Mature Ministers

He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap. (1 Timothy 3:6-7)

In our denomination, a man who wants to be a pastor has to study full-time for at least eight years. Eight years! Doesn’t that seem like a long time? Sometimes, people who are contemplating ministry will ask, “Is it really necessary to study that long?” Know what the Bible’s answer is? Yes!

As Paul described God’s qualifications for an overseer—a pastor—he wrote that an overseer “must not be a recent convert.” That’s surprising. Often, recent converts to Christianity are on fire for their faith. Wouldn’t it make sense to funnel them into leadership positions as quickly as possible?

That might make sense, but it isn’t wise. Paul gave one reason for giving a new convert time to mature in his faith: “He may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil.” If a new convert is placed into a leadership position before God’s Word has time to build humility in his heart, he may easily become proud and lose his faith.

To show the importance of this, Paul repeated this same command later in this letter of 1 Timothy: “Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands” (1 Timothy 5:22). Paul himself was an example of this. He was converted to Christianity by Jesus himself, but do you know how many years passed between Paul’s conversion and his first missionary journey? Over ten years! Even Paul needed time to mature as a Christian before entering ministry.

There seems to be a trend in Christianity today for pastors to pop up overnight. You could get an ordination certificate online without any training at all. That’s not the biblical model for ministry. God wants leaders in his church to be mature in their faith. To have spent years having God’s Word work on their hearts and lives. To build up a good reputation among their fellow believers.

Is eight years of ministry training too long? No! While the exact number of years could be up for debate, the principle isn’t. Encourage your denomination to thoroughly train its ministers over a long period of time in God’s Word. You will benefit from having mature Christian ministers.

Dear Jesus, you give pastors to your church and equip them with your Word. Give those who are contemplating ministry patience to study your Word, so that your church may be blessed by mature ministers. Amen.

Pastor Nathan