Tuesday, July 29, 2008

The PCA no longer wants new Ministers

In an interesting move, PCA general assembly headquarters in Atlanta released a statement today declaring, "They are no longer interested in ordaining new candidates". The move was unexpected and took a number of people by surprise.

One parishioner in rural Tennessee was overheard by a local pastor saying, "Good, all these kids going off to seminary wantin' to be changin' things won't be able to now".

A middle age pastor in Jackson, MS said to the local paper, "We have began implementing a policy that will make it next to impossible for anyone to get ordained. The only real chance you have is if you are transferring in from a sister denomination or have a rich father paying your way through seminary."

When an Atlanta official was asked about seminary, he said, "We will continue to operate our denominational seminary [Covenant] and encourage our churches to support local seminaries like RTS and CIU. The difference will be that these institutions will exist solely to make money and tease young men with the idea that they will be able to move towards ordination. They will be so heinously expensive, that we will really only cater to the rich."

It seems oligarchy was all the rage as established pastors throughout the denomination tipped back over-priced glasses of champagne with their wives; smiling and knowing they were on the inside.

All the fuss boils down to two policies: High seminary costs, and low support for seminarians.

5 comments:

d. paul collette said...

So, what's that mean for you?

(Also, sorry we missed your shower. A had a couple of shifts out of town and so covering my night was pretty hard. Keep us up to date on how Conner's doing :) )

Justin Woodall said...

Dan,

This was post was meant to be terribly sarcastic...

It means nothing. Just venting at the way we have decided to groom the leaders of the church.

d. paul collette said...

Ah, hah. The fine art of sarcasim escapes my quick mind once again. ;)

So, I guess you won't have to go PCUSA to get a church, eh?

Rich Van Voorst said...

He He! Wow! Time for us to start a pub-church...The Abbey?

Anonymous said...

Justin,

I bet you didn't know that you can get ordained for free right here...

http://www.universalministries.com/doctrine.html

sucks for you man. seminary for me was crazy expensive and we had no support from the church. thankfully, the university had almost $18,000 worth of scholarships for north americans training for ministry. otherwise i would've been stuck. if you need me to pay for your burrito next week to ease the cost..just let me know