In the last post on the dominionist "parallel economy"--namely, the section on dominionist mental health and social work services--poster Lefty Mama made a good point: there are a few legit "Christian counselors", but in general those will have formal seminary training and will be certified through a legitimate, mainstream accrediting body like the APA or National Association of Social Workers.
This is important to note, because--as I'll describe below--most dominionist preachers do not in fact have seminary training or in fact any formal training in ministry whatsoever. Some dominionist churches in fact essentially operate as ordination mills.
This will also be important in regards to the upcoming section on dominionist media. I reveal all after the cut...
Most mainstream churches tend to have some specific educational requirements for becoming a pastor--everything from the long, arduous training for Catholic and Orthodox priests, to requiring seminary training for most mainstream Protestant groups. In fact, not requiring seminary training tends to be the exception--an example of this would be the Society of Friends, which has no formal pastors but various congregation members take turn speaking as they feel they are called to by God.
One other group that doesn't require seminary training is the Universal Life Church--yes, the famous "become a pastor online" group that had to tighten down its everything-goes registry after people were doing things like ordaining their cats and computers online. Many states consider ULC an ordination mill--I myself am a ULC "minister" for shits and giggles, but I don't count on it being useful for much.
What may surprise folks is that a lot of dominionist denominations--including most of the groups in the "Joel's Army" movement--have ordination procedures that are only a little more strict than what I had to do to register as the Right Reverend Dogemperor on the ULC's website.
Dominionist groups that require seminary work...
There are a few dominionist churches that still require formal seminary work for pastors--one thing of note, though: pretty much all of these are steeplejacked.
The SBC and IRD-linked congregations of mainstream churches still do have formal seminary requirements for pastors (as opposed to deacons and other lay church officials); in general, steeplejacking groups have targeted these by either attempting to steeplejack the seminaries (as in the case of the SBC) or steeplejacking lay groups like Sunday schools and individual pastors et al (in the case of the IRD groups, and in the initial stages of the SBC steeplejack).
...and those that don't
The situation in "Joel's Army" and "fundamentalist Baptist" dominionist groups is quite a bit different.
Fundamentalist Baptist dominionist groups
Many, if not most, of the "fundamentalist Baptist" groups promoting Christian Reconstructionism generally either do not require formal seminary training at all or may require a divinity degree from a "Bible college". Many of the "Bible colleges" used by this community are unaccredited (an example is Pensacola Christian College, publishers of the A Beka curriculum) and many explicitly pride themselves on the lack of formal accreditation from a regional body.
In many cases, this crosses into the phenomena of the diploma mill. There is a non-negligible industry of diploma mills specifically servicing the dominionist church market; in my upcoming section on dominionist educational systems, I'll go into further detail on dominionist accreditation and diploma mills. (Those wanting to do more research on their own can look up the book "Name It And Frame It", which is specifically on the subject of diploma mills targeting the dominionist community.)
With some "fundamentalist Baptist" groups, no formal ordination is required--they operate in a manner almost identical to how most neopentecostal groups operate, by promoting deacons or family members. The dislike of formal ordination even extends to a movement connected with "Christian Patriot" militias called the "Unregistered Church Movement"--specifically, refusing to register the churches as 501(c)3 groups but still claiming to the IRS they do not have to pay taxes.
Neopentecostal dominionist groups
The situation in neopentecostal denominations ranges from deacon and missionary ordination (with a token "seminary path") to nepotism to flat out ordination mills.
The strictest requirements--and mind, I'm using a very, very loose definition of "strict" here!--are in the oldest dominionist groups, the Assemblies of God and Foursquare. And these are loose enough that (as Yurica Report has noted in its report of the Assemblies steeplejacking of the US Armed Forces' chaplaincy system) the government frequently has to pay for formal divinity degrees for neopente chaplains; in fact, the US Government has had to loosen their requirements for seminary education of chaplains (which has led to steeplejacking of an unprecedented scale).
