Southern Bible College & Seminary
Friday, March 29, 2024
southernbiblecollege.net
COURSE: Ministerial Ethics   
 
TEXTBOOK:   Ministerial Ethics Hours
 
AUTHOR: Joe E. Trull & James E. Carter  
 
PUBLISHER: Broadman & Holman  
 
PUBLICATION DATE:   1993
 
ISBN : 0-8054-1056-2  
 
Syllabus:  
Seminaries and Bible Colleges are only recently adding this course to their core requirements. This area has been severely lacking among ministers from all persuasions for over a century.
 
Churches and parishioners in the past have always assumed that their ministers would be people of integrity, but no longer in this case. The purpose of this course is to teach ministerial students their moral role as minister and provide for new or seasoned ministers a clear statement of ethical obligations they should assume in their personal and professional lives.
 
Instructions:
Answer all questions included with this syllabus.
 
Ministerial Ethics
1.   State the six affirmations of the author’s basic convictions about ethics in ministry:
 
2.   The unseen danger for the busy religious worker is ____________________ __________________.
 
3. James Gustafson has observed three primary developments which have precipitated a role change for ministers. What are the three developments?
 
4. These changes have led to clergy confusion and a condition known as __________________. What does this condition mean?
 
5.   To build a ministry based upon integrity requires that a minister's sense of calling and idea of service be 3 things. What are those 3 things?
 
6. Ministry involves both __________________________ and _____________________________. (Matt. 25:31-46)
 
7. Define and describe as the writers do the following words. Vocation, Profession, and Career.
 
8. Darrell Reeck believes the roots of our contemporary professions can be traced back to whom?
 
9. In early Israel a special class of religious professionals developed. These two groups became the supreme authorities in law and religion as well as performing some medical functions. Who were these two groups?
 
10. Who was it that felt that each person should labor in the same occupation as the worker's forebears?
 
11. The earliest use of the word “profession” was used in relation to whom?
 
12. Give the definition in your textbook of the term “enablement” as it relates to a religious professional.
 
13. Michael Bayles outlines three central features that are necessary for an occupation to be a profession. What are the three professions he mentions?
 
14. Name the three movements of Western culture that deteriorate the underpinnings of professionalism?
 
15. In a 1989 Gallop poll rating the honesty and standards of various professions how did ministers rate?
 
16. James Glasse says, there are 3 different images of ministry that create an identity crisis for clergy. What are those 3 images?
 
17. James Gustafson says that the problem the minister faces in any social context is that of determining two things. What two things?
 
18. How do the authors define a ‘professional’ in the contemporary sense?
 
19. There is another difference in the social role of the minister, which today includes not only pastoral duties, but also other ministerial skills such as ______________________ __________________ and _____________________ _________________.
 
20. James Glasse suggests that the religious professional embody five important characteristics:
 
21. What Yale professor lists six elements of identifying a minister as a professional?
 
22. List his six elements:
 
23. There are some standards of professional practice that apply to the Christian ministry and they include the following six obligations:
 
24. The deep belief in the mind of both authors is that the best single word to describe the minister’s moral life is __________________.
 
25. Ethicists use three terms in describing fundamental Christian decision making:
 
26. What is fundamental to all ethical decisions?
 
27. Stanley Hauerwas describes Character as:
 
28. Ancient Greek philosophers listed four traits as cardinal virtues:
 
29. According to the authors what is it that stands as link between a persons past and their future?
 
30. According to Mr. Reeck, character ethics enables ministers to fulfill their role in what two ways?
 
31. Clergy misconduct seems to concentrate in three areas.
 
32. The biblical writers often use the word ‘good’ to identify two types of values:
 
33. The famous reply from the Rabbi to the lawyers question was based on what two key Old Testament passages?
 
34. What does the Greek word ‘deontos’ mean?
 
35. Who surmised that there are universal moral absolutes and then named them categorical imperatives’?
 
36. Define the two Latin words ‘prima facie’.
 
37. List 5 examples of prima facie duties:
 
38. List three reasons why legalism is an inadequate approach to decision making:
 
39. Who made the following statement in a lecture on preaching at Yale University? “It is impossible to exaggerate the weight which the man in the pew attaches to the integrity of the preacher.”
 
