How Do PhDs Serve the Local Church?
Theological education and doctrinal formation are at the heart of healthy ministries and healthy churches. In our present series of articles, we have asked Dr Davy Ellison, Director of Training at the Irish Baptist College, to answer some key questions about how we think and develop theologically, and what we should be thinking about in regard to theological education. In this final instalment, we ask Davy about why PhDs matter in local church life:
The local church should care about Christians and pastors attaining terminal degrees. For many, postgraduate study can appear to be a safe retreat from the coalface of real-life ministry into the relative safety of the ivory tower. But ministry and study should never be divorced. Rather, further study can enrich ministry if approached correctly. My answer, then, to the question of ‘How Do PhDs Serve the Local Church?’ is fivefold. While it is in no way definitive, I trust it will be profitably provoking.
PhDs Develop Careful Students
PhDs are the pinnacle of university studies. To be awarded a PhD is to be acknowledged as a careful student. Doctoral study demands an ability to research, the capacity to think long and deeply about a focused area of study, and skill in articulating complicated arguments both verbally and in writing. It is very difficult to gain a PhD without being a careful student.
The difference this makes to the local church is not experienced in long sermons full of Greek and Hebrew grammar lessons. Nor is it discovered in midweek meetings combing through the dusty Latin tomes of a medieval mystic. It is felt in the clarity a well-trained pastor can reach when he applies his research methodology, cognitive stamina and lucid communication skills to his sermon preparation.
PhDs Develop Perseverance
PhDs are not awarded to the smartest people; they are awarded to the most determined. Obviously, there is a base level of academic ability necessary to enrol in and complete a doctoral programme, but those who finish the programme are rarely the most brilliant minds; they tend to be the most diligent characters. This is especially the case for part-time PhD students—the ability to plod and to persevere is imperative.
Such a trait is equally vital for the Christian life. The local church does not need impulsive people chasing the next trend. We need steady Christians committed to the long haul, committed to a project—even when the end is not in sight. Undertaking PhD study—in any subject—develops this character trait. The same is true of pastoral ministry. We need pastors who persevere. Little by little, day by day, year by year, moving almost imperceptibly slowly towards the finish line.
PhDs Develop Future Teachers
PhDs are one avenue through which respected practitioners can be qualified to teach future generations. It is not the only way, and may not be the best way, but it is a clear pathway for those who have fulfilled their ministry to gain the academic credibility necessary to teach future generations of gospel workers in formal environments.
None of us want ivory tower academics who have no ministry experience to be teaching our future pastors, missionaries and gospel workers. We want those who have been in the trenches to make it back to the training ground in order to prepare students for what it really looks like to be at war with the roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8). But not every practitioner is able to communicate clearly what they know. The rigour of PhD study enables a practitioner to develop the skills necessary to teach.
PhDs Produce Contributions to Scholarship
It seems to me that it takes about 40 years for scholarly discussion to influence popular material. If my observation is correct, consider the state of theology in 50 years from today if no evangelical Christians engage in PhD study and post-doctoral publishing. If conservative evangelical Christians are going to continue to influence the scholarly discussion—or, even more ambitiously, dominate it—then we must be engaging in doctoral-level study.
This is one of the difficulties local churches have in seeing the benefit of their pastor pursuing a PhD. The benefit will not always be immediately apparent, but it might be part of defending the gospel in a generation from now. It is a long game strategy.
PhDs Prepare People to Publish
The ordeal of doctoral study prepares people to publish. In addition to the study skills accumulated, the character developed and the opportunities afforded, PhDs also introduce students to a world of critique—claim and counter claim, quibble and justification, ambiguity and clarification. All of which is necessary in the world of publishing.
Aspiring writers need to craft a compelling project and articulate it passionately. They must also evolve the project willingly and address changes charitably. The PhD journey prepares people for this. It also develops an instinct for gaps in the market and confidence to address them. All of which benefits local churches whenever PhDs publish.
These five answers can be summarised as character and competency: PhDs benefit the local church as they are used by God to build these qualities. This has been my experience as a doctoral student, who now attempts to keep one foot in the academe and another in the church. I will resist every effort to divorce these because together they are a potent mixture for furnishing the church with careful students who persevere in order to teach and contribute for the sake of the local church in coming generations.
Davy Ellison (PhD, Queen’s University, Belfast) serves as Director of Training for the Irish Baptist College. He is an elder in Antrim Baptist Church, and is the author of several books. Davy is currently writing a volume on conversion as part of our A People on Purpose series.