Do you wonder at my urgency when I tell you that Bishops and presiding elders have many times sadly declared to me that few men of any class are applying for admission to the many annual conferences, and in many cases not a single candidate applies in a single year; and when they do, oftentimes they are weak men. In one case eighteen men applied for admission to an annual conference in a certain State and not one of them was intellectually qualified to pursue the course of study prescribed for the first year, and to the credit of the conference they were not admitted. Certainly the Baptist brethren are not more blessed than their Methodist friends. The smaller denominations are confronted with a similar lack of men to pioneer the enterprises which are theirs to do. The Master’s words are as true to-day as ever they were: “The harvest is great, but the laborers are few.” The pastors of training and vision are themselves alarmed; the best of the laity are overwhelmed with the magnitude of their task when it is theirs to call a pastor. There was a time when the most choice men of the race entered the ministry. No other door was open, but to-day practically every door open to anybody else is open to the man of ability of the Negro race. This of course depletes the number from which the supply must come.
Even in the days of slavery the great leaders on the plantations were generally preachers, and they were in many cases feared and respected by both white and black. If this preacher chose to be, he was a dangerous man to the institution of slavery and ofttimes was sold. On the other hand, he was usually the source of great blessing to large communities, so much so that there were instances where some such men were given their freedom and commissioned to preach from plantation to plantation, not only to colored people, but oftentimes to white people. The story of the lives of these men reads like romance, and they were the men at the close of the Civil War, who were ready to welcome the school and did their best to lead the people into the ways of true progress. They had great power and influence,—not always sufficient intelligence for their arduous tasks, but they were giants in their day and deserve well-merited praise. To meet the demands of these modern times other giants must be raised up, who can hold the respect of the best trained portion of our people, and at the same time may maintain the confidence of the most humble of every community. We have some men like this. They stand like giant oaks in the forest, towering above the shrubs and undergrowth about them. They are lonely in their work. Here and there, about the great centers of population, there may be groups of them, but eighty per cent of our people are not in the great centers but are scattered throughout the length and breadth of the land in small hamlets and the country districts. These people are too often as sheep without a shepherd. No doubt not many of the shepherds there are doing the best they can. Give them credit for all they do, but the demand is such that a more efficient ministry must enter into every hamlet, and there lift and inspire the people; and possibly the greatest thing to be done in this lifting process is to provide a more efficient and practical training for the men we desire to lead into the ministry. Merely to have men enter this great work without a training, which fits them to cope with the problems of the day, is but a waste of effort. The Negro minister ought to be the best trained man among us in order that he may be able to assume his rightful place as a leader of the people. The training needed for the ministry of to-day must be comprehensive and practical. This will be the means of attracting men of ability and will insure increased efficiency. The emphasis for the training of the ministry to-day needs to be placed upon teaching; not mere oratory, but teaching.
Jesus Christ was a great teacher. Nicodemus said: “We know thou art a teacher sent from God.” Very seldom is it said that Jesus preached, but it is commonly said that he taught the people. The minister who is to be His true representative on earth must also be a teacher, and it is of the greatest importance that his training be such as shall broaden his views of life and shall enable him to understand the relations of human society sufficiently well to warrant his instructing the people in the most helpful way. Unfortunately a great deal of the training of the past has been entirely too narrow. Usually the theological seminaries have been very slow in utilizing the most improved educational methods and have been very active in maintaining the old order of things. What we need to-day for our ministers is a training which will put them in possession of the knowledge of human society just as it is. It is of the greatest importance that a minister should be given a correct training according to the principles of Jesus Christ to treat these conditions. The people are waiting and hungering for this type of leader. There was never a time when the colored people were so willing to be taught from the pulpit as they are to-day.
No ground will be gained by mere denunciation, but what is needed is a splendid constructive method which will build the people up in every phase of life and sweeten human relations. All the people demand of such a teacher is that he should be as good as the doctrine he proclaims and should fully comprehend what he is about. There certainly is no place where larger opportunity is offered for service than in the high calling of the ministry. The average course of study in seminaries provided for both white and colored candidates for the ministry is not calculated to bring them in touch with the problems which are to confront them as it should. The following is a course of study covering three years, and a fair sample of courses provided by seminaries established for colored ministers:
First year: Biblical Introduction; Hebrew Language; Greek Interpretation; Sacred Rhetoric and Elocution; Vocal Music.
Second year: Church History; Hebrew Interpretation; Greek Interpretation; Sacred Rhetoric and Elocution; Vocal Music; Homiletics; Christian Theology.
Third year: Pastoral Duties; Theology and Ethics; Biblical Introduction; Homiletics and Church Polity; Christian Theology; Sacred Rhetoric and Elocution; Electives.
There is not much in this course that inspires men with the gravity of the problems of human society in the beginning of the twentieth century. Too many times in our seminaries men speculate about theories of salvation and various other things labelled doctrines, which are of little or no value to men whose business it is to bring the kingdom of Jesus on earth as it is in heaven. Why spend a term on the theory of salvation when Jesus said, “He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” One man with faith in this and a comprehensive training will do more to save the world than a dozen men can possibly do battling over the theories which have grown up with the church during the past ages. It is unfortunate that many of our ministers have had no systematic training at all, and it is surprising that so much has been accomplished with such poorly equipped men as many of them have been. They are not to be too severely censured. Again I repeat, no band of men in our race has been more self-sacrificing and more desirous on the whole for race uplift and development than these men, and there is no intention at this time to do anything more than to call attention to the great need of a better trained ministry to reenforce the present ranks in an effective way for good. It is encouraging to note a new departure in two leading theological seminaries. Yale Divinity School changed its course very much a year ago. It strengthened the old course, leading to the degree of Bachelor of Divinity, known as historical, also adding a philosophical and lastly a practical course, both of which lead to the B.D. degree. “The practical course will emphasize the relation of the minister to the problems of modern society, giving special attention to Christian sociology, ethics, and methods of Christian activity. As a preliminary discipline students who take this course will receive in the junior year special instruction in sociology and instruction in elementary law in one of the courses furnished by the University for law students.”
The Chicago Theological Seminary has made a similar change and says in a recent catalogue: “The subjects for instruction are those directly relating to the work of the ministry, and courses in the English Bible, the psychology of Christian living, religious pedagogy, evangelism, missions, Christian sociology and citizenship are included in both the prescribed and elective work. Hebrew and Greek have been made almost entirely elective, and much that is traditional in systematic theology, church history, and other departments has had to make room for new subjects. But the seminary authorities, believing that such changes are necessary, hold that the mere fact that a subject has a traditional place in the curriculum of the divinity school should not be a sufficient reason for retaining it. Each subject must continually prove anew its right to be taught and justify itself under modern conditions.” This does not mean less study or a less scholarly man as the finished product; but it does mean that the seminary is to take its place along with other professional schools in fitting men to meet present needs.
The action of the above schools is most encouraging, and no doubt before a great while many other seminaries will follow the same course. This will do for the minister what our medical schools are doing for the physician; it will bring him in daily contact with the conditions which he must meet out in the world. Who would think of running a medical school without a laboratory and a clinic? Young men might know all the books have to say about the property of drugs or the symptoms of diseases, but such men will be handicapped if they are to wait until they go out into actual life before seeing these drugs tried, or the peculiar manifestation of diseases as they make their inroads on the human system. A thorough knowledge of sociology makes it possible for young men who are in our theological seminaries to get some practical knowledge of human relations and conditions of the present time and thereby be better able to apply the potent Gospel as a remedy.