What is Competency?

You are reading an entry from 11th October 2012 in Church Matters, a blog by our general editor, Paul Beasley-Murray. If you wish to leave a comment, please visit paulbeasleymurray.com.

I do not know the details of the case. Apparently some felt that he was not a sufficiently strong leader, and that this was the root cause of why the church was in decline. Part of his defence was Acts 2.47, where Luke wrote of the early church: “day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved”. Had I been my friend, I might have questioned whether my accusers had been playing their part – or was one reason for the church’s decline their resistance to change.

However, what interests me in this case was the word ‘competency’. This is one of the latest ‘in’-words. Now that churches cannot force their ministers to retire at the age of 65, I am told that the way to get rid of them is to accuse them of ‘incompetency’.

The Ministry Department of the Baptist Union in collaboration with Principals of Baptist Colleges has produced a list of ‘core ministerial competencies’ they wish to see developed in ministerial candidates.

They include

• The ability to study, understand, and communicate the beliefs, practices, story and Scriptures of the Christian faith, within and beyond the congregation, and to live a life of Christian discipleship and witness consistent with that understanding
• The ability to understand Baptist history, principles and practices....
• The ability to offer servant leadership....
• The ability to offer high levels of informed and compassionate pastoral care and support...
• The ability to lead a church in its mission
• The ability to develop and maintain a spirituality that will sustain a life-long ministry...
• The ability to manage self...
• The ability to lead others

And so the list goes on, but as it does it becomes in my opinion somewhat banal. For instance:

• The ability to effectively use basic IT resources and media
• The ability to manage child-protection and vulnerable-adult policies

It is not that these are unimportant – indeed, the protection of children and vulnerable adults is absolutely vital. But I fail to understand why others cannot share such responsibilities. Certainly in my own church these abilities are delegated to others.

I much prefer the list of ‘benchmarks for ministry’ drawn up by the United Reformed Church. They define ‘a minister of Word and Sacraments’ in the URC as a person who is:

• A faithful disciple....
• A theologian.....
• A worshipper and worship leader...
• A pastor....
• An educator....
• A missionary and evangelist....
• A collaborator and community builder...
• A public figure....
• A communicator ..

However, important as it is to define ‘competencies’ or ‘benchmarks’ of ministry, by friend was surely right in arguing that ultimately our ‘competency’ comes not from our abilities, but from God himself. In this respect some words of Paul in 2 Corinthians are apposite. At the end of 2.16 he asked: “Who is sufficient for these things?” – literally, “who is ‘competent’ for these things?”. In his defence he essentially replies “I am”. He argues that people only have to look at the church in Corinth to see how the Spirit has been at work in their hearts (3.1-2). And yet Paul is aware of his own weakness. His confidence in ministry is not in his own ability, but rather “our competence is from God” (3.5). Perhaps my minister-friend was right after all in putting the ‘blame’ for the lack of his growth on the Lord! What do you think?