A few evenings ago I was watching the local news and saw a story about a church here in my area that was in the process of going to court to take legal action in firing the pastor who, according to them, wasn't doing his job. In describing his lack of performance they cited that attendance was dropping.
Being a former pastor, I had a visceral reaction to that statement. I thought to myself, "It is up to the members of that local body to be salt and light in their world, to be the 'priesthood of believers,' leading people to Christ, and making disciples. A falling attendance problem (as if "attendance" is the end all, be all of being the church) is just as much a member problem as it is a pastor problem...if not more."
Last night I was mowing the lawn and, for some reason, began thinking about that church again. This time my visceral reaction leaned the other direction. I reminded myself of the thoughts I had earlier in the week and then took it a step further. The role of a pastor, according to Ephesians 4:12 is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. The pastor in question had been leading the church for 20 years. So yes, perhaps it is a pastor problem as well. The congregation members calling for his ouster believe he deserves to go because he isn't growing the church. If there is a legitimate complaint against the pastor, these members should understand that it's not that he hasn't grown the church, it's that he apparently hasn't equipped God's people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ. For a mature body of believers will understand their role in God's redemptive mission.
All of this springs from a couple of the most lethal toxins in Americanized Christianity: Clergy/Body separation, and the loss of missional understanding. Many in the American system believe that church is a place you go to in order to have trained religious professionals do ministry to you. This is a perversion of Christ's intention. We ARE church. We don't GO TO church. We don't DO church. We ARE church. And as the church every one of us is responsible for living our lives in such ways that those around us are drawn into their own pursuit of God. We live in this way through lives of purity and integrity and through an active participation in God's redemptive mission to the world around us. As for the leaders among us? They aren't called to dispense to us religious goods and services while keeping our institutions numerically and fiscally prosperous. They are there to equip and encourage us to introduce our world to the kindness of God.
Hello,
I just stumbled across your site through entre, and actually stopped to have a look around. It's amazing how many people out there are having he same experience.
I just wrote about mine here:
http://www.sheepleblog.net/index.php/archive/pastoring-the-source-of-my-greatest-disappointments-in-life/
Posted by: Sheeple | August 03, 2008 at 06:01 PM