PROFILE OF A PASTOR

The faculty of the Baptist Theological College in Randburg, South Africa, came up with the following profile for the training of students for full-time Christian ministry. Some of the items will be specific to our context (as Baptists in South Africa) but the majority of items should be common for pastors in general.

1. CHARACTER

A. Spirituality
Holy; fruit of the Spirit; spiritual maturity; godly; sense of call; godly reliance; excellence.

B. Leadership
Hard working; peacemaker; leadership; servanthood; followship; sincere; example; respectable; appropriate; humility; adaptable; flexible; discernment; stable; work with people.

C. Intra-personal
Self-controlled; diligent; effective; teachable; integrity; gentle; hold to truth; excellence; desire to learn and grow; manage personal life; peace.

D. Inter-personal
Warmth; compassion; approachable; relaxed; sense of humour; respect for others; reputation with 'outsiders'; work with people; tolerance; forgiving.

2. SKILLS

A. Spiritual
Spiritual warfare; spiritual disciplines.

B. Personal
Management skills; family; personal management; stewardship; life skills; administration; pastoral duties; time management; organisational; bivocational skills.

C. Interpersonal
Counselling; referral; caring; hurt; conflict resolution; interpersonal skills; cross-cultural skills; communication; hermeneutics, homiletics, exegesis; community; group skills ; motivational; mobilising; decision-making; tolerance.

D. Ministry
Social issues; contextualisation; handling of issues; setting forth truth; preaching; evangelism; church planting; mission; doing theology; applied theology and ethics; multi-racialism.

3. KNOWLEDGE

A. Biblical Knowledge
What is the Bible; biblical content.

B. Theological Knowledge
Basic/overview of Christian doctrine; theology in Africa and South Africa.

C. Ministry Knowledge
As derived from character and skills; missions; multi-lingualism; social realities, anthropology; contemporary society.

D. Identity Knowledge
Church history, especially African and South African; Baptist principles; South African history.

ASPECTS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT
1. Multi-lingualism
2. Multi-racialism
3. Tolerance
4. History
5. Reconstruction (RDP)
6. Reconciliation (TRC)
7. Social re-engineering
8. Crime and violence
9. Sexism
10. Classism
11. Unemployment
12. African context
13. International context
14. Lowering of average age of population
15. Immorality
16. 'Secular'

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