Stuttering and the Ministry of the Word

[WAWICRUZ]

Can a stutterer be a minister of the Word?

How much import must we place on a person's natural abilities?

 

[AThornquist]

Yes. This won't always be the case, but there are several people I know who stutter or have a speech impediment but are very effective communicators when preaching the Word in the Spirit. If someone truly could not communicate in any circumstance well because of a speech issue, I'm not sure why that person would think he is gifted for the ministry. How could he "be able to teach?"

 

[Marrow Man]

I was on a pastoral search committee once where the man we were observing (an ordained minister) was a stutterer.

 

[WAWICRUZ]

I was on a pastoral search committee once where the man we were observing (an ordained minister) was a stutterer.

How did it go, Tim?

 

[Scottish Lass]

Moses and Aaron come to mind...

 

[WAWICRUZ]

According to Edmund P. Clowney in 'Called to Ministry,' p. 61:

They are all a measure of faith. A man's "natural gifts" cannot add up to a probability that he should choose the ministry. God has chosen the weak and foolish, not the mighty and wise, so that it might be quite clear that he alone is the Saviour. If you are a gifted speaker you should be effective as a lawyer or a salesman, but nothing can be said about your effectiveness as a preacher. The glib confidence of a ready tongue may be the very pride that bars you from the ministry. Not one of the apostles was an orator. If God calls you to speak for him, the speaking will be made possible. As God said to Moses when he protested his inarticulateness—"Who made man's mouth?" (Ex. 4:11)

 

[Marrow Man]

Quote Originally Posted by Marrow Man View Post
I was on a pastoral search committee once where the man we were observing (an ordained minister) was a stutterer.
How did it go, Tim?

We didn't call him as pastor.

It wasn't bad, certainly, but the stuttering was distracting.

 

[WAWICRUZ]

Quote Originally Posted by Marrow Man View Post
I was on a pastoral search committee once where the man we were observing (an ordained minister) was a stutterer.
How did it go, Tim?

We didn't call him as pastor.

It wasn't bad, certainly, but the stuttering was distracting.

It really does matter, eh?

Perhaps only those with no choice would go for a stutterer.

 

[jayce475]

Not sure if I'm on topic, but stuttering in many people can be very effectively managed, or even treated. And of course, not everyone's severity is the same.

 

[Marrow Man]

That's a good point, Jason. Actually, now that I think about it, we listened to a taped sermon of the pastor before we went to hear him in person. I never noticed the stuttering on tape, and it was only because he disclosed it to us in advance that we knew about it. But the "trial sermon" was a different beast, and it was obvious that he was more nervous in that situation. If he were called to a church and was comfortable with the congregation, the stutter might not have even been noticeable.

 

[WAWICRUZ]

I was just wondering if the truth that God uses the "underdogs" can be over-romanticized, especially in the area of weaknesses such as stuttering.

I wonder because I'm a stutterer myself.

 

[LawrenceU]

Warren, if God has called a man to preach his word then any 'disabilities' that he has are a part of what God will use in his working through him. Oratorical skill is not what qualifies a man to preach any more than a high IQ qualifies a man to build nuclear weapons. If anything a man with merely a high IQ is more qualified to build the weapons than a man with merely oratorical ability preaching the Gospel.

I will say this, it will keep a man praying! (I know this from first-hand experience )

 

[Ivan]

There is a Southern Baptist evangelist by the name of David Ring who was born with Cerebral Palsy. Here's a link that gives a bit of info on him and, if you stay long enough on the page, you will here a message by him.

Evangelist David Ring : Summer Grove Baptist Church

Here is a book on his life:

Amazon.com: Just As I Am: The Life of David Ring (9780802417336): David Ring: Books

 

[Rev. Todd Ruddell]

Although I never heard him preach myself, I have been told by a reliable source that Dr. William Young preached with a stutter. The Lord was pleased to use him in the pulpit for many years.

 

[WAWICRUZ]

The movie, "The King's Speech," seems to indicate that God may also use the weak things of the world in the realm of common grace.

King George VI rocked.

 

[lynnie]

Dr Clair Davis was an elder at my old PCA before we moved and a WTS prof. Must be retired now. He had some sort of very noticable speech problem but you could listen to him preach and teach all day long. Wisdom, love, warmth, humor, scripture...they didn't come any better than C.D.

 

[goodnews]

I was just wondering if the truth that God uses the "underdogs" can be over-romanticized, especially in the area of weaknesses such as stuttering.

I wonder because I'm a stutterer myself.

Warren - I can think of two very prominent men in the ARP who have mild/moderate speech impairments. Both are men of high integrity and are both have developed a large frame of reference in the areas of theology and church history (both are ordained although only one has ever served as a pastor as far as I know). As a result, I don't even notice their impairments anymore, rather, I just hear the wisdom they espouse. If you're called to serve in the ministry God will make you effective, you might just have to work a little harder. But hey, that's probably a good thing in the long run, right?

 

[markkoller]

Godliness and the ability to rightly divide the Word are not defined by the quality of voice. A man weak of body and voice could possess an abundance of fruits to feed the soul.

