How to become a Protestant Pastor? Perhaps the reason why so many bible interpretations?

[ufamtobie]

How to Be a Protestant Pastor, Provided by eHow.com

Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Related Tags: protestant | vicarage | denominations | pastors | Bible

Instructions:

Step 1: Dive into the teachings of Jesus Christ and the interpretations of the Protestant Reformation so you can better understand Protestant theology and way of life. Incorporate prayer into your life and start to get a stronger grasp of the Bible.

Step 2: Affiliate with a church that is part of the denomination that you find most familiar and in accordance with your beliefs about Christianity. Most Protestant denominations use pastors but look into various denominations to make sure ones that you’re interested in still do.

Step 3: Get the kind of education that your Protestant denomination requires, such as college plus four years of seminary. Check around with local churches and contact pastors you know to find out what kind of education to pursue.

Step 4: Do a vicarage (or the equivalent for your denomination), which is a year-long internship type program with your church. The vicarage gives you a more on-the-ground experience of being a pastor and forces you to confront some of the difficulties associated with being a pastor.

Step 5: Expand your knowledge of important languages such as Hebrew, Latin and Greek so you can read various parts and translations of the Bible in their original language. Also, continue to study Scripture so your congregants view you as a reliable and trustworthy spiritual adviser.

 

[O.S.Luke]

Anyone can contribute to eHow, just as they can Wikipedia. I certainly wouldn’t view anything on eHow as authoritative… unless you’re grasping at straws to make your point, and comfortable using hearsay as authoritative.

And I thought Catholics were opposed to prooftexting…

 

[4Squarebaby]

I’m curious what practical steps are different for one to become a parish Priest?

 

[ufamtobie]

QUOTE=O.S. Luke;5134549]Anyone can contribute to eHow, just as they can Wikipedia. I certainly wouldn’t view anything on eHow as authoritative… unless you’re grasping at straws to make your point, and comfortable using hearsay as authoritative.

And I thought Catholics were opposed to prooftexting…

O.S.Luke, Ok, so tell me the steps to become a protestant minister, I’ll be waiting?

Ufamtobie

 

[humble_in_doubt]

I’m curious what practical steps are different for one to become a parish Priest?

all of what the OP said … plus you can’t like girls

 

[JamesRottnek]

ufamtobie:
O.S.Luke, Ok, so tell me the steps to become a protestant minister, I’ll be waiting?

Ufamtobie

Most Protestant churches require that you have graduated from a seminary, taking between 4-6 years, normally (after an undergraduate degree). Most accredited seminary programs require intensive study and learning of at least some Hebrew and Biblical Greek. It is not as simple as ‘Go study in a seminary for four years.’ Besides, from what I understand, it is essentially the exact same process as becoming a Catholic Priest. In fact, the only religious leaders I know of that take much longer than that to be considered one of them are Orthodox Jewish Rabbis and medicine men in Native American tribes (the latter taking decades sometimes).

 

[ufamtobie]

How to Be a Protestant Pastor, Provided by eHow.com

Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Related Tags: protestant | vicarage | denominations | pastors | Bible

Instructions:

Step 1: Dive into the teachings of Jesus Christ and the interpretations of the Protestant Reformation so you can better understand Protestant theology and way of life. Incorporate prayer into your life and start to get a stronger grasp of the Bible.

 

[ufamtobie]

O.S.Luke, Ok, so tell me the steps to become a protestant minister, I’ll be waiting?

Ufamtobie

Hi James,

Becoming a Catholic Priest, is not exactly the same as becoming a protestant Pastor. Yes, the schooling and the Seminary for a Catholic wanting to be Priest or Protestant wanting to be a Pastor, is a must.

A diploma from a college and a 4 to 6 years of seminary makes one a protestant pastor.

However, These credentials above does not make one a Catholic Priest. The process of becoming a Catholic Priest is deeper in spirituality. A Catholic Priest becomes ordained priest by the laying on of hands by the successors of the Apostles.

Also, a Catholic Priest gives up everything for the service of Jesus Christ! Read (Luke 14: 33) So likewise every one of you that doth not renounce all that he possesseth, cannot be my disciple.

Also, read Luke (18: 28-30) 28 Then Peter said: Behold, we have left all things, and have followed thee. 29 Who said to them: Amen, I say to you, there is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, 30 Who shall not receive much more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.

James, the Above 2 bible verse should tell you that in order to become a Catholic Priest a diciple of Jesus Christ one must abandond everything House, or parents, or brethren, of wife, or children, for the kingdom of God sake. This what a Catholic Priest does he leaves everything for Jesus Christ sake.

As for the Protestant pastor, He has a house, he has a wife, he has children, therefore he is not a true disciple. I am not saying this, the bible verses above is saying this.

