BECOMING FRUITFUL
We believe ministers should be both faithful and fruitful. Because people were hoping for a political kingdom (Luke 19:11), Jesus gave us the parable of the ten minas. Here Jesus made clear that before his return, he expected his followers to be faithful and fruitful with the resources and talents they had been given (Luke 19:15-19). Some Christian struggle with Jesus’ expectations of fruitfulness. The king (Jesus), seems really hard on the servant who buries the gifts and resources they have have been given (Luke 19:20-24). Why was Jesus so hard on this wicked servant? There are four reasons. 1) He didn’t share his Master’s agenda for the Kingdom. 2) He didn’t trust his Master’s agenda and so he replaced it with his own. 3) His only concern was for himself. 4) He did nothing to use the gifts and resources he had been given. As his servants, Jesus expects us to join his agenda. His agenda includes fruitfulness with what he gives us. Fruitfulness is always tied to lifelong learning.
Effective Ministry for a Lifetime
The pattern of lifelong learning you began to establish as a district licensed minister and incorporating practices that preserve and deepen your health and well-being, spiritually and otherwise, are especially critical to continue now that you have been ordained. Ordination does not signal that your preparation is completed, but that you have laid a strong foundation for strategic and continuing development toward fruitfulness in ministry. Your preparation for ordination did not exhaust the wealth of resources available to you to lead a healthy church. Though the Bible remains constant, methods of understanding and communicating it are constantly changing. While the theology of the church does not change in a person’s lifetime, there is always the need to apply the gospel in a way that effectively engages the sub-cultures and micro-contexts we find in an ever-changing culture.
Meeting this challenge sometimes gives rise to new ways of expressing theological truth. Beyond this, there is a constant need to improve the skills needed for day-to-day ministry. No one ever reaches the point of having learned enough about human beings and their needs! To be a good steward of the ministry to which God has called you requires lifelong engagement in learning, not only to develop skills and understanding, but to establish practices in your personal and family life that keep you healthy and spiritually attentive.
Expectations / Reporting Lifelong Learning
From the time you complete the Course of Study to the point of your retirement from the ministry, you are to complete at least 20 lifelong learning hours each year. This, in fact, is an important part of your annual report as a minister in the Church of the Nazarene, to responsibly maintain your ordination credential. Below are five expectations spelled out in the Nazarene Manual.
1. Lifelong learning begins when a person receives a local license (Manual, 531), and lifelong learning is a core duty of every Nazarene pastor (Manual 515.11).
2. All ordained ministers are required to annually complete 20 hours (Manual, 538.18).
3. Lifelong learning is required in every minister’s annual report to the District Assembly (Manual 529.6)
4. Lifelong learning guidance is a function of the District Board of Ministry (Manual 538.18, 529.7).
5. Failure to complete lifelong learning requirements for two consecutive years requires the ordained minister to meet with the District Board of Ministry (Manual 529.7).
But more than being something required by the Nazarene movement, developing a pattern of lifelong learning is critical to advancing your capacity to keep your preparation for ministry on pace with the changing context and demands of ministry. It is a matter of offering your best to God and to those you serve.
Resources for You
Quality lifelong learning opportunities include conferences for pastors and leaders, seminars and webinars on various aspects of the ministry and on personal and professional growth, and a host of other activities. Many such programs are offered by our Nazarene colleges and universities, the seminary, our districts, and various divisions of the general church. Local hospitals and mental health organizations, and parachurch organizations also offer quality lifelong learning opportunities from time to time.
Ongoing education is critical for mission! Wherever God calls you to serve, you will be a missionary of the gospel. The changing patterns of culture require constant updating of both knowledge and skills in order to establish outposts of the kingdom of God on earth. The very nature of the church’s mission calls for lifelong learning.
In the Church of the Nazarene, each minister is responsible for reporting his or her own participation in lifelong learning. This is made possible through the Lifelong Learning Registry, a mobile-friendly, multilingual website developed for Nazarene ministers around the world. All lifelong learning hours can be self-reported at learning.nazarene.org. Click here for instructions to enroll on the self-reporting site and reporting lifelong learning hours.