Mostly it speaks volumes about our shallowness that we cannot be fed by men with weaker voices. If our hearts were truly desirous of the Word we would be willing to listen and we would know that God can speak through donkies if He so desires.

---------- Post added at 04:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:18 PM ----------

I read the following from Charles Spurgeon many years ago and was a little disappointed. I really like Spurgeon, but I disagree with his advice to his students here:

Physical infirmities raise a question about the call of some excellent men. I would not, like Eusthenes, judge men by their features, but their general physique is no small criterion. That narrow chest does not indicate a man formed for public speech. You may think it odd, but still I feel very well assured, that when a man has a contracted chest, with no distance between his shoulders, the all-wise Creator did not intend him habitually to preach. If he had meant him to speak he would have given him in some measure breadth of chest sufficient to yield a reasonable amount of lung force. When the Lord means a creature to run, he gives it nimble legs, and if he means another creature to preach, he will give it suitable lungs. A brother who has to pause in the middle of a sentence and work his air-pump, should ask himself whether there is not some other occupation for which he is better adapted. A man who can scarcely get through a sentence without pain, can hardly be called to "Cry aloud and spare not." There may be exceptions, but is there not weight in the general rule? Brethren with defective mouths and imperfect articulation are not usually called to preach the gospel. The same applies to brethren with no palate, or an imperfect one.

 

[WAWICRUZ]

I think it's wonderful that God would choose a stutterer in Moses to be the chief mediator of the Old Covenant. He has a soft spot for the "underdogs."

Initially, it seems Moses had Aaron do all the talking, but it appears he assumed much of the speaking role down the line.

 

[jayce475]

There may be exceptions, but is there not weight in the general rule? Brethren with defective mouths and imperfect articulation are not usually called to preach the gospel. The same applies to brethren with no palate, or an imperfect one.

There is a sense in which I do agree with Spurgeon. If one's articulation/speech/language/fluency problems are so severe that unfamiliar listeners are not able to understand majority of what he is saying, he is better off serving the Lord in other areas. But if it's about a lisp, a minor stutter, or a foreign accent for that matter, I don't see as much of an issue. Suppose a pastor has a stroke/dementia/Parkinson's disease and the sequelae are such that he is no longer able to read, write or speak at a functional level, it is probably the Lord's will that he no longer pastors the church.

So yeah, it kind of depends on the severity. There are some, albeit a very small minority, stutterers who are not able to speak sentences longer than 3 or 4 utterances in their entire lives despite extensive therapy and may take half an hour to give the same amount of information that others would have given in a few minutes. In that case, unfortunately, they are probably unsuitable for the pulpit ministry. However, I re-emphasize, the vast majority of stutterers are able to manage their stuttering very well and I fail to see why they should be excluded from the ministry if Moses was used by God greatly.

 

[Marrow Man]

Warren - I can think of two very prominent men in the ARP who have mild/moderate speech impairments. Both are men of high integrity and are both have developed a large frame of reference in the areas of theology and church history (both are ordained although only one has ever served as a pastor as far as I know). As a result, I don't even notice their impairments anymore, rather, I just hear the wisdom they espouse. If you're called to serve in the ministry God will make you effective, you might just have to work a little harder. But hey, that's probably a good thing in the long run, right?

Good examples. If I have corrected discerned one of those two men of whom Jeff speaks, he was also elected as Moderator of General Synod a few years ago.

 

[EricP]

I know that secular and sacred occupations are quite different, but if James Earl Jones can surmount his stutter and have the amazing and enviable voice he has for acting, God can use cracked pots and rocks like the rest of us, stutter or no, to communicate His truth to His people!

 

[Notthemama1984]

God can use cracked pots and rocks like the rest of us, stutter or no, to communicate His truth to His people!

 

[WAWICRUZ]

The replies on this thread have helped me a lot.

In fact, I have already led a couple of Bible studies at church, with positive feedback from the attendees:

Underdog Theology: Hebrews 9 Bible Study

Underdog Theology: Hebrews 11:1—22 Bible Study

Yesterday, after the Sabbath service, I led a church meeting, along with a fellow elder, and it also went great. I realized that if I devoted myself to much prayer and focused on communicating rather than NOT stuttering, I actually stuttered less, to the point of even zero stuttering! God is to be praised!

John Calvin, in his commentary on Exodus 4:10, says:

"Moreover, we see that the instruments which seem but little suitable are especially employed by Him, in order that His power may more fully appear. He might, if He had chosen to use Moses as His ambassador, have made him eloquent from the womb; or, at least, when He sends him to his work, have corrected his stammering tongue. It seems a mockery, then, to give a commission of speaking to a stammerer; but in this way, (as I have said,) He causes His glory to shine forth more brightly, proving that He can do all things without extrinsic aid. Interpreters vary as to the meaning of the words. Some think that the clause 'since thou hast spoken to thy servant' is added in amplification, as if the tongue of Moses began to be more slow than ever since the vision had appeared; but since the particle, gam, is thrice repeated, I interpret it simply, that Moses had never been eloquent from his infancy, and that he was not now endued with any new eloquence."