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July 2, 2011 by Gerald Hiestand

Six Steps Toward Being an Ecclesial Theologian

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If there’s one thing I’ve learned since starting the SAET, it’s this: being an ecclesial theologian requires swimimg upstream. Of course, being a “local” pastor-theologian is difficult enough, especially in the atheological miasma of contemporary evangelicalism. But pressing beyond this to the calling of the ecclesial theologian takes extra thoughtfulness and intentionality. We here at the SAET don’t have it all figured out. But since transitioning to my current pastoral position (where I now work alongside SAET co-founder Todd Wilson), I’ve got an increasing sense about some of the moves one can make that help facilitate the eccesial theologian vision. So in a roughly descending order of importance, here are at least six things I’ve found helpful.

1. Staff to the vision. I don’t recommend making staffing changes solely with a view to the ecclesial theologian vision, but if you oversee hiring at your church and are in need of new ministry staff, let me strongly encourage you to look for ministry partners who share your sense of calling to theological scholarship. There aren’t (yet) many of us, of course. But if you can find a like-minded ministry partner who is serious about writing theological scholarship you will have overcome perhaps the most significant hurdle of the ecclesial theologian: isolation. The positive vocational peer-pressure and theological ferment found in the day to day relational exchange of the academy is absent in the local church context. This is a significant disability to the ecclesial theologian. Most of us don’t operate in a working environment where we can pop our head into the room next door and talk about how Thomas Aquinas’ prioritization of the intellect in conversion causes him to arrive at a different ordo solutis than Calvin and the implications this has for the doctrine of total depravity. For example. But now I do. And the difference it has made is huge. Building a staff that not only values theology, but is actually engaged in writing theology, will do more than anything else to put wind in your sail.

2. Get networked. Not all of us are in a position to hire a fellow ecclesial theologian to our ministry staff. Perhaps your church is too small, or perhaps you don’t oversee the hiring process. Regardless, the next most important thing is to get involved in a network of like-minded pastors. Whether formal like the SAET, or informal, having a network of peers who are engaged in theological scholarship is crucial to sustaining your theological calling. Use Skype, connect at ETS, start a blog, whatever. But find a group of pastors who are committed to publishing theology, and who regularly ask you what projects you are working on. Beyond the positive peer-pressure, a robust network is also helpful in making headway with publishers.

3. Make your study time a priority in your weekly schedule. The expectations and demands of your congregation will almost certainly push you away from study and writing. So if you’re going to get after it, you are going to have to make it a priority in your schedule. I’ve found that setting aside my mornings works best for me. This year I’m reading Augustine on Mondays, Thomas on Tuesdays, Barth on Wednesdays, and contemporary theology/scholarship on Thursdays. I turn my phone off, don’t open my e-mail and don’t schedule any appointments (if at all possible) until noon. Of course, sometimes I have to pull up from studying — funerals, emergencies, etc., press in occasionally. But for the most part I’ve found that I can get nearly all of my administrative stuff done if I push it into the afternoons. (Typically, if you give yourself eight hours to do your administrative stuff, it will take eight hours. If you given yourself four, it will take four). Of course, this only works when you are in control of your schedule. Most pastors are, but some of you serve in a church where you are at the mercy of others. Even so, there are probably times in the week that are usually open. Schedule your study time around those times. And one more point here — don’t just study for your next sermon or teaching assignment. Quite apart from striving toward the calling of the ecclesial theologian, too many pastors are merely one step ahead of the theological train. The lifeblood of the pastor — whether your local congregation realizes it or not — is a steady intake of rich theology, prayer and bible reading. Stop feeling guilty about prayerfully reading Calvin’s Institutes, or Anthanasius’ On the Incarnation or Augustine’s De Trinitate. Theological study isn’t something a pastor fits into his schedule when he’s completed his pastoral duties, rather theological study is the pastor’s duty. For the good of your congregation — for the good of your preaching and teaching and counseling and capacity to offer pastoral care — it is vital that you not neglect to feed yourself.

