;)
The Executive Study: The Tragedy Of The Professional Pastorate
Posted by Cyle Clayton in Uncategorized
“We pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry. The mentality of the professional is not the mentality of the prophet. It is not the mentality of the slave of Christ. Professionalism has nothing to do with the essence and heart of the Christian ministry. The more professional we long to be, the more spiritual death we will leave in our wake. For there is no professional childlikeness; there is no professional tenderheartedness; there is no professional panting after God. But our first business is to weep over our sins. Is there professional weeping?” from John Piper, “Brothers, We Are Not Professionals”
“He acts like a CEO, not a pastor.” I heard it again this week. It’s often said of a pastor who may have forgotten who he is. It’s often said by a parishioner who really has no idea what it is like to be a pastor today. It may be that the critic is unfair. Then again, he may be absolutely correct. Early in his pastorate, my grandfather was paid more times than not with food, chickens and green beans. He raised hogs and slaughtered them to eke out a living for his family. My great-great-grandfather was a circuit-rider preacher. He had no idea how to manage a multi-million dollar budget or a multi-staff church. His wife filled up his saddle bags with hard tack and watched him ride off on Friday evening to preach at several small gatherings of churches until he would return home on Sunday evening. Then he farmed just like everyone else around him. Things have changed culturally and the culture of church has certainly changed, and much is required of us that once was not.
Have we who are pastors have forgotten that we are not called to be professionals? Have we bought into the system, the culture, believing that we must be more polished than prepared in the Word, more professional than prayed up, more culturally savvy than dependent upon Christ?
We are not above our people. Yes, we rule, but we are sheep called to look after sheep. Our business is people, disciples. John Maxwell told the story of a man he had hired to work for him. The man was a consummate business man. One day John was in the parking lot speaking with some people and the man walked right past him without saying a word. When they tried to speak, he was rude. Maxwell followed him into his office later and asked him what all that was about. The man replied, “I had work to do,’ to which Maxwell replied, “Mark, those people are your work.” We must never forget that Jesus did not purchase our buildings or our budgets with His precious blood. He purchased us and our people. We must never forget that the primary qualification for being a leader of sheep is being a good sheep ourselves.
We, parishioners, must remember that our pastors are not called to be CEO’s. If they are, then perhaps they need to be the business manager, not the pastor. I in no way denegrate the administrative ministry of the church. It is vital, but it is also ancillary. If there is no money, there will still be the gospel. And, even the business manager must keep the people in his heart, and the people should expect that above all else. We must not accept CEO’s as pastors or as church business managers. We must expect our shepherds to shepherd, not to manage. We must expect them to disciple, not to nurse our desires. They must answer the call of Christ by the shore of Galilee, “Take care of my sheep.” We must expect them to be immersed in word, and prayer. We must expect them to care more about our eternal destiny, and the fulfillment of a life that glorifies our Savior than they are their congregational approval ratings. They must not cater to our every whim, but truly shepherd us with truth and love, in rebuke and in encouragement. We must fight to keep them from becoming fund-raisers. We must pray they will not become managers. We must expect them to lead us to Heaven, not to easy street. And once again . . . and often . . . we and they must remember that we and they are all just sheep.
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
Cyle,
Good post, I think this problem stems further than the present. Especially if you take a peak at the Catholic tradition.
Recently I saw a job listing for an “Family Minister/Associate Pastor”… they were looking for:
“A loving, passionate and spirit-filled individual who feels called to serve God as a minister for all age groups. This individual will be asked to work with Ministry teams and councils to reach withing the church and greater ****/**** County community by planning, coordinating, promoting and executing a comprehensive program of activities. Enthusiastically develop fellowship, Christian education, evangelistic outreach and visitation.”
The job requirements were:
* Assist the Stewardship Ministry Team in preparing and administering the family ministries annual budget
* Preparing monthly calendar and reports
* Supervision of custodial staff
* Maintain scheduling and supervision of church vehicles
* Oversee construction projects and the furnishing, maintenance, staffing and operation of same
* Attending regularly scheduled staffing meetings and Church Council
* Assisting the Pastor in planning, conducting and evaluating congregational services.
* Must have a seminary degree – be an open minded person with a listening and discerning ear and spirit who is able to take initiative in a Godly way.
You probably noticed that there isn’t many biblical requirements in that job listing. But there is a lot of tedious administrative work. It seems to me that part of the reason we have “CEO’s” instead of “pastors” is because we are hiring people to do the work of a CEO and then we’re calling them a “pastor.”
I think we all have strayed too far away from the biblical model. I sense I’m a little more extreme in my ecclesiology than most of y’all; but wouldn’t it be great if we could put away the business (which I believe is a hindrance), recognize pastors without looking at resumes, and expected all believers to make disciples? I think so.
