In the RC, poverty usually goes hand in hand with celibacy and communal living. Yours is an unusual situation, and maybe more possible because of a rural location. I would think that inflicting poverty on your family would be hard. Especially hard if it means your children go to horrible or dangerous schools or your family lacking access to good health care. A missionary lifestyle engenders a degree of guilt, and requires a strength of faith that might be hard to maintain.

Maybe poverty isn’t the right word; how about modest lifestyle? Or is that too close to lukewarm?

“Someone needs to preserve and pass on biblical and theological literacy until the future time when it will be valued again.”

Thanks for your hopeful words.

Really, really loved your post. Isn’t it funny that those of us who love this stuff are the “Bible geeks!” (Sort of the oddity rather than the norm?) I consider it the calling/desire just to learn more about the Bible and through that grow closer to God–a gift indeed.

Sometimes this discussion feels like ministry/theology on one side VERSUS The Bible on the other. And the Bible is losing out for the time being.

I had also considered a calling to the ministry, but found that education is where I need to be. I think that the church needs language educators that haven’t bought into this idea that learning languages is an optional hoop. (I think it’s sadly become a given for some–see above.) Really, it’s a vital essential. The church also needs people who can convey that with a sense of love and joy for God’s word.

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I couldn’t agree more and I’m waiting for that time! Keep up the great work!

Jonathan,

For ancient languages I’d rank as follows–just my opinion for prioritization:

1) Greek
2) Biblical Hebrew
3) Standard Aramaic and Syriac (an Aramaic dialect)
4) Latin
5) Rabbinic Hebrew

That having been said, I like Biblical Hebrew the best and have spent far more time on that than the others.

–Dale

In regards to the CEC discussion, I’m now thinking that maybe I do need to go back to school while there are still good schools to go to. Someone needs to preserve and pass on biblical and theological literacy until the future time when it will be valued again.

This discussion has been extremely helpful to me.

What would your language ranking list be, out of curiosity?

I have often wondered why more Christian schools don’t teach Greek and Hebrew. In fact, they seem to be teaching every language but the biblical ones. It’s like parents are afraid of biblical languages.

In fact, there has been a renaissance of ‘classical education’ in some Christian schools that emphasizes Latin. I mean, Latin is great, but for Protestants, shouldn’t it be ranked third of the ancient languages that Christians learn, after Koine Greek and Hebrew? I can understand why Catholic schools teach Latin, but Protestant schools?

I’d bet that the resistance to learning languages is because we are Americans. You know the old joke: What do you call a person who knows three languages? Trilingual. What do you call a person who knows two languages? Bilingual. What do you call a person who knows only one language? An American.

I will confess, I think there needs to be more immersion in the languages in Seminary. I mean, if they really wanted us to learn Hebrew, they should send us to Israel for a semester. If they really wanted us to learn Greek, they’d send us to Greece for a semester. I know there are differences between ancient and modern, but it would be better. The cost would be expensive, but I spent a lot of money learning the languages, and a lot of money on rent while I was learning the languages too.

What is absolutely required in the education of a pastor?

Speaking solely from my experience as a Methodist we have 4 levels of persons qualified to to preach from the pulpit:
Local Lay Speakers
Certified Lay Speakers
Lay Ministers
Ordained Ministers

As you might imagine the training required and the authorized duties are different between the four.

Local Lay Speakers have attended and passed the basic lay speaker training course established by the Methodist General Board of Discipleship. Local speakers are permitted to speak only at their local church, under the supervision of the pastor.

Certified Lay Speakers have attended at least one advanced course and continue to take a minimum of one course every three years. Certified Lay speakers are permitted to speak at other churches and to supply preaching as needed to other affiliated ministries.

If you are interested the following link provides more information about Lay Speaking Ministries.
http://www.gbod.org/laity/

Lay speakers do not perform any of the sacramental duties of the pastorate – Communion, Baptism, Marriage etc.

The next step is Licensed Ministers who have completed at least 1/3 of the required work for and M Div. Or the required course work for Licensed Ministry. This level is typically a stepping stone toward full appointment in the UM church, or as a final level for persons who can not justify the expense of a full education for the ministry to which God has called them.

Last is the M. Div or higher pastor.

The number of levels within the UM church are directly related to our history, and especially to the ways of our past where pastors rode a circuit of churches visiting the church in some cases only once a multi-month period. In the interim the congregation’s trained speakers filled the pulpit.

Thanks; I think starting children down this road gives them a a very precious gift that will last a lifetime.

So, a few ideas. Outside of a seminary environment, there’s really only a couple other options that I can think of for more formal training: the public university or Jewish resources. If you live in a city that has a reformed synagogue, you might begin there–they would likely be open to having non-Jewish children/adults participate as long as they don’t perceive that you have some ulterior motive. Same for many Jewish day schools, which might fit into your home-schooling program. If you live near a large public univ. with a significant Jewish population, there’s also likely a “Hillel” center that may offer classes for children and/or adults.

A couple more things: you might also find a local pastor that has had some training in Hebrew to lead a class for kids–now THERE would be an interesting experiment!!

University grad students (ones scraping for funds, like myself) are usually very open to tutoring kids or adults. I know Latin PhDs who fund quite a bit of their education reading Virgil with high schoolers. If you live in an area that utilizes resources like Craigslist, try posting an ad.