What They Do Not Teach You at Harvard Divinity School: The Minister’s Manual

By Dr. Samuel White III

The Minister’s Manual informs clergy and laity on the “how-to” of the ministry. It offers practical, biblical advice on caring for the homeless, empathizing with the bereaved, counseling juvenile delinquents, healing the soul, comforting the dying, pursuing justice for the oppressed, learning the importance of self-care and much more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9781664265905

Dr. Samuel White III

Dr. Samuel White, III is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School, Pastor, Spiritual Care Manager, prolific writer of 14 books, and founder of Agape Theological Seminary. Dr. White wrote this self-help book to inspire readers, to love themselves, live in the moment, have an attitude of gratitude and enjoy life with Jesus.

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Unless otherwise noted, scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

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ISBN: 978-1-6642-6591-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-6592-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-6590-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022908322

WestBow Press rev. date: 05/17/2022

CONTENTS

Dedication and Thanksgiving

Endorsements

Introduction

Chapter 1: Ministry to the Homeless

Chapter 2: Ministry to the Dying

Chapter 3: Ministry to the Grieving

Chapter 4: Ministry to the Soul

Chapter 5: Ministry of Justice

Chapter 6: Ministry to Youth

Chapter 7: Ministry to the Sick

Chapter 8: Ministry of Self-Care

Final Thoughts

About the Author

About Agape Theological Seminary

Appendix 1: Liturgical Helps

Appendix 2: Pastoral Prayer

Appendix 3: How to Preach a Sermon

Appendix 4: How to Prepare a Eulogy

Appendix 5: How to Conduct a Meeting

Appendix 6: How to Do Conflict Resolution

Appendix 7: How to Do Hospital and Nursing Home Visits

Notes

Bibliography

DEDICATION and

THANKSGIVING

Thanks to my wonderful wife, daughter, and son, who are the wind beneath my wings, empowering me to soar high and achieve my dreams.

Thanks to my mentors, professors, and colleagues in the ministry: Pastor Williams, Dr. Peter Gomes, Dr. Lamar Clark, Rev. Russell Mc Reynolds, Dr. Anthony Shipley, Dr. Carlyle Stewart, Dr. Quincey Cooper, Dr. Kevin Thurman, Rev. Lawrence Foster, Dr. Samuel Bullock, Dr. Deloris F. Brisbon, Dr. Henderson, Dr. Steve Bland, Rev. Deloris Greer-Stevens, and Minister Debra Bean.

I acknowledge and thank Harvard Divinity School, Drew University, Methodist Theological School in Ohio, Ecumenical Theological Seminary, and all divinity schools and seminaries.

I dedicate the knowledge and wisdom of this book to all students, ministers, chaplains, evangelists, missionaries, pastors, prophets, priests, elders, ministers, professors, academic deans, presidents of seminaries, and future ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This book is dedicated to Agape Theological Seminary, which educates, equips, and empowers people for the ministry in the church and the community.

Thanks to the members of Friendship Baptist Church, whom I have had the privilege of serving for over twenty-five years. A special thanks to Elaine Rainey, who diligently edited this work.

Finally, I thank our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who called me into the ministry and enlightened, challenged, and educated me through homeless men, bag ladies, the mentally ill, ex-convicts, social deviants, prostitutes, drug dealers, hustlers, streetwalkers, hospice patients, aging adults, troubled teenagers, the least, the lost, and the left out.

Any wisdom and knowledge presented in this manual is due to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Give him glory!

ENDORSEMENTS

In this book, Dr. Samuel White III offers critical reflections and soul-searching perspectives on pastoral ministry that arrest the reader’s soul. With the precision of an experienced, skilled surgeon, the compassion of a seasoned pastor, and the depth and scope of a prolific critical thinker, he provides the reader with the opportunity to enter a space that is transformative and empowering as he or she travels through each chapter of this great work. Both the seasoned veteran pastor and the novice can benefit from the practical wisdom that is presented on these sacred pages.

—Rev. Tony Curtis Henderson, D. Min, associate professor, practical theology,

Ecumenical Theological Seminary, Detroit, Michigan

Not all seminaries and divinity schools are alike. Some provide ample theological education through scholarship and the deeper currents and trajectories of academic exploration, reflection, and application. Others value and provide a thorough grounding in the deeper meaning of lived human experiences and the practice of ministry through historical and contemporary idioms, ideas, and constructs. It is here that Reverend Dr. Samuel White III brings together the best of both worlds from years as a student in the great academies of higher knowledge and learning and the hard practice of ministry service to countless people in urban and suburban parishes. It is here that Dr. White also speaks compassionately of the great need for ministry education, which addresses in real time the real life and ultimate concerns of those who have been largely ignored or forgotten. It means real ministry in a real world of real people with real needs facing and overcoming real problems and serving a real God where it really matters. This great book qualifies and clarifies a more practical, viable, and relevant approach to theological education and practice that cries out for more participation down here on the ground in the world of everyday life.

—Carlyle Fielding Stewart, PhD, Empowerment Church, spiritual leader, Southfield, Michigan

While the academy and seminary does it’s best to prepare person’s head for ministry, its books like Dr. Samuel White’s that equips both head and heart! He addresses the practical issues that helps those who might say I wish they’d taught me that in Seminary!

—Rev. Dr. Steve Bland, Jr.

Sr. Pastor, Liberty Temple Baptist Church of Detroit

President, Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit & Vic.

State President, Michigan Progressive Baptist Conv.