4. Get buy-in from the leadership of your church. If you’re doing your job right, the leadership of your church should eventually come to value the time you spend in your study. After all, they more than anyone else should be reaping the benefits of all your theological labor. But depending on the history of your church, theological engagement (at least the level of engagement necessary for being an ecclesial theologian) might be seen as a distraction from your pastoral duties. Go slow here. Theology has been separated from the church for long enough that it is no longer self-evident to most congregations that sustained theological engagement by their pastors is a good thing. This will need to be demonstrated, not simply argued. In any case, it’s important that you help your church leadership see that your pursuit of theological scholarship is not ancillary to your calling as a pastor, but rather a vital part of it.

5. Don’t ever forget that theology exists for the church — your church first and foremost! If the people in your congregation don’t feel valued as your first priority, then you are being a poor ecclesial theologian. Your congregants should feel like your study time is about them, not simply your next writing project. If they start to begrudge you your study time (e.g., “he spends all his time in holed up in his office”), you will need to take a hard look at yourself and your priorities. Because it is very likely that your study time isn’t really as much about God and his kingdom as you think it is. Theology serves the church, not the other way around. Love for God and his people should drive us to our books. If love for God and our congregations isn’t the fuel that powers our study, what are we really studying for?

6. Stop calling the place where you work an “office” and start calling it your “study”. Never, under pain of excommunication from the ecclesial theologian club, refer to your study as an office. If this is the first time you’ve heard this rule, you get three free passes. After that, you’re out. Semantics matter. If you call your study an office, the people in your church will have a certain set of expectations regarding your function as a pastor. The room with all your books, the room where you read the Scriptures and pray — that room is your study. Starting referring to it as such and your people will come to expect that studying is part of your calling.

Any other suggestions?

Categories: Ecclesial Theologian | Ecclesial Theology | General | Gerald Hiestand
Recent Comments
- Rick Wadholm Jr said...
  
  I would perhaps also add…make writing a priority in your work. It is far too easy to simply prepare notes for sermons, Bible studies, etc., but it is far more important to prepare (at least some of this) in a form that is requiring you to write and think more precisely in order to both engage yourself, your congregation and others in the study of the Scriptures and of the topics you are covering as a pastor. I think, in this vein, one ought to at least be working at regularly writing projects (even short ones) to continue to hone necessary skills as a writer and thinker of theology.
  
  07/2/11 5:40 PM | Comment Link
- Gerald Hiestand said...
  
  Thanks, Rick. Good comment. Practice at the craft of writing is important, but I find that if I’m not careful, I can spend too much time “practicing” my writing on blogs, etc., rather than getting after something more substantive. Part of me would rather practice my writing while writing something that I intend to publish.
  
  But you are exactly right; writing out our thoughts forces us to engage with our own ideas — and thus deepens and clarifies them — in ways that wouldn’t happen if we didn’t write them down. And this is why theological scholarship, not just theological study, is, in the end, a win for the local churches in which we serve.
  
  07/2/11 7:28 PM | Comment Link
- Jon Wymer said...
  
  I agree with Rick. Writing is a key aspect of not simply losing #3 above, in terms of your local church and the church at large. It is critical for building on previous work as you pursue your vocation.
  
  For me, as a non-PHD, a key way to build on my generic-evangelical M.Div. has been taking part in academic opportunities that present themselves. This has taken the shape of low-key conversations (with SAET’s Jason Hood, for example) brought about by Twitter, quarterly workshops put on about 45 minutes from my church by an institute focused primarily on biblical studies, and choosing to travel to academically useful events (last January’s Worship Symposium at Calvin College) rather than market-driven church conferences.
  
  07/3/11 6:05 PM | Comment Link
- Gerald Hiestand on Becoming a Pastor-Theologian By Theological Reading | owen strachan said...
  
  [...] Really enjoyed this piece from my SAET colleague, Gerald Hiestand. This point, on reading theology regularly in the midst of pastoral work, caught my eye: [...]
  
  07/5/11 9:40 AM | Comment Link
- Arthur Sido said...
  
  So let me get this straight. In order to minister to the church, you need to set a fair amount of time (4 hours per morning times 4 days a a week?) aside where you cut yourself off from the people you are supposed to minister to in order to read? Even if you buy into the notion that preparing and delivering sermons is the, or at least one of the, primary callings of ministry (which I don’t), how exactly is the average Christian going to benefit by you reading De Trintate?
  
