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Abstract

The church of our Lord Jesus Christ has recognized from its foundation a vital connection between spirituality and the ministry of teaching. In his Great Commission to His disciples, now being transformed into His apostles, the Lord commanded them, saying, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matt 28:19-20a, NIV; emphasis mine) Likewise, Paul explicitly noted the spiritual gift and role of the teacher or the pastor-teacher several times in the scriptures (I Cor. 12, particularly 28-31; Rom.12:3-8; Eph. 4:11-13). Teachers are mentioned early and late in the scriptures: schools of the prophets,teacher-priests like Ezra, teacher-kings like Solomon, apostle-teachers like Paul — and, of course, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, our Teacher above all teachers. To its credit, the church has pursued the ministry of teaching throughout this age, though not without some major (and at times catastrophic)failures.

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