The Center for Pastor Theologians

A little over a month ago I stumbled across an organization called the Center for Pastor Theologians through a colleague also studying at the University of St Andrews. One of the aims of CPT (which used to be called the Society for the Advancement of Ecclesial Theology, as it's referred to in the video below) is to foster a network of pastors who understand theological writing to be a part of the expression of their pastoral vocation in the local church. You can get a sense of the vision of the program in this video:


When I heard about the fellowships that CPT offers, I contacted Gerald Hiestand, the director of CPT, about the possibility of applying even though I'm not currently serving in the local church. He told me to go ahead and send in an application, and about a week ago I had a skype interview with the leadership of the organization. Last weekend, I got the word that I'd been accepted as an Associate Fellow (I'll drop the associate tag upon completion of my PhD and return to local church ministry). What this means is that this summer I'll fly over to the States for a three day symposium where I'll meet with the other pastors in my group to discuss a book and engage with our fellowship's mentor (in our case Doug Sweeney, a professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) and another guest consultant who has expertise in our particular topic. In the past, the books have been Kevin Vanhoozer's The Drama of Doctrine and James Davidson Hunter's To Change the World, and this summer we'll be looking at the book Christian Theology and Market Economics, with Dr. Stephen Gabrill coming along as our guest consultant.

I continue to feel strongly that my calling is to the local church, but at the same time we've felt quite sure that getting a PhD at St Andrews was the right next step for us.  I know of quite a few pastors who have pursued an academic PhD as a part of their calling and have integrated that into their particular set of gifts.  For me, the CPT provides a network of relationships and also examples in the other pastors I'll meet for how what I'm doing in St Andrews can be a part of the larger calling that I've been given to ordained ministry in the local church. 

I'm looking forward to the trip and to getting to know some of the other folks in my fellowship.  I've met some of the folks in the other fellowship -- Trygve Johnson, who is the dean of the chapel at Hope College, and Greg Thompson, who pastors Trinity Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville, VA (and who Kate heard preach quite a bit during her year in Cville) -- and they are great pastors whom I respect greatly.  Grateful for this opportunity and looking forward to the experience.