BEING, KNOWING AND DOING

by

Sam Harrelson

ITEM

Prof D. West

December 8, 2008
 My family did not attend church during my formative years as a young child and

eventual teen. Some of my earliest memories as a young person involve being inquisitive

about what exactly my friends were doing when they went to Sunday Schools and church

services around town. Being a member of a non-church going family in a small rural

farming town in SC was not an easy burden to shoulder. I often felt odd, curious and

inquisitive all at the same time when riding my bike on a quiet Sunday morning in

Mullins, SC. Eventually, I felt what could only be described as a sense of shame as I

enjoyed more of my weekend while I watched my friends get dragged away to Church

(or so it seemed).

When my family did start to attend church when I was 13, I was immediately

inquisitive about doctrine, ritual, creeds, teachings and traditions. I dove heavily into

studying the Bible on my own terms and have fond memories of roaming the town’s

small (very small) bookstore and library looking for books about the person of Jesus or

the history of Christian theology. Almost immediately, I was interested in the historical

nature of the Old and New Testaments and spent a great deal of free time at night during

my high school years studying any commentary or books on the Historical Jesus that I

could find with our limited resources. As I grew up and older, this wonderment at the

historical context of the biblical texts has only intensified as I’ve been able to access

more and more information due to the explosion of the internet and my own learned

capabilities at doing research. Accordingly, when I first felt my call to the ministry (in

whatever shape that may take) at age 16, I knew that call was grounded, and in some
ways reliant, on my personal quest to understand and come closer to the actual person of

Jesus.

While my ideas and nuances of what that course of study and approach have

matured over the last decade, my child-like wonder about the person of Jesus and the

transmission of his teachings through the layers of time by the church (and those who

stood against it), still influence my own personal theology. As I attend Divinity School

and work on my own sense of pastoral ministry and calling, I realize that this early

interaction (or lack thereof) with Christianity has impacted my own walk of faith

tremendously. I am thankful for that, as it has given me a unique perspective from which

to minister.

BE

With my own background in mind, the primary function of the “Be” statements

that I find most applicable to my own notion of ministry and self-hood is the charge that a

person has a biblical attitude toward all forms of power (political, economic, physical,

intellectual, etc). This charge can be a crutch for some who are looking to find an easy

escape into the trappings of biblical infallibility. This charge can also provide a crutch for

someone who is not comfortable with their own calling or position in a congregation and

is seeking to find a way to put all the focus on Christ or the literal words handed down to

us through a process of human-derived textual transmission.

Rather than those circumstances, I see this charge as the umbrella under which my

entire being is dictated. In my rendering, having a biblical attitude to all forms of power
is an incredibly difficult proposition and challenge that cannot be arrived at with a

veneer-layered surface faith. Instead, taking on this burden (and I use that word not only

in the negative but also in the positive and challenging sense) binds a person to the person

of Christ and to the cross of Christ. For me, this charge is highest calling a person can

ascribe to since they are willingly submitting their own freedom and consciousness to he

will of God rather than their own selfhood. As a result, this charge is transformed from

being a crutch into being a powerful agent of change for the person willing to surrender

to the yoke of God and find their own freedom through this submission.

Within this umbrella of biblical attitude towards power, there are many sub-

directories which can be discussed as part of the Be statements that apply directly to my

own sense of ministry and servant hood to humanity and God. First, the charge of being

a life-long learner might seem at first to be common sense and almost a throwaway

statement. However, in the context of congregational ministry, this conception of a

person as a perpetual learner of new information, theologies, ideas or approaches to God

is quite challenging. In the position of power as a congregational minister with years of

training, education and experience (especially given the eternal truths which the position

of a minister relies upon for the foundations of reality), it is seemingly quite easy for a

person to fall into the trap of becoming too reliant on previous knowledge or experience

rather than always seeking out new ideas, new modes of thinking and new approaches to

solving problems, serving God or serving humanity. Instead, what I try to instill in my

own selfhood is a recurring sense of always learning, always looking for God’s action in

the world and always being open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in this creation.

Secondly, under the umbrella of having a biblical attitude towards all forms of
power, it is incredibly important for me that people who have professed faith in Jesus and

carry the name Christian understand the depth and ramifications of bearing that burden.

In my own personal theology, this is not a simple or easy. This is beyond difficult and

requires both a sense of a developing biblical worldview as well as the ability to always

be a lifelong learner. Professing a faith in Jesus is a deadly serious affair that radically

transforms a person and binds them to both the cross and the historical imperative of

acting to bring about the Kingdom of God. In other words, as I grow in my own theology

and faith, I am learning and realizing more that calling ones-self a Christian is not

something to be taken lightly.