Ufamtobie

 

[JamesRottnek]

You do understand that there are Diocesan Priests who own homes and have a good amount of money. Unless they are religious priests, they are not required to give up their things.

Furthermore, while I am not a Protestant any more, all you are doing is trying to downplay the study that Protestant Pastors go through to be ordained. If you want to attack what Protestants believe, go for it, just be polite. However, attacking the way that a Protestant becomes a Pastor does not do anything beneficial.

I do not see how the laying of hands makes the process for a Catholic to be ordained any more spiritual. If I lay my hands on you, is that automatically a spiritual event? Furthermore, many Protestant denominations do have a formal ordination process.

Also, you forget that there are Priests in the Catholic Church - though primarily the Eastern Catholic Churches - THAT ARE MARRIED AND HAVE CHILDREN!!! You are belittling them in your misguided attempts to belittle Protestants. All you will accomplish by belittling someone is to make them despise you. In this case, most Protestants will associate what you are saying with the opinions of most Catholics, if not the Catholic Church itself. Non-Christians may associate your cold attacks with Christianity itself. You need to remember, as we all do, that each of our behavior drastically affect the opinions of other people regarding the groups we belong to.

Furthermore, there is a significant reason for the differences in the ordination of Pastors as opposed to Priests. Catholics see the Priest as a representative of Christ. In the Protestant churches, Pastors are generally only thought of as people who have a deep amount of knowledge about their faith, thus making them more similar to a Jewish Rabbi than a Catholic Priest (though the duties of the Pastor are generally closer to that of the Priest).

EDIT: Also, the reason for the differences in interpretations of the various verses of the Bible in Protestantism is not because of the way in which they become Pastors. Rather, it is because they do not believe that there is any one person who has an inherent authority to determine what a verse means (though some Protestants do agree with Catholics that a Ecumenical Council can declare dogma without erring). The divisions within Protestantism is merely a symptom of this.

 

[allischalmers]

The first step is to be called by God, everything after that will fall into place.

P.S. They are not just people with great biblical knowledge, they are called of God to be under shepherds of his flock, Christ being the chief shepherd.

 

[djrakowski]

The first step is to be called by God, everything after that will fall into place.

P.S. They are not just people with great biblical knowledge, they are called of God to be under shepherds of his flock, Christ being the chief shepherd.

We would agree with that, mostly.

However, how does one determine whether a perceived call to ministry is genuine?

There is quite a bit of variance in the amount of seminary training required to become a pastor across different denominations. I know that Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists and Presbyterians have seminary courses that take about as long as those of the Catholic Church. Other churches (typically independent ones) set their own standards for seminary training, with some even forgoing that requirement altogether.

The pastor of my old Baptist church was highly educated, even earning a EdD from a Baptist seminary in London, Ontario. He was educated in ancient languages as well as a number of other disciplines, and I would’ve considered him to be highly qualified (and still do, in fact). But that’s not always the case when you look at other independent churches.

 

[Hisalone]

ufamtobie:
Hi James,

Becoming a Catholic Priest, is not exactly the same as becoming a protestant Pastor. Yes, the schooling and the Seminary for a Catholic wanting to be Priest or Protestant wanting to be a Pastor, is a must.

A diploma from a college and a 4 to 6 years of seminary makes one a protestant pastor.

However, These credentials above does not make one a Catholic Priest. The process of becoming a Catholic Priest is deeper in spirituality. A Catholic Priest becomes ordained priest by the laying on of hands by the successors of the Apostles.

Also, a Catholic Priest gives up everything for the service of Jesus Christ! Read (Luke 14: 33) So likewise every one of you that doth not renounce all that he possesseth, cannot be my disciple.

Also, read Luke (18: 28-30) 28 Then Peter said: Behold, we have left all things, and have followed thee. 29 Who said to them: Amen, I say to you, there is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, 30 Who shall not receive much more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.

James, the Above 2 bible verse should tell you that in order to become a Catholic Priest a diciple of Jesus Christ one must abandond everything House, or parents, or brethren, of wife, or children, for the kingdom of God sake. This what a Catholic Priest does he leaves everything for Jesus Christ sake.

As for the Protestant pastor, He has a house, he has a wife, he has children, therefore he is not a true disciple. I am not saying this, the bible verses above is saying this.

Ufamtobie

Such a hater!

 

[ralphinal]

AS is typical on here, we did not separate Protestants into classes.

By and large, in order to be a Pastor in a mainline denomination, you would need to be well-educated. For many, that means a master’s degree in some form of Theology from one of that denomination’s seminaries.

Now, there are always exceptions to the rule. I personally knew a baptist preacher who was illiterate. This was at a very, very rural church in Alabama, and he was very old.

