Question of the Week: Theological Training for Worship Pastors?

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Last night I was on the internet looking up job openings for worship pastors. Now, I have no intention of leaving Fellowship White Rock any time soon and I still have at least 2 years left at Dallas Seminary, so I wasn't looking to apply. Every few months I like to look through job postings just to see what churches are looking for. This period of my life is very much so a training period, so I look at job postings to make sure I'm preparing well.After looking over almost forty different job postings, I noticed something. They don't expect worship pastors to have a theological education. Many churches don't even require a bachelor's degree. They want things like:

  • Stage Presence
  • Musical Proficiency
  • Ability to Recruit and Develop Other Musicians
  • Plan Yearly Budget
  • Stage and Prop Design

These aren't bad skills to have as a worship pastor. In fact, they are pretty important. But are the above mentioned qualities the only qualities a worship pastor needs to possess?Worship pastors have a significant role not only in the way the church feels about God, but about the way the church thinks about Him. Since this is true, how much theological training should worship pastors have? After looking through the same amount of job postings for teaching pastors, every single one required at least an M.Div. So why the disparity? If both have such a significant influence on how the church is formed, why does one barely need a bachelor's degree and the other an M.Div.?So what do you think? What theological training should worship pastors have, if any?

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