Do missionaries have to have a seminary degree? My fiancee said although it is good to have one, it could also be good to not have one. You could be sent to a very dangerous country where the authorities could investigate your background and find that you have a seminary degree and it could cost you your life.

So how about it? Do missionaries have to have a seminary degree? Or is some biblical training (like a certificate in Christian studies) and a trade/skill/talent, etc. sufficient?

Some missionaries aren't required to be seminary graduates. Just as an example, New Tribes Missions has a 2-year training program for their missionaries, which includes biblical training and cultural education. Is that enough? Personally, I would think it would depend on the role the missionary is to 'play' in his chosen field. If they are missionaries that perform functions such as building church buildings, helping other missionaries, flying in supplies, and that kind of thing, that kind of education may be just right. But, if they are missionaries that are taking on pastoral/elder leadership positions in newly founded churches, I would think that it would be best if they got more training in the Bible and other areas of being a pastor.

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Bob Howes
Framingham, MA

A reoccurring thought:

Rev 22:20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

In the SBC we have full-time missonaries that have to have an M.Div, M.A.C.E. etc. if they are working in ministries that deem such degrees as necessary. There are MANY other ministry opportunites afforded to those who do not have seminary degrees or no degree at all, depending on the skills required.

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Ivan Schoen, Pastor * Maranatha Baptist Church, Poplar Grove, IL * http://maranatha-sbc.org/

"I want to assist churches and to assist pastors in training pastors. But, after fourteen years of service in this capacity, I am absolutely certain that the finest theological seminary on earth is absolutely incompetent at replicating the actual life of a Gospel congregation. I want to train a generation of pastors who will train pastors, and I want to help them in that task." --- Dr. R. Albert Mohler, President of THE Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY

Thanks guys. I checked out that link. It was interesting but I couldn't find anything about how much it costs. I'm sure it has to have some cost.

Here you go, Brian.....

http://www.ntbi.org/admissions/costs.php

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Ivan Schoen, Pastor * Maranatha Baptist Church, Poplar Grove, IL * http://maranatha-sbc.org/

"I want to assist churches and to assist pastors in training pastors. But, after fourteen years of service in this capacity, I am absolutely certain that the finest theological seminary on earth is absolutely incompetent at replicating the actual life of a Gospel congregation. I want to train a generation of pastors who will train pastors, and I want to help them in that task." --- Dr. R. Albert Mohler, President of THE Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY

Click on Semester Fees

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Gerry Winebrenner
member Christ Presbyterian Church (OPC)
Janesville WI

Psalm 95:6-7
Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

Hey Gerry! Great minds think alike....

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Ivan Schoen, Pastor * Maranatha Baptist Church, Poplar Grove, IL * http://maranatha-sbc.org/

"I want to assist churches and to assist pastors in training pastors. But, after fourteen years of service in this capacity, I am absolutely certain that the finest theological seminary on earth is absolutely incompetent at replicating the actual life of a Gospel congregation. I want to train a generation of pastors who will train pastors, and I want to help them in that task." --- Dr. R. Albert Mohler, President of THE Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY

LOL thank you very much.

Mission to the World, the PCA's mission board only requries those involved in a direct pastoral role to be ordained, ergo MDiv. Support personnel involved in church planting but not in a preaching/teaching role are not required to have an MDiv.

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David Kicklighter
East Lanier Community Church (PCA)
Buford, GA

That's cool. Thanks. Many times I've had it on my heart to be a radio missionary. I have no Bible college experience and no radio "training" though I have had my own radio show at the university station.

Don't lower yourself to my level, Ivan.

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Gerry Winebrenner
member Christ Presbyterian Church (OPC)
Janesville WI

Psalm 95:6-7
Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

Missionaries to closed countries often do not advertize their training.

Many missionaries have "dual" educations (e.g., I am a registered nurse and am ___ trained as well as a minister). When going into a hostile country they attain their visa by way of the secular education. U2U me for more details.



I do have one comment that some might disagree with - which is why I am posting it (to stir the pot and shake people out of some of our established Western "traditions" of how mission work ought to be done):




I know several men from India who are Reformed missionaries cross-culturally to their own country. India is diverse and these men feel a burden for the other people groups (such as those in Nagpur, Uttar Pradesh and the NE)...truly another culture, even if within the same national boundaries.

Ministering to very poor people and away from their home churches, these sound, solid missionaries needed considerable support (which came from the US).

Because they were reformed, however, they were squeezed into the US Reformed mold.

Before many US reformed churches would support them, they were required to raise the funds, travel to the US, spend 4 years in seminary (one went to Covenant and one to RTS) and then go back to India to minister in his own country cross-culturally as a missionary with US support.

In other words, they stopped their vital ministries in order to pursue and American education in order to minister in a country in which they grew up in - all in order to meet some perceived neccessity placed on them by American churches who were controlling the purse strings.


I think our Western "hoops" often get in the way of Gospel work!

__________________
Pergamum


"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone

That's the problem with purse strings. Its also the problem with the fact that those fellows wanted the affliation as bad as they did. I prefer the model that seeks immediately to establish indigenous seminaries. Our missionaries can staff them to start with, and train a generation of gospel preachers. And afterward, they can take the reins and propagate. But you have to have men that can handle the Word aright.

Our church supports a missionary, an mk, born in _____ (or at least raised all his life there), married to a national, not seminary trained as far as I know, labors as an elder (a layman!) and works on reformed church plants.

Now that's a good idea...

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Rev. Bruce G. Buchanan
ChainOLakes Presbyterian Church, CentralLake, MI


When posting friends, kindly bear those words of earthly wisdom in mind:
Oh, that God the gift would give us
To see ourselves as others see us.
--Robert Burns, 1786 (modernized) ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions? --

Amen Bruce!

We should establish self-reproducing churches and then step out of the picture and let them have at it (since they also have the Holy Spirit, too).

Too many times we hang on and do not properly disciple nationals and then they get dependant on us. We treat them like half-brothers in Christ and they never "OWN" the work in many places in the world.

...TAKE THE REINS AND PROPOGATE!!! I like what I'm hearing.

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Pergamum


"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone

Allen's Missionary Methods: Saint Paul's or Ours? is very much along the lines of what Trevor and Bruce are saying.

__________________
Ruben
Moderator
F.P.C.I.
Indiana

Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness. -George Orwell

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

Calvinistas Conversando - Reformed Discussion Board in Spanish.

Spanish Blog -Teologia en Mexico
English Blog -The Howling Wilderness

:P

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Ivan Schoen, Pastor * Maranatha Baptist Church, Poplar Grove, IL * http://maranatha-sbc.org/

"I want to assist churches and to assist pastors in training pastors. But, after fourteen years of service in this capacity, I am absolutely certain that the finest theological seminary on earth is absolutely incompetent at replicating the actual life of a Gospel congregation. I want to train a generation of pastors who will train pastors, and I want to help them in that task." --- Dr. R. Albert Mohler, President of THE Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY

Many mission agencies are beginning to agree more with Roland Allen's book...praise God.

Not only the Motivation for Missions should be stressed among Christians but also the Methodology. In recent years, a greater carefulness in methodology seems to be on the rise.

__________________
Pergamum


"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone