Who is more valuable to you?
The person who paid over $100,000 + for a degree in theology or the person who has spent ten years in the trenches?
No one will agree with this, but I'm going to put it out there:
The future of ministry in the Church is not going to be determined in a classroom.
Or by a committee.
Or by a budget sheet.
There is nothing inherently wrong with these things but they all involve a type of bureaucracy that in the end is set up to simply take the most conservative route and great things don't happen conservatively.
Seton.
Kolbe.
Francis.
All did things that the established bureaucracies didn't give the green light to initially. It was only after they worked hard and showed that they were trying to build the Kingdom and do what God wanted and attracted followers that they received the approval of the groups swamped in red tape.
I know a ton of great people doing great ministry and they are not great ministers because they have degrees. Even if they have degrees they only got the degrees so people wouldn't stop them because they didn't have a degree. The degree itself isn't bad but if that is the only thing that you have going then you need to get in the trenches and start doing.
If you want to get involved in ministry and you can't find a job, start doing ministry anywhere you can. If that doesn't work, start your own ministry.
I would apply this to anything that you do.
Just because you know a lot doesn't mean you are valuable.
The valuable person is the one who can take that knowledge and bring it to the most people. The valuable person is the one who can produce through hard work.
Jesus pointed this out all the time to the Pharisees and Sadducees. They knew a lot. The Apostles didn't. Who was more valuable to the building of the Kingdom in the end?
