A morning I'll never forget

The story of why I'm doing a PhD

When your boss asks you to sit down so they can have a word, it can be a worrying experience. You urgently start racking your brain, trying to guess what it is that they want to talk to you about. Did I do something? Did I say something? Even if you can’t think of anything, the nerves don’t go away. In fact, they tend to get worse. 

This happened to me one Tuesday morning in February last year. What made the situation especially alarming was the fact that there had been a church elders meeting the night before. So when Simon asked me to take a seat, I couldn’t help replaying the meeting in my mind, looking out for where I had said something amiss. 

‘James, there’s something I would like to talk to you about,’ Simon explained. ‘I’ve been praying about it for a few months now.’ 

It wasn’t last night’s meeting, then. That was a relief.

But then I started reflecting again on Simon's last few words. For a few months?

‘Oh, boy', I thought to myself. ‘He must be really concerned about something!’ 

An even greater shock

So, you can imagine my surprise when Simon explained that the reason he wanted to speak with me was because he thought I should seriously consider doing a PhD. I was half way through the third year of a four year MA with Crosslands Training. As my mentor, Simon had often asked me about my studies. We would regularly discuss assignment choices. We would talk about what I was reading. And we would bat around the implications of what I was learning for our own lives and the lives of people in our church. I loved my course and how it was shaping me as a person and a pastor.

Despite all of this, Simon’s suggestion came as a shock. Sure, I knew a handful of pastors who had done more advanced study. I had even spoken to a few of them about their research. Yet, I had never given a PhD any real thought for myself. I’m not sure why. Maybe it was because of the amount of work that would be involved. Perhaps it was because I assumed there would never be the opportunity. It might even have been because I had this idea that advanced theological study was rather disconnected from real life.

As I look back, it’s hard to say why I had never thought about doing further study. But this was about to change.  

A year later . . .

In February of this year, the elders and deacons at Kensington Baptist Church made the decision to support me through a PhD. I am aiming to do it part-time over the next five years, alongside my work as a pastor in the church. Whilst I still need to finalise my proposal with my prospective supervisor, I am planning to focus on the life and thought of 17th century pastor and scholar Stephen Charnock.

I am aware that not every local church is in a position to free up a member of it’s pastoral staff to do advanced theological study. Indeed, even those churches that could, normally choose to invest their resources elsewhere. So it has been a humbling experience to have had the leaders of Kensington walk with me over the last year. After much listening, talking and praying, together we have come to the conclusion that there was something in Simon’s suggestion, after all. 

But what’s it all for?

It’s a fair question. It's also one I’ve been asked by a number of people over last 12 months, not least myself! Churches often find it challenging enough to care for their own people and help them to share the gospel with others. Should they really be adding theological research to their to-do lists?

As I have been exploring whether I should do further study, I have been growing in my conviction that good theology is for the benefit of God’s people. In Ephesians 4:11-14, the Apostle Paul tells the church in Ephesus:

And [Christ] gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

If the church is to grow in Christ, it needs people doing theology at all levels. Yes, it needs people to be preaching and teaching in the regular life of the local church. But it also needs people reading, reflecting and writing on the often complex issues and ideas that affect the church at any given moment. The church has always needed this. But, as the church in the UK comes under increasing pressure from wider culture, it needs it now as much as ever.¹

I suspect that many Christians would say a big ‘Amen’ to that, at least in principle. The difficulty comes when you consider whose responsibility it is. If churches are already busy with things like evangelism and pastoral care, why can’t universities just take care of the more complex stuff?

This is how things have been done for the last three centuries or so. However, in recent years there has been a growing recognition that this has not been best for the church. As advanced theology has been done in the academy not the church, two things have happened. In the universities theologians have become preoccupied with concerns that often have little to do with issues the church would otherwise face. As Gerald Hiestand and Todd Wilson point out, ‘[t]he result is a lot of theological heavy lifting that fails to generate much in the way of doxology or spiritual formation.’ Conversely, the church has been left bereft of people able to provide intellectual leadership for the crucial issues facing the church. ‘As theologians moved from churches to universities, the theological red-blood-cell count within the pastoral community, and within congregations, fell markedly.’²

Obviously, we are painting with a broad brush here. Various theologians have been able to serve the church from within traditional universities over the last 300 years and we should thank God for them. Theological colleges have also played a valuable role in training people for ministry. However, it is interesting to note that many seminaries and bible colleges have been trying to tighten their connection with the local church in recent years.

The point remains. From Augustine of Hippo to John Calvin to D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the theologians who have been of most help to Christians down the years are those who forged their theology in the local body of believers. This is not a coincidence. As theology is done within the Christian community, it doesn’t distract from mission and discipleship. Rather, it helps mission and discipleship. This is the reason I am doing this PhD.

How you can help

Theology is for the church and is best done within the church. This means it’s a community project. Whilst I will never be an Augustine, Calvin or Lloyd-Jones, I do want to share as much of my learning as I can with people in my local church and further afield.

One way I hope to do this is through this monthly newsletter. Each month I’ll be sending out an email updating you on the progress of my studies and sharing aspects of my learning which are of particular help for life.

There are a number of reasons behind this idea.

1. I need your prayers

   Completing a PhD is a big challenge. To be frank, I am rather daunted by the prospect of producing 80,000 words of original academic work, to say the least. Please pray that the Lord will help me to remain focused and disciplined. Not only that, please also pray that my studies will lead me to a greater delight in Christ. They really should be a joy and not a chore.

2. I need to stay grounded

   Academic theology can often be rather, well, academic. Because good theology is ultimately for the health of the church, I want to encourage myself to regularly apply what I am learning to life and ministry. There may not always be the scope to do this within my formal studies, so I am hoping that this newsletter will provide one way of doing this. So, as you receive these emails in your inbox each month, please feel free to leave a comment and let me know if there is something that has helped you, confused you, or that you would like me to explore further. You never know, the Lord may choose to use your message to spur me on my studies!

3. I need to develop my writing

   Whilst I will need to think well in order to complete my PhD, that will be only half of the battle. I will also need to write well. The most common piece of advice I have received from those who have walked this path before, is the importance of writing regularly. The only problem is that writing is hard. I should know. I’ve found it challenging enough just writing this newsletter!

   I have greatly benefited from Christian writers who draw on rich theology from the past and articulate it in a way which engages my heart today. Through these newsletters, I would like to grow in this too.

Will you join me on the journey?

15 years ago, a member of my family walked from Edinburgh to London without any shoes and without any money. It was a challenging journey. But, as they met people on their travels and shared with them the reason for their walk, many supported them day by day. Some people gave food. Some gave offered a place to stay. Some even walked bits along the way.

I am hoping that this newsletter can be a little bit like that. Whilst my journey is a different one, I will be no less reliant on the support of family and friends as I do my PhD.

Will you join me?

1. Paul Mallard and Dan Strange spoke powerfully on this topic at the FIEC Leaders Conference 2022. You can watch their talk here.

2. Gerald Hiestand and Todd Wilson, The Pastor Theologian: Resurrecting an Ancient Vision (Zondervan, 2015). See also The Center for Pastor Theologians.