Letters to a Young Pastor: Choosing a Field Education Placement

Dear ______:

I’m glad that you have reached the point in your seminary education that you are having to think about field education. I don’t know what your seminary requires, but hopefully you will have to do at least two placements.

Why two?

Because your education will be more complete if you can see and practice ministry within two very different kinds of churches. When you face the much more complicated process of taking up a pastoral position after seminary you will know at least a little bit by experience about the different possibilities.

(Even if you are thinking that you’ll serve in a non-parish ministry after seminary I strongly recommend that you take at least one placement in an ordinary congregation. Non-parish ministries need close ties to ordinary congregations, and you will need to know how they operate.)

Here are two things to look for — I can write about things to avoid another time if you want.

1. Do field education in a small congregation

First, you really should seek out a position in a small congregation.

What?” you say, “I don’t know anything about small congregations! All my background is in big churches.”

You are in a common situations. I don’t know the statistics, but a whole lot of the people who find themselves called to ministry come from big churches.

I joined a megachurch, University Presbyterian Church in Seattle, when I was a student at the University of Washington. When I headed off to seminary, I thought all Presbyterian churches were like UPC — and that turned out to be flat-out wrong. Most Presbyterian churches are actually quite small.

It is much more typical for a church to have a hundred members on the rolls than to have a thousand.

Getting experience in a church of typical size is really important.

• On the one hand, it will mean you have experience in the kind of congregation most likely to be looking for a pastor when you graduate.
• On the other hand, it will open your eyes to the kind of cells that have made up the Body of Christ for the last two thousand years.

For a church to be small does not mean it is failing. It just means that it is ordinary. Small churches are powerful: they provide worship, fellowship, and community to millions of Christians around the world.

And they are tenacious. Even in the most dire times, battered and bruised from within or without, they will still be there as outposts of God’s kingdom.

You should see that from the inside while you are in seminary so that you know what is possible.

Here’s a joke for you:  What do they call someone who knows how to help a small church thrive and fulfill its part of Christ’s mission?

Answer: “Pastor.”

2. Do field education in a large congregation

The other thing you need to do if you can is find an opportunity to do field education in a large congregation — the larger the better.

Why? Because really amazing things happen in large congregations.

When I started seminary I was told that my church had more students at Princeton Seminary than any other single church — and we had more students at Fuller Seminary than any other single church. That’s a lot of ferment from one ministry of one large church.

Of course you’ll find some from small church backgrounds are pretty skeptical of what happens in megachurches.

And some big churches, perhaps many, lose as many out the back door as come into membership through the front door.

But I’ve known quite a few that have large numbers of members because they do such a good job of

• teaching the faith,
• building supportive community through small groups,
• and getting their members into service in the world around them.

In short, many large churches are doing a great job of fulfilling their part of Christ’s mission.

They can do creative things because their large numbers bring together great resources.

You should see that from the inside while you are in seminary so that you know what is possible.

So use your field education opportunities to know the range of possibilities. Look for a couple very different churches to serve and you’ll benefit for the long haul.

Blessings,

Gary

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