) in seminary. You learn that in the context and through the experience of doing the work in the church. I think congregations are wise to chose seminary-trained pastors and ministry staff for their congregations. But they cannot abdicate their responsibility in helping to shape the kinds of ministers they want as their leaders. So, do call our graduates. Invest in them, given them time to grow with you, treat them well and you’ll reap what you sow. Treat them poorly and you get on my list of churches to whom I will not recommend our best students—or any other, for that matter.
“It’s always darkest before dawn. So if you’re going to steal your neighbor’s newspaper, that’s the time to do it.”
