Some of the first questions one must ask to a ministry or to a local church are: “What are you doing?” and “Why are you doing what you are doing?” I am aware that all ministries are doing something. But I am not sure if ministries know why they are doing what they are doing! Now, if one does not know why they are doing what they are doing, it can easily give birth to a problem, that is, one may not be doing the right things. 

In the field of Christian Education, ministry practitioners and professors are first asked to write a philosophy of ministry for Christian education. The reason is simple. They want to provide a framework within which theological, philosophical, and empirical convictions can be identified, integrated together, and then extrapolated as concrete practices.

In navigational terms, one may be going somewhere, but the issue is, do you know where you are going? 

Initially, there was a problem with the name of this course. Why? Today, the purpose of philosophy for many ministers is no longer clear, especially with the negative connotations that developed through the years. This is especially true among Filipinos. The tag, “Pilosopo Tasio” is not really positive. Some view philosophy as irrelevant, and to a certain degree, even evil in the ministry. Others view philosophy as helpful and enriching in terms of education, preaching, counseling, and other ministry expressions, to churches and their ministers.

This course on the Philosophy of Ministry will address this issue on why we are doing what we are doing. It will question our priorities.