Hogwarts, though it is the greatest school of wizardry in the world, cannot prevent the vast turnover of professors teaching Defense against the Dark Arts. Their lives intimately touch darkness, which tends to prevail in the end. However, living with darkness, they are great teachers of Defense against the Dark Arts. Haunted by its eerie past, Hogwarts cares deeply about this position, for it saw many of its best alumni mindlessly drawn to Voldemort, losing faith in the institution’s philosophy and following You-Know-Who in doing the darkest of deeds. Anxiously, readers anticipate meeting the next Defense against the Dark Arts professor each new academic year at Hogwarts.
Do seminaries take seriously the potential for ministers to lose their faith? Granted, losing one’s faith while in the pastorate is nothing like following Voldemort. However, pastors face no greater darkness than this. Apart from faith, pastors (1) are irrelevant, (2) have no comfort in the world, and (3) have forfeited their livelihood. Therefore, a pastor cannot function in ministry estranged from faith. Seminaries might seriously consider providing students with Defense against Loss of Faith curriculum. But, would this be enough to assure steadfast faith in pastors?
Without faith, pastors are irrelevant. Ministry is solely about faith in the gospel. When pastors preach, they preach faith in the gospel. When pastors preside over weddings, they do so pointing to faith in the gospel. A pastor offers no hope at a funeral, save faith in the gospel. The purpose of pastoral care, is it not faith in the gospel? Apart from faith, the pastor has no real voice on the session or at presbytery. The gospel, as Paul told us, “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith” (Rom.1:16).
Pastors have no comfort in the world apart from faith. To the world, however, faith in the gospel is silly. Paul has plenty to say about this in 1 Corinthians 1-3. He does not hide the fact that faith sounds ridiculous to the world. It makes sense only to those who possess it. This is clearly the case in the account of Jesus’ prayer written in John: “I have given them your word [faith in the gospel], and the world hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world” (John 17:14-16). If faith in the gospel is foolishness to the world, then so is the pastor’s vocation. Pastors who, having lost their faith, then turn to the world for comfort find themselves utterly alone. They have left their only comfort in life and in death (see Heidelberg Catechism, Q1.).
Lastly, if pastors turn away from faith, they forfeit their livelihood. Faith in the gospel is from faith to faith. Paul says of the gospel, … In it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith (Romans 1:17). The pastor lives out this continuum of faith. While everyone suffers burnout, emotional strife, and scores of other occupational anxieties, few want to believe that a pastor, like anyone else, would ever try to escape from this life lived from faith to faith. But they do. We belittle this real threat sometimes because we assume pastors have strong faith. To make matters worse, the Bible teaches that to forfeit faith means to forfeit life (Hebrews 10:26-31). This holds true for anyone who takes Scripture seriously. Faith in the gospel, though, is the pastor’s occupation; it permeates all of her or his everyday life. Therefore, pastors abandon their livelihood if they walk away from faith.
Clearly, pastors cannot function in ministry apart from faith. There is so much on the line: their relevancy; their comfort for worldly living; and their livelihood. Thus, it is crucial that seminaries begin searching for their equivalent to Defense against the Dark Arts professors — like those at Hogwarts, who have an intimate relationship with darkness. These professors must both grip faith in the gospel and grasp the world of darkness, providing for real experience with what it means to lose faith. Seminaries would not wince at the stretched and torn dogma of these professors, for they would be best equipped to prepare future pastors for defense against loss of faith. Seminaries would then intentionally begin honing pastors’ skills in that endeavor.
Having sat at the feet of the greatest of such professors, would pastors no longer lose faith? Would they graduate from seminary with all that is needed to maintain relevancy in ministry, comfort in the world, and assurance of livelihood? Not according to our confessional heritage. Whether with Jesus to the rich young ruler or with Columbo at the climax of each investigation, the Presbyterian Church says to us here, “Just one more thing.” That one thing is the fact that we are not Christians, and especially not pastors, alone. Historically, Presbyterians have confessed their belief that without fellowship with one another there is no fellowship with God (see Second Helvetic Confession, XVII, 5.126). Wrestling with faith is foundational to ministry. Loss of faith, even, does not end the story. God preserves the Church, so when one of its members loses faith, the others have faith for that one. If I ever find that I can no longer believe, you, my Christian sister or brother, will believe for me. Maybe, just maybe, having studied under the optimal professor of Defense against Loss of Faith, pastors still would discover that the best defense against loss of faith is the fellowship of those who struggle with faith — the priesthood of all believers.
Mike Sears is pastor of Olney Church, Gastonia, N.C.
