SINT MAARTEN (COLE BAY) – Local pastor Bishop Michael Greenaway has received his Doctor of Ministry degree and says religious leaders should make an effort to continue higher education.
Bishop Greenaway, who pastors the Victory Temple Church in Weymouth Hills, fulfilled a life-long dream of returning to school. Born on the island of Montserrat, he left school like many others with an eight-grade education and later became a pastor at the age of twenty-one.
While his ministry took him around the world and provided opportunities for him to serve as district and regional overseer as well as a regional presbyter in the Church of God of Prophecy organization, it never dimmed his desire for learning.
“Many ministers believe that because they are called by God to minister, they don’t need to continue learning but that is not true. There is always more to learn and being a pastor or a minister of the gospel does not exempt you from that,” Greenaway shared.
“While some churches insist on their leaders having higher education degrees, it is suggested that Pentecostals scorn the idea of formal training because it doesn’t represent a dependence on the Holy Spirit. The people who sit in our pews are often learned and more knowledgeable than those they are looking to for spiritual direction. ‘There must be a deliberate, consistent, and determinate action towards higher education… encouraged for all practicality (especially) for those in the ministry serving in areas where the emerging leadership needs that kind of development.” (citation from thesis)
In 2010, Greenaway joined the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and began studying for a Masters. When he attained that degree in 2015, he immediately turned to work on his doctorate.
The 71-year-old obtained his Doctor of Ministry in Global Pentecostalism after successfully defending his thesis on Aproned Leadership: Empowering Emerging Leaders in the Leeward Islands.
“Organized churches are seeing their members leaving for more independent and charismatic bodies. We also aren’t seeing young men and women who are aspiring to be ministers and in many church groups the pastors, like myself are aging and there is no clear process for grooming new leaders.”
Bishop Greenaway intends to transfer through training and teaching those principles that have formed him into the leader he is today. From his thesis he cites,
“Every day the responsibilities become more difficult, and therefore the men and women emerging must be trained to undergo the heavy demands of leadership. They must see us, as established leaders, bearing up under the strain of cross-bearing, in whatever form that strain may come. They need to know that it is not all glamor, but there are days of darkness and weakness. There is a promise, however, from the Master, that he will never leave us nor forsake us. That too is part of the training that they should receive.”
The new Doctor Greenaway thanked the local and regional ministers who shared their thoughts and their own journeys in ministry for his research. He said, while the work was daunting, he found it inspiring to see how many of the ministers in Methodist, Seventh Day Adventists and Pentecostal churches often had similar experiences in their early years.
Special appreciation was also expressed for his wife and four daughters who contributed in the research and writing and encouraged him throughout the process.
As a final thought he adds that now more than ever, there is a cry for strong spiritual leadership and those now serving must be models for those who will take up the mantle.
“There was never a time when visionary and discerning leaders were more in demand. (So) Present-day leaders must have an eye for the emergent leaders who may be too shy and introverted to come to the fore and present themselves for leadership.”
“This is the second phase of my life and I will do my best to empower the emerging leaders around me.”
Source: Souliga Newsday https://www.soualiganewsday.com/index.php?option=com-k2&view=item&id=28075:bishop-greenaway-receives-doctor-of-ministry&Itemid=451
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