  07/5/11 1:03 PM | Comment Link
- Gerald Hiestand said...
  
  Hi Arthur,
  
  Thanks for the comment. My apologies if the above essay came across as arrogant or self-serving. I agree that too often theological speculation can fail to serve ministry interests, particularly when one looses sight of point 5, above. That is, in fact, the whole reason for the SAET — to help reground theology in an ecclesial context, such that theology is indeed relevant (ultimately, even if not immediately) to the real-life situation on the ground.
  
  But I disagree with your assertion that serious, extended theological study is inherently a distraction from “real” ministry. In your response blog post, you ask what possible relevance there might be in the observation that “Thomas Aquinas’ prioritization of the intellect in conversion causes him to arrive at a different ordo solutis than Calvin and the implications this has for the doctrine of total depravity.” Much in every way! Indeed, it was this same sort of insight that allowed Jonathan Edwards to confront an entrenched hyper Calvinism and re-articulate the relationship between conversion and the sovereignty of God in a way that led to the first Great Awakening. Most congregants haven’t read Edwards’ Freedom of the Will, but most North American evangelicals have benefited mightily from it, nonetheless.
  
  Regardless, I suspect we won’t agree here, and I’m OK with that. Let’s both press on with the work our Lord has set before us.
  
  Many blessings to you in life and ministry.
  
  Gerald
  
  07/5/11 4:50 PM | Comment Link
- Jason Hood said...
  
  Hi Arthur, it’s a good question that you raise, and Gerald has answered in part; but I’m shortly publishing a brief response–it stands alone fairly well so I thought I’d post it on the site. Do comment if you’d like.
  
  07/5/11 7:56 PM | Comment Link
- T h e o • p h i l o g u e said...
  
  Gerald,
  
  Do you think every pastor is called to be an “ecclesial theologian” or are you only speaking here about the specially called “pastor-theologians”? If the latter, it seems to me that Arthur Sido has taken your post in the wrong way, as if you were calling every pastor to these “steps,” you only intended for the “ecclesial theologian.” His comment makes this obvious when he says “So let me get this straight. In order to minister to the church …. ”
  
  If you think every pastor should take these steps, then nothing appears to be amiss in your exchange with Arthur Sido.
  
  Bradley
  
  07/5/11 11:22 PM | Comment Link
- Gerald Hiestand said...
  
  Hey Bradley,
  
  Good clarifying question. No, I don’t think every pastor is called to be an “ecclesial theologian” as defined by the SAET (or my above post). My point is that if you have a sense of calling in this direction, these are some things you might consider doing to help fulfill that calling.
  
  But I would want to add that every pastor is indeed a theologian in one sense or another. What we believe about God, reality, the meaning of life, who we are as humans, our future, etc., all influence the way we conduct ourselves in life. And it is the job of the pastor to not only understand these truths, but to understand the times in which we live and how each unique season of cultural change influences what we believe about these things. Our congregants look to us for answers to these questions, and it is incumbent on us to have good answers. We don’t all need to be robust theologians and scholars, but all pastors need to be competent to effectively communicate the truth of God in the context of our culture. Being competent as such will inevitably require at least some study and reading.
  
  07/6/11 2:29 PM | Comment Link
- Derek Taylor said...
  
  Great post and thoughts, Gerald. Picking up on your last post, and speaking as a layperson, I’d extend what you said this way: “every Christian – indeed every person who is able to conceptualize God – is a theologian in one sense or another”. Too many evangelicals believe that theology is a unique calling that only certain pastors or academics or maybe a few of us should wholeheartedly pursue.
  
  I have become convinced that one of the keys to maintaining our Christian zeal is to be growing in our knowledge of God – not for the purpose of learning Bible trivia – but for the purpose of knowing and loving God as He actually is. The depth and quality of our understanding of God and His character will have a direct consequence/correlation on the durability and quality of our faith.
  
  Even as I write this, it seems so obvious, but I’m not sure I appreciated this for most of my Christian life and I suspect many others are in that same boat. That’s what makes your comments in your reply to Bradley interesting.
  