INTRODUCTION

I remember opening my acceptance letter from Harvard Divinity School and yelling out the college dorm window, I got accepted at Harvard! I got accepted at Harvard! I got accepted at Harvard! I was so excited and surprised to be accepted at one of the most prestigious schools in the world. I felt like a little kid opening a gift on Christmas morning. What an honor and rare privilege! I was one of the few African American ministers to pursue a master of divinity degree at Harvard.

It’s hard to believe that more than thirty-five years have passed since I received my acceptance letter, and retirement is right around the corner. Time really flies, and the swift passage of time has made me more reflective.

I can remember walking through Harvard Yard, going to Memorial Church, and hearing the late, great Plummer Professor Peter Gomes. He was a short, stout African American man wearing round-rim glasses, a clerical collar, a doctoral hood, and a crimson robe. He spoke with an English accent, captivating an all-White congregation of professors and students with his erudition and illustrations.

I recall going to Divinity Hall and listening to prolific professors such as Harvey Cox, Richard Niebuhr, Krister Stendhal, Preston Williams, and many others. I was in awe of these theological giants.

The classrooms were filled with Christians, Muslims, Jews, Universalists, Buddhists, humanists, agnostics, and social prophets, who boldly and uncompromisingly expressed their faith and feelings, which challenged and broadened my narrow, sectarian, and fundamentalist perspective.

Harvard taught us cultural and religious diversity and that we must learn to appreciate our differences. We can listen nonjudgmentally, maintain our core beliefs, and respect the beliefs of others. Despite our differences, we are unified in our humanity and divinity. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is right. We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. It is our innate divinity that binds us.

I learned a lot about diversity at Harvard; however, there were some things they didn’t teach. I learned how to think theologically but not how to do practical theology. I knew who Karl Barth, St. Augustine, Rudolph Bultmann, and Thomas Aquinas were, but I didn’t know the homeless men who slept on the streets of Harvard Square.

I read most of the books by liberation theologians like James Cone, Gutierrez, Cornell West, and others but didn’t know how to do justice, love, and mercy—and how to walk humbly with thy God.

I received a diploma from one of the most prestigious seminaries in the country, but I still didn’t know how to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give water to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, comfort the dying, minister to troubled youth, or visit the sick and incarcerated.

I was totally unprepared to do pastoral ministry, especially for the least, lost, and left out. I was educated in church history, theology, soteriology, and ecclesiology but not trained in the how-tos of the ministry.

Consequently, I have been in pastoral ministry since 1984, and it has been a real learning process. Part of the problem was that I had to learn how to do ministry the hard way, through trial and error. The school of hard knocks, seasoned pastors, faithful members, and especially the marginalized taught me the how-tos of ministry.

When I served as an academic dean, I discovered that many seminaries and divinity schools were struggling to recruit new students. Student enrollment is down significantly at most mainline seminaries.

Unfortunately, many seminaries are out of touch with the local church and the disadvantaged, and they don’t offer enough practical ministry courses for their students and self-help workshops for the community.

Outdated curriculum, esoteric teaching, a lack of a viable relationship with the surrounding community, and the astronomically high cost of a theological degree are emptying many American seminaries.

Seminaries offer classes in church history, the New Testament, the Old Testament, ecclesiology, liberation theology, homiletics, Greek, Hebrew, Christology, pastoral care, epistemology, and soteriology, but they don’t offer enough classes or workshops that will equip pastors to care for the underprivileged. Much of what is taught on a seminary level is completely out of touch with the destitute and downtrodden.

Additionally, graduate theological degrees are so expensive that they aren’t affordable for most people. Consequently, there has been a major decrease in enrollment for the master of divinity degree, which is the mainline denominations’ ordination requirement. The master of divinity degree has become an expensive, elitist degree and an onerous ecclesiastical requirement that has very little relevance for today’s pastor and minister.

I think it is a sin and a scandal that some seminaries are ripping off struggling students; indoctrinating them with an archaic, racially insensitive curriculum; and not equipping them to do ministry, especially to the poor and needy. Men and women graduate with degrees that look good but aren’t any good for the people they serve, especially the less fortunate.

It’s no wonder that there is so much religious hypocrisy in America. Too many seminaries are producing what one wise Harvard Divinity School professor called Contemporary Scribes and Pharisees. Like the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’s day, we know the law; however, we don’t know how to do justice, preach good news to the poor, and set the captives free.

Many graduates are steeped in theological knowledge but shallow in their passion for justice. We can speak fluent Greek but are unable to communicate the gospel to the homeless and troubled youth. We can do exegesis and discover the hermeneutics of a pericope, but we are unable to discern the spiritual, emotional needs and meaning of the sick, aging, and dying. We can articulate deep theological and philosophical ideas but are appallingly silent when it comes to speaking truth to power.

One of the main reasons why there is so much racial injustice, political corruption, economic oppression, domestic terrorism, nihilism, bigotry, misogyny, apostasy, apathy, immorality, violence, and war in the world is that some seminaries have failed to educate their students to pray, preach and protest oppression.

How will the world change if it lacks prophetic leadership that advocates for the oppressed, and where will the spiritual leaders come from if the seminary doesn’t train them? What kind of future will the church have if the seminary continues to use an antiquated curriculum and irrelevant theology to train its clergy? How can pastors effectively minister to their members when they have little to no knowledge of how to minister to their existential struggles?

Unfortunately, many pastors don’t know how to comfort the grieving, care for the dying, empower the aging, serve the homeless, educate troubled youth, care for souls, speak truth to power, and be a harbinger for justice in the community. What good is a seminary or school if it doesn’t teach us how to do the essentials of the ministry?

The essentials of the ministry stem from Matthew 25:31–46, which is the parable of the sheep and the goats. Jesus separates the sheep from the goats based on whether they care