Tuesday, July 01, 2008
In Front Of The Church
Milt Stanley links to a post by Barry Maxwell comparing and contrasting the role of leader and pastor. Mil'ts pullquote is the best:
A pastor lead church, short on organizational leadership, generally leads to such organizational chaos and inefficiency that volunteer leadership like myself walks away in utter frustration. The time involved to accomplish the simplest of tasks in such an environment is extraordinary. The small political fiefdoms established in organizational voids created in this environment can result in virtual civil war over even the most mundane of decisions.
On the other hand, a church with strong organizational leadership, devoid of a genuine pastoral heart strongly in front, becomes a mere dispenser of services. Such a church often loses all sense of vision other than "grow" and often becomes something akin to a cancer on the church - uncontrolled growth in which the original function of the flesh has been altogether forgotten.
Neither of these are pretty pictures, both things are needy. Rarely are these capabilities found in a single individual, and that is where the trouble starts. Even if there are efforts to build an effective team to accomplish these functions, those efforts are undermined by one little question, "Who's in charge?" But in that question also lies the answer to the problem.
You see, the key to solving this dilemma lies in the answer to that vexing question. You see, rarely is a great team assembled because someone always wants to be in charge, and people think someone should be in charge. But the church's reality is a very different thing. Christ is in charge, and WE ARE ALL anointed to work for Him.
Thus there is no struggle between the two leading roles, for both are only secondary.
From our perspective, there is only one thing needed to make this work well - Humility. Humility in knowing you are not in charge, humility in knowing your limitations, humility in knowing that the gifts of the other are significant. Humility in knowing that it is not your church, it is His.
Both roles are needed and humility is needed to make them work together well.
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I discount "Google stats," but I thought a quick survey might help the cause. A search (as of writing) for "leadership conference church" revealed 700,000 related sites. A search for "pastors conference church" revealed 229,000 related sites. And I'm sure the advertising for leadership conferences was directed mainly at pastors. The larger church culture has (unwittingly?) shifted its emphasis from the pasture to the boardroom. Now the church no longer needs pastors, but leaders. Not shepherds, but executives.There is little doubt in my mind about the essential point here. There is a huge qualititative difference between the skills, duty, and function of organizational leadership and the pastorate. That said; however, the church needs both. Not to have both courts to disaster.
I don't think this is merely a matter of semantics. Some might say that "leaders" are simply the new "pastors." It's a distinction without a difference in the name of cultural relevance. But any drift from biblical language is a slippery slope. For instance, "life partner" is the new "spouse." "Issues" is the new "sin." Redefining biblical words leads to redefining biblical categories. Redefining biblical categories leads to redefining the biblical community.
There is something qualitatively different about pastoring than leadership. And we do well to redefine the redefinition of the office.
A pastor lead church, short on organizational leadership, generally leads to such organizational chaos and inefficiency that volunteer leadership like myself walks away in utter frustration. The time involved to accomplish the simplest of tasks in such an environment is extraordinary. The small political fiefdoms established in organizational voids created in this environment can result in virtual civil war over even the most mundane of decisions.
On the other hand, a church with strong organizational leadership, devoid of a genuine pastoral heart strongly in front, becomes a mere dispenser of services. Such a church often loses all sense of vision other than "grow" and often becomes something akin to a cancer on the church - uncontrolled growth in which the original function of the flesh has been altogether forgotten.
Neither of these are pretty pictures, both things are needy. Rarely are these capabilities found in a single individual, and that is where the trouble starts. Even if there are efforts to build an effective team to accomplish these functions, those efforts are undermined by one little question, "Who's in charge?" But in that question also lies the answer to the problem.
You see, the key to solving this dilemma lies in the answer to that vexing question. You see, rarely is a great team assembled because someone always wants to be in charge, and people think someone should be in charge. But the church's reality is a very different thing. Christ is in charge, and WE ARE ALL anointed to work for Him.
Thus there is no struggle between the two leading roles, for both are only secondary.
From our perspective, there is only one thing needed to make this work well - Humility. Humility in knowing you are not in charge, humility in knowing your limitations, humility in knowing that the gifts of the other are significant. Humility in knowing that it is not your church, it is His.
Both roles are needed and humility is needed to make them work together well.
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