Be Know Do Paper

BEING, KNOWING AND DOING

by Sam Harrelson

ITEM Prof D. West December 8, 2008

My family did not attend church during my formative years as a young child and eventual teen. Some of my earliest memories as a young person involve being inquisitive about what exactly my friends were doing when they went to Sunday Schools and church services around town. Being a member of a non-church going family in a small rural farming town in SC was not an easy burden to shoulder. I often felt odd, curious and inquisitive all at the same time when riding my bike on a quiet Sunday morning in Mullins, SC. Eventually, I felt what could only be described as a sense of shame as I enjoyed more of my weekend while I watched my friends get dragged away to Church (or so it seemed). When my family did start to attend church when I was 13, I was immediately inquisitive about doctrine, ritual, creeds, teachings and traditions. I dove heavily into studying the Bible on my own terms and have fond memories of roaming the town’s small (very small) bookstore and library looking for books about the person of Jesus or the history of Christian theology. Almost immediately, I was interested in the historical nature of the Old and New Testaments and spent a great deal of free time at night during my high school years studying any commentary or books on the Historical Jesus that I could find with our limited resources. As I grew up and older, this wonderment at the historical context of the biblical texts has only intensified as I’ve been able to access more and more information due to the explosion of the internet and my own learned capabilities at doing research. Accordingly, when I first felt my call to the ministry (in whatever shape that may take) at age 16, I knew that call was grounded, and in some

ways reliant, on my personal quest to understand and come closer to the actual person of Jesus. While my ideas and nuances of what that course of study and approach have matured over the last decade, my child-like wonder about the person of Jesus and the transmission of his teachings through the layers of time by the church (and those who stood against it), still influence my own personal theology. As I attend Divinity School and work on my own sense of pastoral ministry and calling, I realize that this early interaction (or lack thereof) with Christianity has impacted my own walk of faith tremendously. I am thankful for that, as it has given me a unique perspective from which to minister.

BE

With my own background in mind, the primary function of the “Be” statements that I find most applicable to my own notion of ministry and self-hood is the charge that a person has a biblical attitude toward all forms of power (political, economic, physical, intellectual, etc). This charge can be a crutch for some who are looking to find an easy escape into the trappings of biblical infallibility. This charge can also provide a crutch for someone who is not comfortable with their own calling or position in a congregation and is seeking to find a way to put all the focus on Christ or the literal words handed down to us through a process of human-derived textual transmission. Rather than those circumstances, I see this charge as the umbrella under which my entire being is dictated. In my rendering, having a biblical attitude to all forms of power

is an incredibly difficult proposition and challenge that cannot be arrived at with a veneer-layered surface faith. Instead, taking on this burden (and I use that word not only in the negative but also in the positive and challenging sense) binds a person to the person of Christ and to the cross of Christ. For me, this charge is highest calling a person can ascribe to since they are willingly submitting their own freedom and consciousness to he will of God rather than their own selfhood. As a result, this charge is transformed from being a crutch into being a powerful agent of change for the person willing to surrender to the yoke of God and find their own freedom through this submission. Within this umbrella of biblical attitude towards power, there are many subdirectories which can be discussed as part of the Be statements that apply directly to my own sense of ministry and servant hood to humanity and God. First, the charge of being a life-long learner might seem at first to be common sense and almost a throwaway statement. However, in the context of congregational ministry, this conception of a person as a perpetual learner of new information, theologies, ideas or approaches to God is quite challenging. In the position of power as a congregational minister with years of training, education and experience (especially given the eternal truths which the position of a minister relies upon for the foundations of reality), it is seemingly quite easy for a person to fall into the trap of becoming too reliant on previous knowledge or experience rather than always seeking out new ideas, new modes of thinking and new approaches to solving problems, serving God or serving humanity. Instead, what I try to instill in my own selfhood is a recurring sense of always learning, always looking for God’s action in the world and always being open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in this creation. Secondly, under the umbrella of having a biblical attitude towards all forms of

power, it is incredibly important for me that people who have professed faith in Jesus and carry the name Christian understand the depth and ramifications of bearing that burden. In my own personal theology, this is not a simple or easy. This is beyond difficult and requires both a sense of a developing biblical worldview as well as the ability to always be a lifelong learner. Professing a faith in Jesus is a deadly serious affair that radically transforms a person and binds them to both the cross and the historical imperative of acting to bring about the Kingdom of God. In other words, as I grow in my own theology and faith, I am learning and realizing more that calling ones-self a Christian is not something to be taken lightly. Along those lines, understanding that a person has a deep sense of call to a ministry as a vocation and then acting upon that call is an incredibly intensive, personal (yet community-minded) and radical experience. As I grow in my own faith and come to understand and reconcile my own sense of calling more through the years (a process which I hope never ceases), I am realizing that a calling to the ministry is not something that is to be taken lightly or without proper understanding of one own’s limitations, abilities and potential. Probably the most helpful tool I’ve had in this process is the Profiles of Ministry process this semester. This process has helped me to ascertain my own inherit biases, where my potential ministry lacks and how I might be able to take steps to improve upon these deficiencies to become a more responsible and accountable minister of the faith. Particularly in this calling process, I have been able to put my thumb on a number of areas such as my potential to place the needs of my ministry over my own family’s needs as well as a potential perception of self serving behavior. These factors have already impacted my own self awareness and will continue to do so as I

