The professionalization of the pastorate has been taking place for some time now. David Wells has traced it back to the nineteenth century (see No Place For Truth). John Piper has written a remedy to this trend of professionalization in his book, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals.
Not mincing words, Piper states, “We pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry” (1).
Later Piper contrasts the professional with the pastor:
We are fools for Christ’s sake, but professionals are wise. We are weak, but professionals are strong. Professionals are held in honor; we are in disrepute. We do not try to secure a professional lifestyle, but we are ready to hunger and thirst and be ill-clad and homeless. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things (2).