God’s Glory,
Lew
The Pursuit Online Store
Just a curious question here…
How many of “you” attend churches where the pastor serves as the moderator during business meetings?
I know some of you are blessed to attend churches which don’t have regular business meetings, and that’s fine, I’m just curious how this is regarded.
This really is relevant to this post, I promise.
Bernard,
We only do one business meeting a year. We appoint an elder or trustee to lead (not moderate) the meeting.
I simply remain available to answer questions, cast and maintain the vision, etc…
Bernard,
In both the churches I pastored, the pastor was the moderator. We meet 5 – 6 times a year.
Bernard,
At the church I serve, there are six business meetings a year and per the constitution and bylaws, the pastor (me) is moderator.
So, Bernard … we’re still waiting to understand the connection here …
Obviously, others are welcome to respond to my question, but I’ll briefly state why I see this as relevant…
My pastor typically serves as moderator. He assumed that duty, largely of his own accord, even before our young church voted in a constitution and bylaws that provided for it. His experience was that it was appropriate and even best for the pastor to serve as moderator.
It took a lot of heat off me, as I was serving as Chairman of the “Board” at that point (we’re not deacons, but our direction is “moving toward” a full deacon board.) It bothered me a little at the time, because I had never been in a church where the pastor served as moderator, and our previous pastor, for various personal reasons, usually refused to even ATTEND business meetings.
I’m curious as to the “widespread” thoughts, because I think this “assumption” adds to the perspective of pastor as CEO. He is seen as THE power figure, even when dealing with purely business matters – budgets, allocations, etc. He is also, usually, highly involved if not dominate in all hirings and firings of staff. That also adds to the CEO perspective.
My point here is that this is not just a mistake on the part of current church members that “expect too much”. As a result of the way we structure church government in order to make sure that the pastor has the knowledge AND the final say in a LOT of things, the church does two things – first, they assume that he does everything. Second, they assume he is an employee to be hired or fired. There’s a friction of “you work for us” that is absolute nonsense, but is furthered by the very way we construct church governments that are “congregational” in government. Congregational, by the way, is simply a convenient way of saying that “we want to vote on everything that we expect the pastor to accomplish.” I’ve still not found congregational church government to be a Biblical principle, but it’s “how we do church”.
I’m not opposed to members having input, but if churches could get a grip on the idea that Jesus Christ is the head of the church and that the pastor works for Jesus just like the laity does, I think we might be able to make some inroads on this “CEO” mentality.
We’re just doing a lot of things as churches that make this problem worse – at least I think so. Just chatting, not condemning
This problem, IMO, is made much worse in a small church because there are simply too few others who can be “business managers” as opposed to pastors.
I’m not sure that a new Job Description is in order. I was thinking along the lines of a new Character Description.
I can moderate a meeting or I can dictate it. I can preach the Word, or I can preach my agenda (my program). I can oversee a church, or I can lord my position over the church. I can help the people find God’s vision for our church, or I can be the visioneer and sell what I perceive as God’s vision to the church.
People can expect me to call all the shots, or I can do what God expects me to do. People can expect me to follow the power brokers in the church, or they can expect me to follow the leadership of Christ (which includes other elders). I think that’s what I’m talking about.
Here’s another Piper quote on the topic, “The world sets the agenda for the professional man; God sets the agenda of the spiritual man. . . There is an infinite difference between the pastor whose heart is set on being a professional and the pastor whose heart is set on being the aroma of Christ, the fragrance of death to some and eternal life to others.”
Cyle – Perhaps you intended this post to largely be directed TO pastors rather than really speaking about a problem. Forgive my misinterpretation… I’m becoming somewhat famous for missing the point here on sbcImpact
Of course, I think that you might be misunderstanding MY point here as well. I think we’re saying the same THING needs to change – you’re saying that the pastor is responsible for changing it, I’m saying that the congregation needs to make sure we’re not doing things which either prevent that change or amplify the need for it.
Again, just the thoughts of a layman. Sometimes this feels like a pastors club. I don’t mean to intrude; if my thoughts are so “against the flow” that I should retreat, I understand. Just let me know
Bernard,
In no way do we mean for this to be a pastors’ club. Yes, there are several pastors that blog together here, but the type of interaction you offer is exactly what we are looking for. If I have come off at anytime with that attitude, I do apologize.
I don’t want to speak for Brother Cyle, but from my perspective, this is truly what this blog is intended to be between bloggers and the reading community. Thanks for your participation here.