  07/7/11 4:03 PM | Comment Link
- Chad Mower said...
  
  Very interesting piece. I have really become interested, even more recently in Theology, and in being educated in it, and Lord willing, one day, educating others in it. I think this was a good starting point for me to read.
  
  Thanks again!
  
  Chad
  
  07/8/11 2:35 AM | Comment Link
- Leigh Warmbrand said...
  
  Any suggestions where to start, what to start reading? Just pick up Calvin or Thomas and set a schedule and discipline to start and continue? It feels very overwhelming and so easy to “sluff off” – just jump in?
  
  Probably answered my own questions, but any recommendations and encouragement for what to start with would be apprectiated, thanks.
  
  07/26/11 9:33 AM | Comment Link
- Gerald Hiestand said...
  
  Hi Leigh,
  
  I would start by familiarizing yourself with your own tradition, so that you have a good sense of where your starting from.
  
  Then I would simply start reading, patiently, the classics. Athanasius, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Calvin, Luther, Edwards, Wesley, Barth, …
  
  Sprinkle in a bit of contemporary stuff, but focus most of your energy on getting a good grasp of the theologians who have had the most significant impact.
  
  Blessings on the journey!
  
  07/26/11 4:21 PM | Comment Link
- Matthew Mason said...
  
  Leigh, let me second everything Gerald said. The best contemporary theologians are good not least because they’re familiar with (even if they diverge from) the great primary texts of the past (Scripture and the kinds of guys Gerald mentions). C. S. Lewis’s introduction to a translation of Athanasius, On the Incarnation is a great apology for favouring old classics over newer books.
  
  From your blog, it looks like you’re coming from a Reformed tradition. So, if you’re not already familiar with some Reformed confessions, it’d be worth at least reading the Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession, Westminster Confession and Shorter Catechism, and Second Helvetic Confession.
  
  And, if I were you, I’d jump straight into Calvin’s institutes, which are wonderfully readable.
  
  It’s worth saying that some older works are easier than others. Athanasius, On the Incarnation is super accessible (that and Calvin were the works that got me reading old books), as is Augustine, Confessions would be great places to go. Aquinas is heavier going, as is something like Augustine’s De Trinitate.
  
  A final piece of advice, from John Piper – it’s valuable to pick one theologian and spend a lifetime interacting with them. You will learn depth from their depth. Piper’s done it with Edwards, and we’ve all benefited from the fruit of that. I’m trying it with Augustine.
  
  07/27/11 12:32 PM | Comment Link
- SAET » On Being An Ecclesial Theologian: #7 » The Society for the Advancement of Ecclesial Theology said...
  
  [...] Tweet Adding to this post… [...]
  
  10/19/11 11:28 AM | Comment Link
- Pastors/Planters, Drink from the Well of Theology | owen strachan said...
  
  [...] fantastic word on the incredible value of reading theology by my friend, pastor Gerald [...]
  
  01/18/12 11:15 AM | Comment Link
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About the SAET Blog

Welcome to the SAET blog. Herein you will find the theological/pastoral ramblings of the Rev. Matthew Mason, the good Doctor Jason Hood, and Pastor Gerald Hiestand. All three write under the premise that theology and the pastorate belong together, and that (at least some) pastors must once again function as writing theologians for the wider church, for the ecclesial renewal of theology and the theological renewal of the church.

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Gerald Hiestand
Gerald has served as the SAET board president since 2006. He has been in pastoral ministry since 1999, and serves currently as the Senior Associate Pastor of Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, IL.

Jason Hood
Jason is a graduate of Rhodes College, Reformed Theological Seminary, Highland Theological College and the Univ. of Aberdeen. Jason works as Scholar-in-Residence and director of Christ College Residency Program at Christ UMC. He's trying to figure out the twitter thing, @jasonbhood, and sometimes writes for ChristianityToday.com.

Matthew Mason
Matthew earned an MTh at Oak Hill College, London. He is an Assistant Pastor at Church of the Resurrection, Washington D. C. (Anglican Mission in the Americas), and edits Ecclesia Reformanda, a journal of Reformed theology.

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