A look at the Assemblies' bylaws is telling:
Section 2. Basic Qualifications
The following qualifications pertain to all applicants for ministerial recognition:
a. Salvation. Testimony to having experienced the new birth (John 3:5).
b. Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Testimony to having received the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the initial physical evidence of speaking in other tongues according to Acts 2:4. The Spirit-filled life will enable a minister to fulfill the threefold mission of the church (Article V, paragraph 10, of the Constitution).
c. Evidence of call. Clear evidence of a divine call to the ministry, evidenced by a personal conviction, confirmed by the work of the Spirit and the testimony of fellow ministers.
d. Christian character. A blameless Christian life and a good report of those who are without (Titus 1:7; 1 Timothy 3:7).
e. Doctrinal position. A thorough understanding of and agreement with our doctrinal position as contained in the Statement of Fundamental Truths.
f. Assemblies of God polity. A satisfactory working knowledge of the principles, practices, and purposes of the Fellowship through a study of the General Council and district council Constitution and Bylaws.
g. Commitment to the Fellowship. An active loyalty to our constitutional agreements, a cooperative spirit, and a readiness to seek and receive the counsel of older mature Christians and those in positions of authority.
h. Basic education requirements. Any level of formal academic achievement (diploma or degree) shall not be a requirement for credentials; however, credential applicants shall meet the following criteria:
(1) All applicants are required to be interviewed by the district credentials committee and, in preparation for the interview, pass a standard exam approved by the General Presbytery whereby they demonstrate knowledge of the Bible, Assemblies of God doctrines, and ministerial practices; and either
(2) Successfully complete equivalent training to that indicated in paragraph (3) below, preferably, in an endorsed Assemblies of God postsecondary school; or in a seminary, college, Bible college, or school approved by the district credentials committee consistent with criteria established by the General Council Credentials Committee; or
(3) Successfully complete courses, prescribed by the General Presbytery, offered in correspondence through Global University of the Assemblies of God, or pass the final examinations in the prescribed courses; or
(4) Be recommended by a district credentials committee as qualifying for credentials through self-study and ministerial experience. Such candidates shall have a proven and fruitful ministry of substantial duration. Requests from a district for such a candidate shall be presented to the General Council Credentials Committee and may be granted on a case by case basis.
In other words, the only requirements that the Assemblies has for pastors are:
a) agreeing to the statement of faith, and
b) taking a multiple-choice "Bible quiz", and
c) having either:
- seminary education in the Assemblies (there are very few formal Assemblies seminaries) or a degree in any dominionist-friendly "Bible college" (more than a few of which are diploma mills), or
- essentially completing a mail-order ministerial course that the Assemblies runs as an ordination mill, or
- serving for two years as a deacon, Sunday school teacher, missionary, etc. and having Assemblies pastors vouch for you.
It is probably no wonder that the vast majority of Assemblies pastors--and even quite a few pastors of neopentecostal "independent" churches--are in fact ordained Assemblies pastors. As noted, "path 3" does not require any formal religious training at all, and "path 2" is essentially a mail-order degree scheme.
One of the more distinctly infamous people who was an Assemblies pastor who went through "path 3"--that is, with no formal ministerial degree or training--was none other than Jim Jones--yes, that Jim Jones, as of the "People's Temple" Jim Jones. (Yes, the "People's Temple" started out as an Assemblies of God congregation that split from another Assemblies church (one of the oldest in the entire denomination) over racially integrated services; Jim Jones was apparently recruited by a neighbour who was a member of the Assemblies, started out as a deacon and later a pastor promoting "name it and claim it" and "deliverance ministry" as a 1950's equivalent of modern neopente "prosperity gospel" preacher Creflo Dollar.)
The standards for International Foursquare (a daughter church of the Assemblies) are even more lax. From Foursquare's bylaws:
12.1 MINISTERIAL CREDENTIALS
12.1.1 International Credentials. The secretary shall issue to each minister a certificate, which shall bear the signatures of the president and the secretary, attesting to the ordination or licensing of the named person by the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.
12.1.2 Annual Credential Fee. Upon the payment of a fee fixed by the board, each minister shall be issued a credential card for the current year.
