Why do Pastors feel the need for a Doctorate?

Let me offer a dissenting view.

I felt the need for doctoral work to be the best prepared I could be for the ministry of the Word. I've heard it said that the doctorate is for the academy while everything less is for the church. Hogwash.

I still may get a doctorate so I can better prepare myself for ministry. I know some people who bought doctorates, but I can honestly say that the pastors I know who earned either D.Mins or Ph.Ds did so because they felt it was an effort to be faithful to their calling, to their people, and to their Lord.

Blackbird mentioned he knew some "doctors" who couldn't preach. Some of the best preachers I ever knew had doctorates. Some of the worst were the ones who decried ministry preparation. That door swings both ways, and I'd venture it swings more the way I see it

Hearing someone else, they make it sound like every other church has a doctorate for a pastor. I live in a fairly good metro area in the Bible belt. I'd venture that maybe 10% at best of the pastors have Doctorates. In my suburb, there are roughly 100 churches (seriously). Some are fairly large. None of the pastors have doctoral degrees.

 

I am going to agree with TomVols on this one.

While, I am sure there are pastors who go after a Doctorate for the wrong reasons and just simply want a Dr. by their name, I have not personally met too many of them.

In my DMin studies at Southern I have been impressed with the guys i have met that are going after a DMin to better prepare themselves for ministry and to be better tools in the hand of the Lord.

Specifically I am a cohort group with 4 other pastors from around the country and I can honestly say I do not believe any of them are going after a Dr. in front of their name, but simply want to give their best to the Lord and keep growing in their ministry.

So I think we should be careful painting with too broad a brush as to why pastors go after degrees.

 

Thanks, Tom.

I guess I am not smart enough to know the inner life of pastors who get a Doctorate or even a "Doctorette". Motivations are hard to determine and seem to be only in the providence of God.

I went to college after the army. I was 30 when I got my BA (not my Bad Attitude... I've always had that). I decided not to get a Masters in a seminary because I wanted to get on with the ministry. But i wish I had gotten it. It took me 10 years to finally get it, one class at a time.

I've thought about a Doctorate because I can never learn enough about the Bible. I can learn it on my own, but with my sin nature, I tend to slack off and get lazy. Taking courses forces me to work on becoming a sharper axe in God's hand.

I have been here for almost 10 years. They took me before I got my Masters. They honored me, but I didn't get a pay raise from it. :laugh:

 

TomVols, I think you may have taken something that I said wrong.

In response to the original post of why so many are seeking the letters along with their name, I have made some replies.

I have never said there's anything wrong with education. In fact, I think it's terribly important, and not just in the ministry. I wish I could get my teenager to understand this concept and that a "C" is not an acceptable grade in history class because "it's not really that important".

(An aside: This unacceptability of a "C" is aimed directly at somone who is capable of straight A work, and not aimed at anyone else; he was in the gifted program until he quit trying, and now he's in the general classes and has the attitude that simply passing is sufficient. I have to admit that I had the same attitude, but God blessed me with a mind that permitted me to have straight A's in high school without even trying. In college, since I was paying for it, I did try, and maintained my perfect GPA, but I know the difference in my attitude from one to the other.)

I think education is important. That's one reason that I have pursued many, many college level subjects beyond the scope of what I originally went to college for. (But, I question the importance of Art Appreciation to a Math major, just I question the importance of Early Childhood Development to someone who is going to seminary to learn Greek.)

I think the emphasis on the letters by the name is the problem, and I think this is the reason that so many are seeking the easy way out. And sometimes, doing it the hard way, but for the wrong reasons.

By the same token, I think those who reject education are equally as appalling, if not more so. "I don't care what the words actually say" is probably more damaging than a church that thinks that only a person with letter by their name can be educated and intelligent. Both extremes are in the minority, and at opposite ends of the spectrum, but it's a significant minority.

 

I still think you're painting with too broad a brush. I won't quibble with you about those who do the "buy-a-degree" route just looking to be called "doctor." Still, I've never met anyone who did it "the hard way" who wanted the letters. When you look at the fact that Ph.Ds at seminary take anywhere from 3 to 4 years and take tens of thousands of dollars, if they honestly think they're doing it for the money, they have to be the dumbest people ever. Churches won't pay you one dollar more for having a Ph.D. A great many churches simply pay what they pay. At my last church, I earned the same amount of money as my predecessor, who had never darkened the door of any school past high school. I think of a local church whose pastor just retired (with a doctorate). Their new pastor has no college whatsoever. Their salaries will be equal. I could go on...and am...so I'll stop

Well, not quite..again, I just think when one is impugning motives, it's easy just to lump everyone together based on a caricature and not a factual analysis, especially when such isn't possible.

 

There was a list posted on this board a couple years back that had a bunch of Baptist churches that were seeking pastors. The list only included larger churches (1000 or more), if I remember correctly. (There were actually several lists, but the one I'm referring to was for larger churches.)

Without exception, they all either required a doctorate or preferred a doctorate but would consider someone with only a master's.

Since so many pastors do the ladder climbing thing, their ultimate goal is to get one of these big churches, so this is the way to do it.

Now, I don't believe, nor did I mean to imply, that most churches or most pastors do this. But, I do believe (opinion) that these churches represent the majority of Baptists.

I also believe (opinion) that this line of thinking has trickled down to more and more smaller churches and infected their thinking that they are inferior if they can't wrangle a pastor with a doctorate.

 

I had an eye-opening conversation about this issue recently while on the mission field. One of the guys on my team had just finished his BA in Biblical Studies. While on the field we visited a pastor’s school that was part of the local national Baptist Union (or Convention or Association I don't remember the exact title). Anyway, we had a conversation with the Principal and Vice Principal of the school. My friend point blank asked if he came over for a two to three year assignment would they allow him to teach at the pastor’s school. Both men agreed that they could use his help.

Later we talked about this conversation with one of the full-time missionaries in that area. He went through all the logistics that would have to fall into place for my friend to come over and help teach at the pastor’s school. Then he cautioned my friend to go to seminary here in the USA and at least earn a Masters level education before attempting fill such a position. His main reason for suggesting this was that if my friend came over with only his BA in Biblical Studies and held such a position he would eventually be placed in charge of some aspect or project on the field. So he would be responsible for a team of missionaries and a program with say a $300,000 budget. He would likewise, have a counterpart responsible for a similar program/budget working out of the same regional field office. This other guy may have been on the field for 15 years and have an earned PhD and here comes my "young buck" friend with his BA and they would be expected to work together as equal counterparts responsible for similar programs/budgets etc. The full-time missionary said that there would likely be problems in such a situation.

I had a big problem with such a line of reasoning. Serving on the mission field is about fulfilling the Great Commission. It has nothing to do with one's personal level of education or "having paid one's dues." Like I said, I found it to be very eye-opening.