Several years ago, I talked to a young woman who had left the faith and begun living with her boyfriend. I asked her what had caused these radical changes in her life. 

There were many things, she replied, but the major catalyst was a confrontation with her pastor. Her college studies had raised troubling questions about her faith. When she brought those questions to him, instead of answering them, he told her not to question his spiritual authority. The pastor, it turned out, had less formal education than she did and took her questions as a personal insult rather than an honest inquiry. Her troubling questions unanswered, and now alienated from her church by her pastor, she began to drift away.

Theological Anemia
Stories like this are common in churches. We interpret them as cautionary tales about the dangers higher education can pose to faith. Sometimes that is indeed what they are - though not in the young woman's case. Instead, her story is a cautionary tale about the dangers theologically unprepared pastors can pose to members of their churches, especially when they become unnecessarily defensive. 

Pastors have tremendous influence within a congregation. Used properly, that influence points people to Jesus Christ. Misused or abused, however, it points them away from Him.

In their book The Pastor Theologian, Gerald Hiestand and Todd Wilson write about "the theological anemia of the church." Medical anemia is a deficiency of oxygen-bearing red blood cells, resulting in weakness and fatigue, among other things. By analogy, theological anemia is a deficiency of sound doctrine in the body of Christ, resulting in moral laxity and missional apathy, among other things. Hiestand and Wilson argue that "what we believe about God, ourselves, and the world inevitably informs our vision of the good life. And this vision in turn shapes our desires, which then direct our actions."

Many Christians' eyes glaze over when they hear terms like theology or doctrine, which they associate with their congregation's Statement of Faith they learned in membership class but never heard about again. Hiestand and Wilson mean something different than canned statements recited from rote memory.

"The theologian seeks to grasp and then articulate the central message of the gospel in such a way that the gospel becomes the norm by which all the various messages [about who we are, who God is and what it means to live the good life] are judged worthy or unworthy of belief," they write.

Spiritual and moral renewal requires theological renewal.

Good theology, in this sense, shapes good desires and good actions; bad theology misshapes them both.

As an example of the shaping power of theology, consider what Paul says about the Resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. The Corinthians received salvation when they believed the gospel Paul preached to them (verses 1-2). The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is an essential component of that gospel (verses 3-8). Some Corinthian Christians denied the resurrection of the dead, however (verse 12). Paul exposed the logical conclusion to that bad theology: "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ... And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins" (verses 13,17).

Paul went on to argue that absent the Resurrection, the Corinthians had no reason to endure suffering for Christ's sake, as Paul himself had done - and as Christians around the world continue to do. He asked, "why do we endanger ourselves every hour?" (verse 30).

Not only that, they had no reason to live holy lives. "If the dead are not raised, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die' " (verse 32).

For Paul, good theology shapes a life of faith, endurance and holiness. Bad theology, on the other hand, shapes lives of disbelief, impatience and sinfulness.

Surely American Christians are doing better than their first-century Corinthian counterparts, right? Hiestand and Wilson disagree: "Divorce rates among evangelicals are not substantially better than the culture at large; the sexual ethics of evangelical singles are virtually indistinguishable from their non-Christian counterparts; and avarice and greed are now so common that we gaze at our excesses without blinking."

There are many causes of this "moral laxity," but Hiestand and Wilson ask, "who will deny that a failure of belief is at least partly to blame?" (emphasis in original).

Not me. Certainly not Paul. So what is the antidote? In Romans 12:2, Paul wrote: "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (emphasis added).

Spiritual and moral renewal requires theological renewal.

Chief Theological Officer
In the local church, whose responsibility is this? 

To answer that question, think of a bull's-eye with three concentric circles. The outer circle is the congregation as a whole. The middle circle is the class of Christian leaders generally. The inner circle is the pastor - meaning the senior or lead pastor - specifically. To some degree, all bear some responsibility for the work of theological renewal, as the following Scriptures demonstrate:

• Congregation: "contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God's holy people" (Jude 3).
• Christian leaders: "So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:11-13).
• Pastor: "Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction" (2 Timothy 4:2). Also, "command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer" (1 Timothy 1:3). 

As goes the pastor, so goes the church.

All Christians bear some responsibility for theological renewal, but pastors bear special responsibility. Hiestand and Wilson explain: "the burden of maintaining the theological and ethical integrity of the people of God is inevitably linked to an office within the church, not to a group of people with intellectual giftings. Insofar as pastors bear the day-to-day burden of teaching and leading God's people, they simply are the theological leaders of the church. As goes the pastoral community, so goes the church" (emphasis in original).

I would take Hiestand and Wilson's remark one step further and focus on the role of the senior or lead pastor - i.e., the pastor. Paul addresses Timothy and Titus as individual pastors in his letters to them, assuming that they exercise final authority over a church or group of churches. Though different Christian traditions practice different forms of church governance (i.e., congregational, presbyterian, or episcopal), each of them recognizes the need for a first-among-equals in the leadership structure of the local church. This person does not bear full responsibility for the theological renewal of the church, but he or she does bear final responsibility.

To use a modern corporate analogy, the pastor is the chief theological officer (CTO) of the local church. A modern corporation has three basic tiers in its organizational structure: labor, management and C-suite leaders (e.g., chief executive officer, chief operations officer, chief financial officer). All contribute to the design, manufacture and distribution of the corporation's product. The chief executive officer (CEO) bears overall final responsibility, however. He or she reports to the board of directors, which represents the interests of the shareholders. If the corporation does not turn a profit, the CEO's job is on the line.

