The Pastor?
I was in the locker room with a bunch of pastors the other day, and I overheard a bit of conversation about 'job descriptions' and the need for churches to have a 'senior pastor.'
It's been three years since I was a part of the traditional church, and the entire conversation seemed odd. I am beginning to believe that we need those things only because we've forsaken much of the servant role that Jesus embodied. Neither concise job descriptions nor the directorship of senior pastors are significantly important if we are foremost about the things of Jesus.
And here is another thought that is brewing in my mind... The other day I led a seminar on 'Helping Your Youth Pastor Succeed.' The whole thing went well, but now I am wondering why we have given God's people (other than pastors) the title of 'volunteers.'
I wonder if the term demeans those who are actively involved with the organized church?
I wonder if it suggests that they have a choice if they want to be involved?
It seems that people who are serious about following Jesus would have a necessary need to be involved. It seems involvement, to some degree, reflects the condition of one's passion for Christ. Perhaps we should consider this term 'volunteers' and replace it with something more biblical, something more life-giving?
3 comments:
apostles?
disciples?
The Institutional Church (American variety)has begun the process of catholicazation...hierarchy and mission with apriority of self-preservation and expansion rather than what was originally intended
I think something like 'partners' or 'companions' might be getting closer to being accurate.
Volunteer is not all bad. We have an all volunteer army. You're there because you signed up--you've committed. I think the problem might be in the way we have 'used' volunteers in the church--as if they were dispensable or even disposable. Or even in saying things like, "just a volunteer'--as if we were creating class distinctions in the Christian community. Oh yeah, we did that with the whole clergy/laity thing didn't we?
I'd have to agree. As a pastor in the current IC, even though we like to consider ourselves "contemporary," I'm still very disappointed with what we are producing and calling disciples. Most of the memberships in the denomination I am a part of would probably be more aptly named as consumers and spectators rather than disciples and we have no one to blame but ourselves and the system we have created. I don't know that a "Senior Pastor" is what we need as much as a drastic change in the way we do what we do. The old saying is true -- "If you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll keep getting what you've been getting."
Post a Comment