• The American Pastor…

    July 27, 2004

    Reading Eugene Peterson’s book: Under the Unpredictable Plant. He takes the story of Jonah and applies it to the pastorate. Great read…here are some thoughts:

    North American religion is basically a consumer religion. American?s see God asa product that will help them to live well, or live better. Having seen that, they do what consumers do, shop for the best deal. Pastors, hardly realizing what we are doing, start making deals, packaging the God-product so people will be attracted to it and then presenting it in ways that will beat out the competition?Every few days or so another pastor gets out of bed and says, ?That?s it. I quit. I refuse to be branch manager any longer in a religious warehouse outlet. I will no longer spend my life marketing God to religious consumers. I have just read over the job description the culture has handed me and I am buying it no longer?.”

    Some tough thoughts our culture from a very well-seasoned and amazingly respected pastor and teacher of pastors. His thoughts continue to talk about how this kind of thing kills what true pastoring/shepherding is all about…

    His answer to his elders of why he is resigning after he resigned his position as pastor….

    ?I want to study God?s word long and carefully so that when I stand before you and preach and teach I will be accurate. I want to pray, slowly and lovingly, so that my relation with God will be inward and honest. I want to be with you, often and leisurely, so that we can recognize each other as close companions on the way of the cross and be available for counsel and encourament to each other.? That is where I had started out intending when I became a pastor, but working in and for the church had pushed them out?

    I’d better stop there…i could go forever…

  • Comments on this Post:

    Comment by: Matt


    1

    I’ll take it one step further.

    Is it possible to resign as a pastor? After all, it is God, and not man, who recognizes a pastor. A degree and a contract does not a pastor make.

    Yes it is possible to step down, or removed from the position.. but to resign?

    Just musing out loud.

    07/28/04 8:39 AM

    Comment by: Different Dan


    2

    I often think we American Christians, as a species, are no different than our un-Christian cousins. We are just as materialistic. It’s just that we buy different stuff. I find it almost always discouraging to go into a Christian bookstore because of all the self-help books, pop pscyhology and dust collectors. We approach our churches that way too. A lot of “church growth” I think isn’t really growth, just trading players. And mega-churches I think function mostly as resources for the Christian consumer community and less as organisms of outreach to the unbelieving community.

    As for resigning as “pastor,” I suppose there’s being a Pastor, which would require a congregation that is paying you, and being a pastor, which I suppose means being a more mature Christian who mentors others. The former would be an office held by professionals whereas the latter could be any saint.

    07/28/04 2:32 PM

    Comment by: Matt


    3

    And the trick is that the congregation is supposed to make pastors Pastors, rathering than forming a “search committee” and trying to hire someone who may or may not be a pastor to take the title “Pastor” when they may or may not be qualified for it (as outlined in 2 Timothy, etc…).

    I heard a really good message at our latest pastor/leader conference on the problem with “hired pastor” model.

    07/28/04 2:47 PM

    Comment by: todd


    4

    dan, matt, you guys are right on. the reason i am loving this book so much and his thoughts is that about 4 years ago, after 4 years of bible college, i was convinced i would never work as a “pastor” in a church. i was not sure why. i am realizing more and more every day why that was. i didn’t want to be a pastor the way the traditional church had defined it. it want to pastor, shephard people. i didn’t think that was possible as a pastor…

    now i realize the problem is not in the position of “pastor” in the truest sense of the word. it is when the pastor gives in to a view of “Pastor as CEO” that its true meaning is lost…

    anyways…thanks for the dialogue!

    i pray that i am always a “pastor” while still being a “Pastor”

    07/28/04 3:17 PM

    Comment by: Different Dan


    5

    Good discussion.

    Right on, Matt. I’m in a church right now that has the search committee mindset. In fact, I was on the search committee this last time around when we hired an associate pastor and a youth pastor. I was amazed at the immaturity and worldliness evident in the lives of men, and their wives, who already had been Pastors. I wouldn’t have hired them to be small group leaders, let alone to help lead a congregation. Yet, they had their sheepskins and resumes, which made them “Pastors.”

    I’ve talked about the idea of raising up and training leaders from within the congregation. I even from scripture proved to my associate pastor, who has a doctorate and is very proud of it, that the seminary/search committee pattern is not biblical. But so far no institutional takers. Our leadership training is poor, if not non-existent.

    I don’t have all the answers, I’m not the pro from Dover, but as someone who wants to serve full-time, if only I could, I am frustrated by the lack of mentoring and training in my church. It forces me to consider the only avenue open to me, the “traditional” seminary, which actually would take me out of service to the church and sap my finances in the process.

    What a mess we’ve created.

    07/28/04 8:13 PM

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