My Crisis in Theological Education

by Peter Savage

Dear friend,

This is an S.0.S.! I have tried so hard to communicate with my professor but…! I am about to explode with frustration. Can you advise me? Enclosed are all the items of correspondence that have gone between us.

Dear friend,

This is an S.0.S.! I have tried so hard to communicate with my professor but…! I am about to explode with frustration. Can you advise me? Enclosed are all the items of correspondence that have gone between us.

I am confident you can help me.

Mervin

——-

January 12, 1975 Professor B.I.G. Head
Frogmore Theological Seminary
Black Pond, Ch. 19008

Dear Sir,

On three occasions during the last month, I have tried to meet you after the lecture, but you were unavailable. So please forgive me using this poor medium, the written word, to communicate my deep concerns. And by the way, my concerns are shared by many in my class.

Our deepest concern springs from our desire to be effective ministers of the Lord. Many of us are really puzzled about your course. In light of our limited experience and deep calling of God, we do not see what this course has to do with the "real" world. We do not see it as relevant to the church’s total task.

This does not mean we do not appreciate the hard work you put into your course, but really, we do not know what you want to achieve through the course. What are your objectives?

It would be great if some of us could talk with you personally about these deep concerns we have. I am sure there must be a good reason for us taking the course, although we cannot see its rhyme or reason!

Sincerely yours,

Mervin Learning

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January 30, 1975

Dear Mervin,

You raise some interesting questions in your letter. Unfortunately, I am unable to meet you as I am preparing a paper for the theological group in Bandung.

Sincerely yours,

B. I. G. Head

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February 5, 1975

Dear Sir,

We naturally regret that you are unable to meet us. In the recent class meeting we unanimously agreed to talk to you. We are convinced that as we personally related to you, some of the ideas you present in the lecture could be meaningful to us.

In fact, as the whole class shared together, I discovered a second concern, that is, we feel we are not getting much out of your course! We have come to the seminary to learn. We find, however, that most lecturers give their courses in the light of some book they are preparing, or to deepen their specialty, and rarely so that we can learn. You are giving us a lot of information, which is interesting, but not helping us with the deep questions we have in our hearts.

We feel ourselves trapped! We have to somehow master all this information for the exams so as to gain a degree, but are not growing in the Lord. In fact, we sense we are losing some of our "delights in the Lord."

Hopefully yours,

Mervin

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March 6, 1975

Dear Mervin,

Please forgive the delay in answering your letter, but a theological seminary in Europe has asked me to speak at their next missionary conference.

Frankly, I really do not understand your concerns. This particular series of lectures has been given in London University, Sao Paulo Seminary, Toyko Academy and other places, and no one has complained before. In fact, I do not see how these lectures could be modified to suit you and your colleagues. Theology is of an eternal nature and its application is the responsibility of those who are studying

Sincerely yours,

B. I G. Head

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March 14, 1975

Dear friend,

After this, many students who were in the course skipped the lectures and used some programmed instruction materials and further reading in the library. In fact, we discovered a local pastor who was able to meet with us weekly for three hours to study basic ideas on how to help a church grow. These are exciting!

Sincerely yours.

Mervin

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April 10, 1975

Dear Mervin,

According to the registrar, several of you missed the last six lectures of my course. I am very upset about this and I am referring this matter to the disciplinary board of the seminary. What puzzles me, however, is how you managed to get a straight A on my exam. Maybe we could get together some time!

Sincerely yours,

B. I. G. Head

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July 30, 1975

Dear Sir,

We were saddened by the awful news of the death of your wife. Many of us had heard of her grace and charm and had often wished that we could have had the opportunity of meeting her. It would have been so rich to have met you both in your home.

You also will be glad to know that we are involved in a very exciting church where the Holy Spirit is at work. In fact, several of us have proposed to the pastor an internship training program in the church. We would be, therefore, dropping out of the seminary and becoming the internship’s first students as of September, 1975.

May the Lord be your strength at this time.

Sincerely yours in Him,

Mervin

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August 5, 1975

Dear Mervin,

Will you forgive me? As a result of my wife’s death, and the awful aching void I am feeling, I am beginning to see that I did you a great injustice. First, because I really did not focus correctly in my teaching, and, second, by taking you before the disciplinary board of the seminary. While I am enjoying more and more of the Lord’s presence in my life during this very difficult period, he is teaching me to see basic issues in Scripture. I can now see that as I reread many passages of Scripture that discipling, which is at the center of theological education, has been missing in my ministry. I have been so fascinated by the ideas that my course have brought into focus, that I really lost sight of the student’s goals and ministry. I now regret this and hope I can begin to reorient my perspective.

When you can find a break from your internship program, please do visit me.

Your brother in the Lord,

Bernard I. Head

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September 6, 1975

Dear Bernard,

Thank you for being such a brother in the Lord! During this past month in the internship program, I have been excited by the way the Holy Spirit has been breaking open the church and bringing so many to the Lord. It is just great.

One lesson I am learning, however, is that I must spend time in the light of the many experiences I am having in the church and the problems we face, to wrestle with the Lord in prayer and through His Word. Although I am no longer in the seminary, could I call on you weekly to ask questions on particular passages in Scripture I do not fully understand? In fact, if you could spare the time, several of us would be grateful if we could have a weekly tutorial with you. This would mean, that as key issues are born in the church we could face them effectively as we reflect on them under and in the Word of God. Could this be a possibility?

With warm Christian greetings, gratefully yours, your disciple.

Mervin

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September 25, 1975

Dear Mervin,

Please, let us sit down and talk about your plan. I would be happy to devote four hours each week to serious study, discussion and prayer. While I have always followed a set outline of study, I would be willing to work around the critical issues as they come up. Looking in the Scriptures, I find that this was the basic method the Lord used with his disciples and, therefore, we must try it. I think I am now open to anything that would help me learn what discipling involves.

Until you phone.

Bernard

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