Along those lines, understanding that a person has a deep sense of call to a

ministry as a vocation and then acting upon that call is an incredibly intensive, personal

(yet community-minded) and radical experience. As I grow in my own faith and come to

understand and reconcile my own sense of calling more through the years (a process

which I hope never ceases), I am realizing that a calling to the ministry is not something

that is to be taken lightly or without proper understanding of one own’s limitations,

abilities and potential. Probably the most helpful tool I’ve had in this process is the

Profiles of Ministry process this semester. This process has helped me to ascertain my

own inherit biases, where my potential ministry lacks and how I might be able to take

steps to improve upon these deficiencies to become a more responsible and accountable

minister of the faith. Particularly in this calling process, I have been able to put my

thumb on a number of areas such as my potential to place the needs of my ministry over

my own family’s needs as well as a potential perception of self serving behavior. These

factors have already impacted my own self awareness and will continue to do so as I
navigate the seminary, ordination and ministry processes.

Lastly, under the umbrella of “Being” representative by having a biblical attitude

towards various forms of power, the charge of having the appropriate respect for (and

being able t work with) those in authority has been an area I’ve always struggled with

because of my own late coming to the faith as well as my own already strong notions of

self. I have never been one to think that we need to sacrifice our own personalities or

perspectives in the service of God. Rather, I have always felt that we are each created

with our uniqueness in order to add to the Kingdom of God with our own unique

circumstances. From theological and scientific points of views, it is nothing short of a

miracle that we exist. Therefore, we should celebrate our unique perspectives in the

service of God. However (as my Profiles of Ministry process has shown), this worldview

can lead to potential problems with the perspective of respect of authority (whether

intentional or unintentional). It is a situation I’ve always dealt with in my own academic

and personal life and will continue to impact my life and future roles in ministry.

KNOW

In my own personal theology as well as my own conception of ministry, the

charges of a Gardner-Webb Divinity student graduate associated with “Knowing” are of

the utmost importance. While this area of theological education is often quickly

abandoned or even overlooked by congregational ministers, I find great consolation in the

writings of thinkers such as Helmut Thielecke who urge for a sense of reconciling the

seemingly separated worlds of faith and knowledge. For my own conception of ministry
and following the teachings of Jesus, having a theological rationale for the practice of

ministry is not only important but also crucial for success in a pastoral setting (or in the

setting as a follower of Jesus). Simply put, one has to have both a theological and

historical grounding for why they understand what they understand. Anything less than

this comes dangerously close to Gnosticism or the sense of a shallow faith which Paul

warns us against.

In my Profiles of Ministry process, I’ve recognized that it is the “Know” section

of charges for Gardner-Webb Divinity graduates that performs as the hinge for my

notions of practice (both theoretical and practical). Because of my background of coming

to the church later in life and then having a sincere urging to understand the foundations

of belief, as well as the person of Jesus, I place a heavy importance on this section. In

many ways, this importance has the potential to be weighted too heavily compared to

other aspects of ministry. Therefore, it is something that I deeply value yet also am

becoming increasingly aware as a potential spot of trouble for my ministry.

However, within this context of knowing, it is paramount for all believers to have

a sense of willingness to learn the content of the scriptures if they are to become

actualized persons in Christ. Similarly, it is important for believers to know and be

familiar with the approaches that can be taken to learn more about the scriptures. So, as

part of my own congregational ministry, I see it as a relevant and important duty to help

parishioners (old and new) arrive at a deeper and more meaningful conception of faith by

pointing them towards the tools and resources they can utilize to learn more about the

scriptures. This is a particular area where I feel very passionate and feel that the modern

church (especially the Baptist church) has been lacking in terms of its duties to both God
and humanity. Baptists, of all congregations, have the most potential to strengthen their

faith and commitment to God through study of the scriptures because of the primacy that

Baptists have historically put on the study of the entire Bible.

DO

The Do section of charges for Gardner-Webb Divinity School graduates is one

that is particularly interesting for me. I often resist the urgings of fellow seminarians to

boil things down and make ideas or papers more “practical” in nature. However, I see

these eighteen charges as completely in line with how I view my own conceptions of

ministry and have no problem with any of them. These are all precepts that we should

seek to achieve within our own personal theologies and persons regardless of how the

“Be” and “Know” sections are viewed.

Perhaps it is the strong urging of these charges to consider action verbs such as

“lead,” “interpret,” “baptize,” “model,” etc that I find so applicable. Regardless, these

are practical considerations that cannot be discounted or taken away from the other two

sections. Rather than viewing them on their own, I tend to think of these ideals and

prescriptions as complimenting and accentuating the previous two sections (and very

much needed to provide reality to them).

Perhaps the most important reflection in this section is that we should (as

Thielecke urged) keep in mind the importance of synthesis and why it is beyond

important that we not rely just on our seminary learning and academic background to get

through problems or situations that will inevitably present themselves in the context of
congregational ministry. It is this aspect of synthesis that I constantly keep in the

forefront of my head as I navigate through the rest of my time in seminary.

CONCLUSION

Seminary is not an easy process to arrive at or to participate in. There are

numerous side routes, detours, challenges, speed bumps, hurdles and pot-holes that can

stand in the way of a person going through this process. However, the prescriptions and

charges laid out in the Be, Know, Do statement along with the Profiles of Ministry

process has helped me to more confidently (yet more apprehensively aware) navigate this

road less taken. In context, following God has the exact similar challenges presented to

seminarians. We are to be models of spirituality, learning and actualization for those

pilgrims who are joining us on this journey towards God.