My call to ministry traces back to age 16. Following a mission trip, my youth pastor asked me to give a testimony of my experience to the entire church. As I presented from the platform, the moment was a blur. I remember fumbling for words, trying to maintain composure, and counting down the seconds until I could leave the podium.
It wasn’t that I had nothing to share, nor was I unwilling to share it, but I had very little means to adequately articulate the formative impact of this mission trip. In truth, the trip provided a genuine encounter with the gospel – taught, lived, embodied – yet I was weakly equipped to effectively convey the significance of this experience for the purpose of sharing the gospel with others.
A decade later, while I had been working full-time in the Church for a handful of years, I finally took the plunge to embrace God’s call to enter vocational ministry, assuming the task of shepherding the flock and equipping the saints. However, like the hapless and insecure 16-year-old standing in front of a congregation, I felt overcome by a sense of ineptitude and ignorance. While I desired to serve the Church, I had a weak foundation to build upon.
Enter: Theological Education
Within months of graduate studies in theological education a myriad of benefits became available to me. Being immersed in theological education provided a deep wellspring of content, wisdom, insight, and scholarship that found immediate application in my ministry. But most importantly, God used theological education as a catalyst for me to embrace the magnificence of the gospel and on an entirely deeper level than ever before.
The Gospel: The Lifeblood of Theological Education in a Residency
At Mercy Hill, our residency and theological education pathway are designed to equip students to make disciples and multiply churches. This is the true north and controlling ethos of everything we do in our residency, and we intend that all curriculum and ministry training is tailored towards this end. If there is one thing that theological education in a residency can achieve, it is a deeper love and understanding of the gospel, causing us to follow where the gospel takes us.
Our studies in biblical content, theology, and practical ministry should be orientated towards grasping the fullness of the power of the gospel so we can more readily share and infuse the gospel into everything we say, do, and think. This is the lifeblood of theological education in a church residency.
The Word: The Substance of Theological Education in a Residency
A second primary benefit of theological education in a residency is to equip one to both understand and apply the word of God to life and ministry. Through theological education in a residency, we can come to know and understand God’s word, as well as apply this knowledge in real-time among the body of Christ in a variety of ministry settings.
As unspiritual as it might sound, we are not interested in Bible knowledge for its own sake – thought that has its place and merit. We want to be not only hearers and learners of the word, but also doers and truthful communicators of the word. I believe this begins to occur as we seek to understand the narrative and content of Scripture beyond a cursory level, and to study it on the level of beginning to absorb its power and see the glorious ways God works his redemptive plan throughout every portion of Scripture. Here again, comprehensive study of God’s word leads to a deeper appreciation of the gospel.
The Great Commission: The True North of Theological Education in a Residency
Ultimately, theological education in a residency will help stir your affections and love for the Triune God, his word, and his Church. Moreover, we begin to learn to embody such affection through full devotion to his plan and purposes by fulfilling the great commission.
We were created to love, know, worship, and enjoy God in everything we do; and we find our deepest joy when we are living in full alignment with God’s mission to bring the gospel to ends of the earth. Theological education provides deep insight into the character, truth, and will of God to increase our love and worship so we can more fully live on mission for him – making disciples and multiplying churches. The gospel not only saves and sanctifies us, but the gospel sends us.
I will close with this caveat: well-educated speech and well-researched methods do not ensure ministry fruit. Far from it. Rather, in all our efforts and study, we rely on the Holy Spirit and look to God with courageous faith to yield fruit from gospel ministry.
Theological education in a residency is a matter of stewardship. It conveys a willingness to surrender ourselves to God’s mission through all our faculties, affection, energy, and will. The pursuit of theological education in a residency is one that conveys the desire to go deeper in our understanding of the beauty of the gospel, and to be equipped to share this message to its fullest measure.
– Braden McKinley, Director of Theological Education at Mercy Hill