Tony – I hope I didn’t sound accusatory; I think it’s just the nature of discussion when pastors congregate. It happens over coffee, it happens at conferences, and it happens on the net. You guys share common thoughts, needs, and even behaviors, and you gravitate to each other. In a way, the brotherhood is often so strong that I’ve seen pastors who didn’t know how to “act” when in the company of another pastor and a layman simultaneously. Most times, the layman kind of gets ignored and the pastors gravitate to heady Christianese, even without meaning to. Policemen and firemen have a similar brotherhood.
Laymen rarely have such a brotherhood inside the church, even when there’s a “brotherhood” organization. (Rabbit trail…)
I don’t “intend” to cause friction or confrontational discussion; I DO feel like I have a different perspective to offer. I thank you for reiterating the welcome; I just hope everyone understands that I’m not trying to be negative or divisive even though my perspective is different.
In Christ,
Bernard
Bernard,
You most certainly DO have a very important perspective to offer. And that perspective is most welcome here.
I guess I don’t think of this blog as a pastoral “hang-out.” There are far too many missionaries and lay-people involved. Indeed, we have one very thoughtful, articulate SB layman writing our guest post tomorrow. We are all about getting different perspectives from throughout the diversity of our SBC … and beyond.
And I do think you are right about how we pastors tend to gravitate toward one another. (I guess I never thought of how we seem to not know how to act in “mixed” pastoral-lay company.) Personally, I despise such behavior. I tend to think I’m a bit on the opposite side. I am so rarely around other pastors (in my “non-associational” state) that I don’t know how to act when I’m around one.
I’m a lot more comfortable hunting, fishing, or playing poker (gasp!) with the guys from my church.
Back to Cyle’s original point … I guess if we pastors would just act more like normal people and not speak in an perpetual “pulpit tone,” our people would be more likely to have different expectations.
I try to avoid the “professional” aspect of ministry as much as I possibly can. I want my people to know that I love them and I struggle with life just like they do. But, at the same time, I study and pray hard to prepare to teach and disciple them each week. That, I think, has become their expectation for me.
Anyways … I ramble …
But, Bernard, you are, most definitely, a valued contributor to the discussions here.
Geoff
Give me a pastor/elder who can parse a verb and pass a football and more often than not, you’ll have a pastor who advances mightly into kingdom work!
Bernard,
I’m trying to address both sides of the issue, so you’re input and points are well-taken and very welcomed. I think that we all, to a certain degree, try to become what is expected of us. For the pastor, there is a seduction to being “the guy,” the one at whose desk the proverbial “buck stops.” Bottom line is that a pastor is held to a higher accountablity, and part of that is the accountability to rule. But, does he like the ruling part so much that he begins to adopt the facade . . . perhaps wearing the robes of state and speaking in pulpit tone?
There is also a seduction for a church to have a polished, professional pastor. Several years ago I was at a revival meeting at another church. People were publicly repenting of sin and asking others to pray for their healing. God was really convicting me about the sin of bitterness. I knew I needed to publicly repent to break downt eh stronghold in my life, but I was afraid because I was a pastor. When I finally did, 24 deacons and 4 other pastors surrounded me and prayed for me as I laid on my face at the front of that church. The next week one of our major financial supporters came to me and said, “I don’t want a pastor who humiliates himself like that. I don’t want a pastor who lays on his face in front of people like that. I’m gone.”
By the way, within a year of that meeting, our church of 75 had grown to a church of 165. I guess that’s what I was trying to say when I talked about a Character Description.
Cyle – I really hope that my pastor feels free to repent, cry, or whatever he needs to do to keep his relationship with God in top shape. I want an honest, humble pastor.
Our pastor, less than a month ago, told us some of his personal testimony that absolutely shocked ALL of the congregation. Even his wife had no idea. Some VERY personal issues. The honesty was tangible. I get chills just recalling. I think it marked a real turning point for Crossroads, even though it’s almost impossible to explain “why”. I’m so thankful that he can be real. The Spirit of God worked in an absolutely amazing way because he was strong enough to be honest.
The polished, professional pastor approach doesn’t appeal to me, and THAT is one of the benefits of a small church that I had never really thought of – it’s much easier to be honest. The need for the facade is much less predominant.
I love my pastor, and I love the fact that he’s NOT a CEO. I just want to make sure, as a church, that we don’t do things to make him feel as though he’s too unprofessional or polished. That was the direction of my original question.
Guys,
Though it is about his somewhat circuitous personal journey and he indicts some well-loved leaders past and present in our denomination, Joel Gregory’s book, Too Great a Temptation: The Seductive Power of America’s Super Church is well worth the read to see how professionalism can kill a ministry.
Bernard, you are so sincere that any light upon your head would simply glisten. selahV
SelahV – I’m kinda scratching my head at that one
I’ve been pretty sincerely wrong several times in life…. LOL.