Pastors, living in the way of Jesus:
It's hard to be a pastor. It's hard enough to be a person, but then to lead other people in the way of Jesus... what kind of crazy person signs up for that?
The super spiritual ones will say "God signs you up!" That may be true. But I've got some questions concerning the team he's picked and as a result, questions about His/ Her judgement.
I'm not kidding. Being a person at the least difficult. Bet yet, impossible? Can I say that? We are called to be something we can not yet be?!? Ah, the tension of spiritual life.
So a pastor, struggling to be a person, has to lead people somewhere he has not gone.
I know the cliche's. You can only take someone where you have already been.
I think that's pretty much bunk. But I'm not sure if I'm right.
Don't let me mislead you. I've done the "I've been to the promised land!" kind of pastoring. The kind that says, "Here's what the absolutes are. Here's exactly what you need to do to follow God." I just don't think it works as well as we think it does.
Look. I'm all for leadership. That is to say, I'm for leading people. I just don't think what most up and coming congregations are wanting from a pastor are healthy.
I'll ask again. Who want's to be a pastor? It's an impossible task.
As I write I think about Moses. Leading his people. Learning from his people. He'd never been where they were going. Wilderness.
Maybe a call to pastoral ministry is a call to the wilderness?
Now I know why Moses didn't want the gig. He knew the way of a leader.
But then again. He was called out of his own private wilderness, to a communal wilderness.
And then to aloneness again, when he was not permitted to into the promised land.
So: Are we asking to much from our pastors?
Pastors... are we expecting to much of our congregations?
Being a pastor is hard.
It's hard to be a pastor. It's hard enough to be a person, but then to lead other people in the way of Jesus... what kind of crazy person signs up for that?
The super spiritual ones will say "God signs you up!" That may be true. But I've got some questions concerning the team he's picked and as a result, questions about His/ Her judgement.
I'm not kidding. Being a person at the least difficult. Bet yet, impossible? Can I say that? We are called to be something we can not yet be?!? Ah, the tension of spiritual life.
So a pastor, struggling to be a person, has to lead people somewhere he has not gone.
I know the cliche's. You can only take someone where you have already been.
I think that's pretty much bunk. But I'm not sure if I'm right.
Don't let me mislead you. I've done the "I've been to the promised land!" kind of pastoring. The kind that says, "Here's what the absolutes are. Here's exactly what you need to do to follow God." I just don't think it works as well as we think it does.
Look. I'm all for leadership. That is to say, I'm for leading people. I just don't think what most up and coming congregations are wanting from a pastor are healthy.
I'll ask again. Who want's to be a pastor? It's an impossible task.
As I write I think about Moses. Leading his people. Learning from his people. He'd never been where they were going. Wilderness.
Maybe a call to pastoral ministry is a call to the wilderness?
Now I know why Moses didn't want the gig. He knew the way of a leader.
But then again. He was called out of his own private wilderness, to a communal wilderness.
And then to aloneness again, when he was not permitted to into the promised land.
So: Are we asking to much from our pastors?
Pastors... are we expecting to much of our congregations?
Being a pastor is hard.
posted by mark at
12:38 PM
3 Comments:
Mark…thanks for the honesty in your blog. I am not a pastor but have been in church leadership positions in the past. What I am finding out in my life is that I should think of myself more as a tool. Let say a wood working tool. As a tool you may not always know what you are going to create or even how the “wood worker” may use you. As the tool you must submit fully to the woodworker’s hand. No questions no trying to work the wood on your own. A very difficult proposition for a tool who think he may have a better opportunity with some other sort of wood or even another carpenter.
I have not always done this in my life and I have paid the price many times. At 42 I am just now beginning to comprehend with depth what it means to “be used as s tool”. Submission to the master’s hand is many times frustrating and awkward and unfamiliar. I find that many times the issue is with me and my trusting that I am in Gods hands. God know that I am in his hands but I don’t always trust that I am.
Does that make sense?
I pray the Lord through his Holy Spirit continues to teach you and use you for his glory.
Scott
The problems is the type of leadership we demand. We expect people to be spiritual kings who "lead" us, meaning that they go certain places and we follow them. We bestow this position on people because of education level and an ethereal "calling" (meaning, usually, that the person has an inclination toward working with people and has a desire to either help people follow Jesus or desires a level of influence). Their authority comes not from the relationships they've built, but because someone else "hired" them, then gave them a title and a salary. We put people in this position because we refuse to trust in Jesus. It's much easier to follow earthly kings. Plus, it allows people of influence to continue to exercise a certain amount of control. We couldn't rightly have people going directly to Jesus for their marching orders, now could we? I mean, suppose they got it wrong?
What qualifies a person to "be a pastor" anyway?
Well...I'm a pastor and I'm a tool much of the time as well....though maybe not the same kind of tool Scott was talking about. In fact, I was a tool last night in our deacon's meeting. Some of those deacons were tools, too.
I think that our expectations are often misdirected, both what congregations expect of pastors and what pastors expect of congregations.
Deitrich Bonhoeffer's little book Life Together helped me greatly in that regard.
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