12.1.3 Issuance of District Credentials. Annual Foursquare district ministerial licenses may be granted by a district supervisor upon the recommendation of a district licensing committee established and acting in accordance with the rules established by the board.
12.1.4 Credentials Issued by Other National Foursquare Organizations. The cabinet and general supervisor shall formulate policies and procedures for recognizing for ministry appointment to a Foursquare Gospel church in the United States or extension ministry through Foursquare Missions International, persons with ministry credentials issued by and in good standing with Foursquare organizations of other nations, ensuring adherence to Foursquare doctrine, polity, ethics, and applicable immigration laws of the United States.
12.2 MINISTERIAL STANDING
12.2.1 Active Status. To have active status, a Foursquare minister must carry current credentials with the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and must satisfy one of the following requirements.
A. The minister must be engaged and sponsored by the board as a director, officer, administrator, supervisor, missionary, chaplain, teacher in an approved Foursquare Bible college or other ministry designated by the board; or
B. The minister must be engaged and sponsored by a local Foursquare church as a pastor, evangelist, staff minister, teacher in an approved training institution, or other ministry of a local Foursquare church; or
C. The minister must be a recognized retiree of one of the foregoing.
12.2.2 Inactive Status. A Foursquare minister not under ministry appointment or a recognized retiree under the provisions stated above shall be considered "inactive."
. . .
ARTICLE XIV
Pastors of Foursquare Gospel Churches
14.1 QUALIFICATIONS. The pastor of a Foursquare Gospel church shall be a licensed or ordained minister who has a current credential card or Foursquare district license. Every Foursquare church shall have one minister appointed as senior pastor.
In other words, Foursquare is even more of a "play to pay" scheme--one needs only obtain a ministerial license from the headquarters (which is a yearly subscription), sign a statement of faith, and have a pastor vouchsafe for you--no formal training required at all in ministry (not even the Assemblies mail-order divinity school scheme).
It gets still worse with Foursquare daughter Calvary Chapel and CC's daughter church Vineyard. There is evidence Calvary Chapel split in part because they didn't like Foursquare's minimal oversight. Calvary Chapel exists largely as an ordination mill, giving church "membership" for payment of a yearly membership fee and signing of a statement of faith; according to the following page, ordination is actually handled internally (largely on selection of Chuck Smith, head of Calvary Chapel), and the church also operates a diploma mill for people without formal ministerial degrees. Vineyard also operates in a very similar manner (with the exception of not running an ordination mill).
Neopente "independent" churches generally don't even require this--in general, almost all of these are new enough that the pastor split from the church, set up a specific board of friendlies as to whom would be the new pastor, and (again) no formal ordination is required. An interesting example here is with New Life Church, the former church of Ted Haggard; the church (which effectively is its own denomination) has a setup of assistant pastors and deacons, and all promotion is done through its assistant pastors and deacons already in place.
It's of note re the previous discussion on "Christian counseling" that a lot of these "counselors" are in fact based out of neopente churches which often do not require formal training for pastors, much less deacons, Sunday school teachers, and other church personnel. Many also get their degrees in "counseling" from the same "Bible college" ordination mills that give out bogus ministerial degrees--research of these "degrees" will often reveal that the schools issuing them are not properly accredited. (Legally, in most states unaccredited schools cannot issue doctorates or other degrees that could be used for employment purposes.)
It would be interesting to know if there are severe problems in states that have specific laws against using "degrees" from unaccredited schools. (States with known laws against use of diploma mill "degrees" include Oregon, Illinois, North Dakota, and (as of 2006) Washington state; reportedly Illinois, Nevada, and South Carolina are also considering similar laws, and two states have laws that supposedly ban "diploma mill" degrees but with major flaws (Wyoming has a law which has a loophole exempting "religious" institutions, and Tennessee has a law banning diploma mill "degrees" but with no enforcement capability).)
Tomorrow, we begin the series on dominionist media with a history of dominionist broadcasting--in which we learn the so-called new tactics of dominionist TV preachers aren't all that new at all.