Friday, May 01, 2009
Clergyianity?
MMI links to and quotes Ed Stetzer:
Start with this premise - its not the system that is the problem but the people that are in it. Note then that we can do very little to change other people. So we are left with only one variable in this equation that we can affect - ourselves.
If you are a pastor ask yourself is you like being affirmed as superman. Betcha do. If you are a lay person and you want to be in clergy, ask yourself the same question. If you are laity and content with being there, ask yourself why you are afraid of being superman. Finally, ask yourself this - if Clark Kent never put on the red, yellow and blue with cape, would he still not have his powers and still not do good? Certainly that is the premise of the entire "Smallville" series.
My point - don't care where you sit on Sunday morning and what you do. You are superman. Go - be. Forget affirmation. Watch what happens. You'll be astonished.
The church needs to be unleashed, and we have to recognize that it’s the normal activity of normal believers to engage in normal ministry. Pastors and congregations are in a co-dependent relationship. My dad was a drunk and my mom would rescue him. She gained her identity from rescuing my father. The church has fallen into the same thing. We’ve created a clergy system with a superman syndrome. The pastor thinks it’s their job to rescue the church—and they get affirmed for doing it.Heady stuff this, and how does one respond? I'd like to make a humble suggestion. It lies in two key words from Stetzer - "superman" and "affirmed."
Start with this premise - its not the system that is the problem but the people that are in it. Note then that we can do very little to change other people. So we are left with only one variable in this equation that we can affect - ourselves.
If you are a pastor ask yourself is you like being affirmed as superman. Betcha do. If you are a lay person and you want to be in clergy, ask yourself the same question. If you are laity and content with being there, ask yourself why you are afraid of being superman. Finally, ask yourself this - if Clark Kent never put on the red, yellow and blue with cape, would he still not have his powers and still not do good? Certainly that is the premise of the entire "Smallville" series.
My point - don't care where you sit on Sunday morning and what you do. You are superman. Go - be. Forget affirmation. Watch what happens. You'll be astonished.
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