navigate the seminary, ordination and ministry processes. Lastly, under the umbrella of “Being” representative by having a biblical attitude towards various forms of power, the charge of having the appropriate respect for (and being able t work with) those in authority has been an area I’ve always struggled with because of my own late coming to the faith as well as my own already strong notions of self. I have never been one to think that we need to sacrifice our own personalities or perspectives in the service of God. Rather, I have always felt that we are each created with our uniqueness in order to add to the Kingdom of God with our own unique circumstances. From theological and scientific points of views, it is nothing short of a miracle that we exist. Therefore, we should celebrate our unique perspectives in the service of God. However (as my Profiles of Ministry process has shown), this worldview can lead to potential problems with the perspective of respect of authority (whether intentional or unintentional). It is a situation I’ve always dealt with in my own academic and personal life and will continue to impact my life and future roles in ministry.

KNOW

In my own personal theology as well as my own conception of ministry, the charges of a Gardner-Webb Divinity student graduate associated with “Knowing” are of the utmost importance. While this area of theological education is often quickly abandoned or even overlooked by congregational ministers, I find great consolation in the writings of thinkers such as Helmut Thielecke who urge for a sense of reconciling the seemingly separated worlds of faith and knowledge. For my own conception of ministry

and following the teachings of Jesus, having a theological rationale for the practice of ministry is not only important but also crucial for success in a pastoral setting (or in the setting as a follower of Jesus). Simply put, one has to have both a theological and historical grounding for why they understand what they understand. Anything less than this comes dangerously close to Gnosticism or the sense of a shallow faith which Paul warns us against. In my Profiles of Ministry process, I’ve recognized that it is the “Know” section of charges for Gardner-Webb Divinity graduates that performs as the hinge for my notions of practice (both theoretical and practical). Because of my background of coming to the church later in life and then having a sincere urging to understand the foundations of belief, as well as the person of Jesus, I place a heavy importance on this section. In many ways, this importance has the potential to be weighted too heavily compared to other aspects of ministry. Therefore, it is something that I deeply value yet also am becoming increasingly aware as a potential spot of trouble for my ministry. However, within this context of knowing, it is paramount for all believers to have a sense of willingness to learn the content of the scriptures if they are to become actualized persons in Christ. Similarly, it is important for believers to know and be familiar with the approaches that can be taken to learn more about the scriptures. So, as part of my own congregational ministry, I see it as a relevant and important duty to help parishioners (old and new) arrive at a deeper and more meaningful conception of faith by pointing them towards the tools and resources they can utilize to learn more about the scriptures. This is a particular area where I feel very passionate and feel that the modern church (especially the Baptist church) has been lacking in terms of its duties to both God

and humanity. Baptists, of all congregations, have the most potential to strengthen their faith and commitment to God through study of the scriptures because of the primacy that Baptists have historically put on the study of the entire Bible.

DO

The Do section of charges for Gardner-Webb Divinity School graduates is one that is particularly interesting for me. I often resist the urgings of fellow seminarians to boil things down and make ideas or papers more “practical” in nature. However, I see these eighteen charges as completely in line with how I view my own conceptions of ministry and have no problem with any of them. These are all precepts that we should seek to achieve within our own personal theologies and persons regardless of how the “Be” and “Know” sections are viewed. Perhaps it is the strong urging of these charges to consider action verbs such as “lead,” “interpret,” “baptize,” “model,” etc that I find so applicable. Regardless, these are practical considerations that cannot be discounted or taken away from the other two sections. Rather than viewing them on their own, I tend to think of these ideals and prescriptions as complimenting and accentuating the previous two sections (and very much needed to provide reality to them). Perhaps the most important reflection in this section is that we should (as Thielecke urged) keep in mind the importance of synthesis and why it is beyond important that we not rely just on our seminary learning and academic background to get through problems or situations that will inevitably present themselves in the context of

congregational ministry. It is this aspect of synthesis that I constantly keep in the forefront of my head as I navigate through the rest of my time in seminary.

CONCLUSION

Seminary is not an easy process to arrive at or to participate in. There are numerous side routes, detours, challenges, speed bumps, hurdles and pot-holes that can stand in the way of a person going through this process. However, the prescriptions and charges laid out in the Be, Know, Do statement along with the Profiles of Ministry process has helped me to more confidently (yet more apprehensively aware) navigate this road less taken. In context, following God has the exact similar challenges presented to seminarians. We are to be models of spirituality, learning and actualization for those pilgrims who are joining us on this journey towards God.