A common complaint among churches is the dearth of candidates for the pastoral ministry.
A recent article contrasted two approaches: selecting men and challenging them to consider this calling, and praying, preaching and leaving it to men to hear God’s call. Actually there need be no conflict between these two approaches; both have been effective. In times of spiritual awakening, under powerful ministry, many more men hear the call than in less fruitful times.
It is my conviction that more could be done to train men in the local church, and this has been borne out in experience. This is not to despise or disregard the excellent work done by Bible Colleges and seminaries. For many men this is the only feasible route as their local church and/or minister are not suitable for training locally. Also a college may be necessary if high academic attainments are required. But is that what we are lacking? There seem to be loads of PhDs around but a shortage of godly pastors. Ideally the local church should be able to train men. Colleges often lack the personal touch which is vital for training men effectively, and the fact that the local church is the best place to learn about pastoral work is borne out by the way in which colleges go to great lengths to see that men get opportunities of preaching and working in local churches for practical experience.
