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Dear friends,

In my role as principal of a theological college, people often tell me what they think it is that future ministers in the church should be learning.

In this time of change for the church, there is no shortage of good ideas, and we listen carefully to all the suggestions we receive. As I reflect on another year of forming people for ministry at the college, I’ve begun to realize the emphasis we place on three competencies in our students.

First, a skill. We want our graduates to be able to preach excellent sermons, lead compelling worship, and offer leadership to the congregation and community of faith they serve. But no matter how much time we have, we would never be able to teach students everything they need to thrive in ministry. That’s why I repeatedly say the most important skill they can learn is to recognize when they should ask for help. Ministry, like life, brings many challenges we cannot meet by ourselves. But if we can ask for help and work with others, we may be able to meet them. I try to model this for students. There are many parts of my job that I was never trained for, and I find I am constantly asking others for help.

Second, an imagination. Our students spend a great deal of time learning about our shared Christian tradition in the classroom. But the goal of this learning shouldn’t simply be to fill one’s head with important dates or determine who wrote the letter to the Ephesians; instead, it is to develop a theological imagination that allows ministry to be done in dialogue with the tradition we inherit and the contexts in which we serve. By imagination I don’t mean making things up or living solely in our heads, our imaginations are developed through our experience as embodied creatures drawn to beauty, love, and relationship. We experience God not simply in our minds but in our lived experience as human beings. That experience turns us to wonder and awe at the majesty of what God has done. I want students to integrate this into a coherent imagination for the new contexts in which they will minister.

Finally, a question. Our inherited model of church, based on a single, professionally trained and fully compensated clergy person serving a single congregation is under significant strain. It is helpful to remember that this model has had a relatively short place in the 2000-year history of the church. Part of our role today is to innovate new ways of being together as followers in the way of Jesus. The question I want students asking as they consider ministry is this: what is the church for, now? The church is more than a group of people dedicated to keeping a building open. It is a community that gathers to pray, worship, and sing together, to read Scripture, and to offer themselves in service to the world. What this looks like will differ in different contexts, but keeping this question at the forefront of our minds helps us navigate this period of change and transition. The answers may differ from those of the past, but with well-tuned imaginations and a willingness to ask for help, I have no doubt our students are being prepared to offer leadership as we grow into the new forms of church God is calling us to.

Faithfully yours in Christ,

The Rev. Dr. Jesse Zink
Principal