For the independent denominations, it is different. The larger churches generally prefer someone with an education. Partially because it does make for better press, partially because it makes for better teaching ability. However, in the smaller churches, it is not uncommon to see someone who just felt called and started a church.

Now, in many denominations, one does not just say “Hi, I am the pastor.” Nor do they fill an ad in the paper. No, they are named pastor by some sort of governing body or bishop.

 

[IowaJay]

ufamtobie:
As for the Protestant pastor, He has a house, he has a wife, he has children, therefore he is not a true disciple. I am not saying this, the bible verses above is saying this.

Ufamtobie

I’ll leave the Biblical question alone for a moment (although I would be really curious as to how your comment in light of various passages in the Bible, including 1 Timothy 3:2 which explicitly allows bishops to be married - are those bishops not “true disciples”?) and ask you these questions:

Are Eastern Rite Catholic priests who have a house, wife and children not “true disciples”?

Are Latin Rite Catholic priests who have a house, wife, and children because they have converted and become priests not “true disciples”?

 

[1edyson]

I maybe wrong in this one, but I’ve always seen the role of non-Catholic Christian pastors as ones that Preach and Lead, where the congregation looks to them as the focus, where I’ve always felt that Catholic Priests job is more of a servant to serve the congregation and administer the sacraments. I have yet to meet a non charismatic great public speaker non-Catholic Christian pastor, I have encountered tons of very humble quiet and not necessarily great preacher priests but very service oriented priests, in addition to great preacher priests.

 

[JamesRottnek]

The first step is to be called by God, everything after that will fall into place.

P.S. They are not just people with great biblical knowledge, they are called of God to be under shepherds of his flock, Christ being the chief shepherd.

If I did, I did not mean to imply that Pastors are not considered shepherds of their flock - I only meant that they aren’t a representative of Christ in the way Catholics view Priests as representatives of Christ.

 

[allischalmers]

We would agree with that, mostly.

However, how does one determine whether a perceived call to ministry is genuine?

I am sure that if God has called someone to the ministry that God will work it out so that is what will happen. However if someone thinks that they are called but in fact thay have not, God will work that out so that they will not end up being pastors. I have known the latter to happen.

 

[allischalmers]

I maybe wrong in this one, but I’ve always seen the role of non-Catholic Christian pastors as ones that Preach and Lead, where the congregation looks to them as the focus, where I’ve always felt that Catholic Priests job is more of a servant to serve the congregation and administer the sacraments. I have yet to meet a non charismatic great public speaker non-Catholic Christian pastor, I have encountered tons of very humble quiet and not necessarily great preacher priests but very service oriented priests, in addition to great preacher priests.

In my seventy nine years on this old earth I met many a non charismatic great public speaking non-Catholic Christian Pastors. Dr. Billy Graham for one and the Dr. Rev. Kenneth Good for another. I would consider both these men very humble servants of the Lord.
I could tell you of the times our Pastor has been called out in the middle of the night when someone is sick or taken to the hospital or all the times they helped someone in the congregation that can not find help some where else.
Non-Catholic Christian Pastors do preach and do lead but they also do so much more.

 

[O.S.Luke]

As for the Protestant pastor, He has a house, he has a wife, he has children, therefore he is not a true disciple. I am not saying this, the bible verses above is saying this.

I think you just stepped in it, Ufamtobie. As someone else noted, the Orthodox may marry. Also, in some places in the world, Catholic priests may marry. And not all Protestant pastors marry, either. In my tradition, parsonages are provided or a housing stipend is provided.

In my tradition, to be ordained, you must:

• have an undergraduate degree from an accredited university (B.A. or B.S.) - usually 4 years
• have a graduate degree (90 hrs) from an accredited seminary (M.Div) - usually 3-4 years
• serve a provisional 3 years in a parish setting after completion of seminary
• have training in clinical pastoral education
• undergo spiritual direction and examination
• undergo psychological examinations
• examinations by a board of ordained ministry

I am sure all of that is still inadequate by your standards.

 

[humble_in_doubt]

I heard one of prizes in the new Kracker Jax boxes is an evangelical christian preaching certificate? You can also get certified as a evangelical preacher on the internet (if you have rudimentary reading skills you’re good to go, I think they offer the courses in Spanish language as well). It’ll run you about 50 bucks though, but hey for all the fun you get to have who wouldn’t be interested? You get to tell gullible people a fairy tale for a living, and actually make money doing it? If you’re real charismatic you can be like Joel Osteen, and be the motivational coach of the gullible everywhere (and get rich while doing it).

If you want a half way decent education, but generally don’t have a taste for the ladies … there’s always the RCC. Or you can go Presbyterian (but then you have to convince yourself you’re a depraved creature by nature & only belief in ancient mythology can save your sorry butt). Hmmm … no thanks!