SBC Internships: A Possibility
I may not speak for all Southern Baptists but I believe that the autonomous nature of each church probably has led to an exclusion of an organized internship program. While SBC churches are of course, joined together, they are so joined less loosely then PCA churches. Also, with 40,000 churches, the sheer size of a mandatory internship program would be a challenge. Also, I'm pretty sure that at least some of the 16 million Southern Baptists would not be in favor of such a system, for one reason or another.
With that said, I think that a system like the PCA's would be beneficial. It is encouraging to note that in the next couple of years a seminary internship program will be a reality. SEBTS is partnering with several churches throughout the convention to establish a type of "3+1" education. The program is optional and will probably be selective, due to the number or churches participating. The seminarian will go to school for 3 years and then spend his last year on the field shadowing a pastor or staff member at a particpating church. The seminary is going to be very cautious about which churches particpate, and for good reason, as there is a greater deal of diversity among SBC churches than PCAs. I doubt that there 40,000 pastors who would be good role models for young pastors. I doubt 2,000 would be. With that said, I think the step the seminary is making is one in the right direction. But, because of the sheer size of the Convention, the autonomous nature of each church, and the lack of a cohesive theolgoy, an intership system probably will not be anywhere in the near future.
With that said, I think that a system like the PCA's would be beneficial. It is encouraging to note that in the next couple of years a seminary internship program will be a reality. SEBTS is partnering with several churches throughout the convention to establish a type of "3+1" education. The program is optional and will probably be selective, due to the number or churches participating. The seminarian will go to school for 3 years and then spend his last year on the field shadowing a pastor or staff member at a particpating church. The seminary is going to be very cautious about which churches particpate, and for good reason, as there is a greater deal of diversity among SBC churches than PCAs. I doubt that there 40,000 pastors who would be good role models for young pastors. I doubt 2,000 would be. With that said, I think the step the seminary is making is one in the right direction. But, because of the sheer size of the Convention, the autonomous nature of each church, and the lack of a cohesive theolgoy, an intership system probably will not be anywhere in the near future.
P.S. Drew, this "justification" is for you.
posted by Charlie Wallace at 6:37 PM
2 Comments:
Wow, that's a great program that Southeastern is starting! When did you hear about this? Any word on which churches would be selected?
Dr. Reid talked about it during one of our class sessions for Supervised Ministry. As of now, there are only a couple of churches that are willing to particapate. One is First Baptist Woodstock, GA and another is First Baptist Durham. He said they could probably send 10-15 students to Woodstock and a few to Durham. The issue is finding enough churches willing to participate and also finding churches who are good models for future pastors. Being that this may be a popular program, it'll probably be somewhat selective until they can get enough willing pastors and churches on board. The criteria for selection will not be based solely on GPA but more on eagerness to particiate, according to Dr. Reid...how one measures that I'm not sure.
Post a Comment
<< Home