How do you guys (@OBC) decide who can teach in the church?
This is something that we take extremely serious at Omaha Bible Church. One of the important and primary responsibilities of shepherds is to hold fast “the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching” while also exhorting “in sound doctrine” (Titus 1.9). Therefore we want to be sure that at all levels there is sound biblical teaching taking place.
One of the primary ways in which this is done at OBC is through the doctrinal questionnaire. We have questionnaires for those who would teach children, jr high and high school, in the women’s ministry, in a Care Group setting, in prisons, in the nursing homes, or in the congregational setting.
There are levels of intensity of the questionnaires. For instance our elder questionnaire is more in depth than the questionnaire that someone would fill out in order to work in children’s church. However, all of the questionnaires deal with the understanding of the gospel, the sufficiency of Scripture, the atonement, sin, Satan, hell, heaven, the relationship of the church to Israel, the function of the church, and various contemporary issues.
Finally, life examination is also key in determining who teaches. We do not hold the elder qualifications over everyone’s head, however, if there is not growth and there is persistent sin and patterns of ungodliness evident in one’s life they will not be given opportunities to teach, regardless of how sound the questionnaire is. Therefore, it is incumbent upon leaders to spend time with prospective teachers and ensure that life and doctrine are matching up.
Hopefully this is helpful.
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