In a similar way, as noted above, all Christians bear some responsibility for the theological renewal of the local church. But a greater share of responsibility lies with church leaders ("pastors and teachers"), and the final responsibility lies with the senior or lead pastor. The pastor is CTO. This greater responsibility explains why pastors are "worthy of double honor" (1 Timothy 5:17), not to mention why they will be "judged more strictly" (James 3:1).

As goes the pastor, so goes the church.

Leading Theological Renewal
How, then, does the CTO lead theological renewal in the local church? Through a combination of self-leadership and other-leadership.

Self-leadership refers to those practices that develop the character and competence of a leader. It is internal and personal in nature. For CTOs, there are two essential self-leadership practices.

Paradoxically, the first is followership. When Jesus called Simon and Andrew out of their fishing boat, He said: "Come, follow me … and I will send you out to fish for people" (Mark 1:17).

Following Jesus always precedes leading others. Forgetting this is one of the greatest temptations church leaders face. When we succumb to this temptation, God becomes an object to be analyzed rather than a Person to be loved. Practicing spiritual disciplines is the best way to resist this temptation. The goal is to be filled with the Spirit of Jesus Christ on a continual basis.

Being Spirit-filled has a direct bearing on the theological task. "The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit" (1 Corinthians 2:14). Absent the abiding presence of the Spirit within us, our faith and our theology tend to rest on "human wisdom" rather than "God's wisdom" (2:4,7).

How, then, does the CTO lead theological renewal in the local church? Through a combination of self-leadership and other-leadership.

The second essential practice is seeking continuing education. Late in life, Paul asked Timothy to "bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments" (2 Timothy 4:13).

Paul was attentive to his own physical needs ("the cloak") but also to his intellectual needs ("the scrolls"). Likewise, pastors should commit themselves to a regimen of physical and intellectual fitness. They must especially be lifelong learners. Pursuing advanced theological education at a seminary or graduate school is one way to do this. Cultivating a habit of reading biblical  commentaries, Church histories, systematic theologies and studies in apologetics is an even more important way. Theological leaders must be readers.

Whereas self-leadership is internal and personal, other-leadership is external and interpersonal. In other words, it is leadership per se, the ability to influence the thoughts, emotions and actions others take. To lead theological renewal, CTOs should implement the following four practices.

1. Practice expository preaching. "Preach the word," Paul exhorted Timothy (2 Timothy 4:2). Pastors, whether senior or associate, do many things, but preaching and teaching is a core ministry function that they cannot outsource.

The best way to preach and teach theologically is to do so inductively rather than deductively. This means expository preaching, where we start with Scripture, reveals its theology and shows how that theology shapes the lives of Christians.

For example, a sermon on Philippians 2:1-11 would show that the Christian life is one of unity: "[be] like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind" (verse 2). Unity requires that Christians set aside "selfish ambition [and] vain conceit," and instead "in humility value others above yourselves" (verse 3). The theological underpinning of that unity-through-humility is the incarnation of Jesus Christ, "[w]ho, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage" (verse 6).

Deductive sermons - in which we define a doctrine and cite proof texts in support of it - have their place. However, they tend to be unemotional, impractical and overly intellectual. Expository sermons, being inductive, keep heart, hands and head together, for Scripture always addresses the whole person. Expository preaching is inherently theological and practical because Scripture is inherently theological and practical.

2. Strive for theologically rich worship services.  Sound theology is caught as well as taught. While expository preaching shoulders the burden of explicit theologizing, other elements of the worship service carry that burden implicitly too, especially congregational singing, the Lord's Supper and water baptism. Sung doctrine stays with worshipers long after they have forgotten the points of a pastor's sermon. And the tangible qualities of the ordinances, when explained from Scripture, leave a lasting impression on the participant.

3. Build a theologically competent staff.  When congregations hire pastors, when pastors hire associates or when associates hire volunteers with teaching duties, they look for "the three C's": character, competence and chemistry. Do they demonstrate integrity? Can they do the job? Do they work well with others? Unfortunately, church leaders rarely examine theological competence beyond a cursory, "Do you agree with our Statement of Faith?"

Pastors and other Christian leaders should look for more than a check-off-the-box orthodoxy from teachers. They also should look for biblical fluency, sound theological judgment and the ability to  research questions to which they do not have immediate answers.

4. Delegate nonessential functions.  The local church is a spiritually gifted congregation in which all members must exercise their ministries (1 Corinthians 12:7-31).

Unfortunately, too many pastors take on responsibilities that are not essential to their ministries, robbing congregational members of the exercise of their spiritual gifts and stealing pastors' time that could be more profitably spent studying for Sunday sermons and other Bible lessons. This results in congregational frustration and pastoral burnout.

The answer to this twofold problem is to delegate to others whatever is not essential to pastoral ministry. The apostles modeled delegation when they appointed deacons to "wait on tables" so they could focus on "the ministry of the word of God" (Acts 6:1-4). Both table waiting and Word ministry are essential functions of the Church, but the former is essential to the ministry of deacons and the latter to the ministry of pastors. We accomplish more for the kingdom of God by distributing ministry as the Spirit provides the gifts.

Questions Welcomed, Answers Given
Recognizing that counterfactuals are tricky propositions, I wonder whether the young woman I mentioned at the outset would have made different choices had her pastor responded differently to her. What if, instead of dismissing her questions, he had taken the time to answer them? What if, instead of seeing her questions as a personal insult, he had seen them as a spiritual opportunity to help her grow in Christ? 

The present generation is not committed to church but is interested in God. An effective Christian outreach to them will depend on our ability, as pastors, to sit patiently with others as they ask tough questions about God. Are you creating that kind of environment at your church - where questions are welcomed and answers are given?

This article originally appeared in the October-November 2015 issue of Influence magazine.