40. What is the Hebrew word for integrity? What does it mean?
 
41. Who wrote a devotional classic that posed the question, “What would Jesus do?”
 
42. In what myth could the shepherd be turning a golden ring to the inside of his hand make himself invisible?
 
43. In the closing section of this book “Choices” who wrote, “After all is said and done, being right is not the most important thing in the world. Being forgiven is?
 
44. Longtime religion professor R.H. Whittington constantly reminded his students of what two things?
 
45. Wiest and Smith remind us that clergy members always live in tension between what two realities?
 
46. A pastor working on his doctoral dissertation was conducting a research project on marital satisfaction among pastor’s wives and he discovered what four factors that caused less satisfaction in their marriages?
 
47. In what study did 68% of ministers wives surveyed list “the need for time alone together” as their greatest difficulty in adjustments?
 
48. According to a 1992 Church compensation report by Christianity Today, Inc. What was the total percent of pastor’s who felt they were underpaid?
 
49. When John Wesley was in college what was his income and what did he give away annually?
 
50. G. Lloyd Rediger identifies six specifics of ministerial sexual malfeasance.
 
51. Robyn Warner points out six costs he experienced due to irresponsible sexual behavior.
 
52. Dr. Billy Graham cites five principles to aid the minister from falling into compromising situations:
 
53. Tim LaHaye formulated an eight step restoration process for fallen leaders:
 
54. List the four contemporary models for ministry as given in this book:
 
55. Which is the best model for ministry? And Why?
 
56. What single word best describes the ideal model for ministry?
 
57. What is pastoral authority?
 
58. Samuel Southard identifies 3 functions in which he believes a minister should be authoritative:
 
59. How does this textbook answer the following question: What does it mean to do pastoral care through preaching?
 
60. D. P. Brooks formulated what six hermeneutical principals for ministers?
 
61. The author of pastoral Ethics outlines what five ways to guard your integrity when fund raising?
 
62. Give three rules of thumb designed to protect the pastor/pastoral counselor:
 
63. Name the 3 categories of pastoral visitation:
 
64. Through the funeral service four functions are provided:
 
65. List seven ethical questions ministers face when involved with funerals:
 
66. Give the five basic guidelines for the ethical protocol for the funeral itself.
 
67. When a pulpit committee comes calling, Lyle Schaller suggests 5 questions the prospective pastor should ask:
68. Our Textbook gives us 3 methods of measuring success. List each one and with a brief explanation:
 
69. Kent and Barbara Hughes came to what conclusion concerning success in ministry?
 
70. What 7 things liberated Kent and Barbara Hughes from the success syndrome?
 
71. What are the 3 primary issues related to force terminations?
 
72. One minister who himself had been fired presents in this book five guidelines that relate to forced termination of ministers:
 
73. In churches communication occurs on what two levels? And what do these levels include?
 
74. Which is most effective?
 
75. Brooks Faulkner derives 6 characteristics of a healthy minister from Titus 3:15:
 
76. List the six attributes of a healthy minister:
 
77. A description of characteristics expected of a minister finds its origin in Exodus 8:13-23 in the kind of persons chosen to help Moses. List the four traits:
 
78. List six guidelines for ethical staff relationships:
 
79. What does Norman B. Harmon tells us about returning to previous places of services?
 
80. Our textbook gives us three primary instructions related to returning to a previous place of service. Give the three instructions.
 
81. Wayne Oates suggests the first responsibility of a new pastor to a new community should be what?
 
82. What are the ten marks of an emotionally mature minister?
 
83. What four vital questions should you ask yourself before you join an organized protest?
 
84. What criteria must be met before civil disobedience can be justified?
 
85. Why have codes of ethics?
 
86.  Written codes of professional ethics have four major concerns. What are they?
 
87. Create your own brief (one page) code of ethics which should be framed for your office from this information in this textbook using the guide on pages 216-217. Include this in your assignment.
 
 
YOU HAVE FINISHED THIS COURSE OF STUDY