Taking every thought captive for obedience to Christ (2 Cor. 10.5)

Disciplines
Professions
The term “professions” was originally applied to a category of vocations requiring specialized training, certification upon entrance, adherence to a code of ethics or standards, and ongoing certification and review. One of the perhaps unspoken objectives of the professions was to have a class of workers, dealing with fundamental issues in the areas of education, spiritual and moral life, law, science, medicine, business, and engineering, who would buoy society above the getting-and-spending pragmatism of a free market economy. Preparation for a calling in the professions was intended to enable people to make difficult decisions in uncertain situations, based on standards of truth and the common weal.

Now Howard Gardner fears that the professions in America may be in a state of self-destruction (“Is There a Future for the Professions? An Interim Verdict,” The Hedgehog Review, Spring 2016). A professor at Harvard, Dr. Gardner believes that professionals need to rally to resist the twin enemies of money and technology which are undermining craft and distinctiveness in all areas of professional endeavor.

I don’t know whether the lofty, disinterested ideal of the professions ever existed, but certainly the materialistic drift of our society has affected this as well as all other sectors of our economy and culture. Increasingly, regard for the bottom line drives the answers to questions in all areas of our society. Dr. Gardner believes the professions are being undermined by too much emphasis on making money and too-easy access to information for everyone via the Internet.

Some professions, Dr. Gardner believes, may need to be retooled. Even the role of university professor has become more an instrument of political indoctrination than a servant of truth. The same could be said for certain of the sciences as well as for the health care industry.

So perhaps a little shaking and upsetting of the professional order is needed. Dr. Gardner recommends that professionals recover meaningful standards and practices that will make them the “go-to” sector for the difficult social and moral questions of the day – beyond what a quick Google search might produce – but that protect them against mere pecuniary interest.

Is this really possible? Can we expect the professions to break free of the grip of Mammon, simply by screwing up their resolve and promising to do better?

Not unless something happens in the hearts of professionals to allow them to exalt truth above personal interest and service above self-aggrandizement.

Of course, not all professionals have stepped into the trap of materialism. But Dr. Gardner is looking at trends, and he doesn’t like what he sees. His call to reform the professions may go unheeded, but it’s a needed call nonetheless.

Certainly within the Church we should hearken to this call and re-evaluate the way we train those professionals who lead our churches and other ministries. Why is it, for example, that today in America, more evangelical and Bible-believing seminaries are offering more courses of study to more students, and turning out more graduates year by year than ever in our nation’s history, yet for all this ostensibly well-trained leadership, the Church is more marginal to the critical issues of society every year, and the growth rate of church membership is no longer keeping pace with the growth of the population in general?

Has our professional leadership class been inadequately prepared? Or have they, too, fallen into the trap of, if not financial numbers, then numbers of other sorts? And are our professionals more concerned to keep people coming back each week than to watch over and nurture the souls of God’s saints?

What Dr. Gardner sees in the professional population in general is reflected, I believe, in the professionals who lead our churches. I do not consider this situation to be a case of mendacity, but of inadequate preparation, insufficient vision, and non-functional professional accountability. And so, yes, maybe it’s time to review our own sector of this important vocational class.

For reflection
1.  Do you understand the process by which a person is prepared to become a pastor in a church? How would you know whether or not that process is in need of reform?

2.  How can you tell when the leadership of a church is more concerned for “numbers” than for seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness?

3.  What means exist for holding our church professionals accountable to the standards and guidelines of Scripture?

Next steps: Share your thoughts about these questions with some of your Christian friends. What thoughts do they have?

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