As I mentioned in my last post, about once in every 5 years, an evangelical church hangs out a sign that essentially says "Single church seeks pastor." In the case of pastoral staff other than the lead or senior pastor, that period of time sinks to as low as 18 months. Some denominations have longer spans, some, much shorter. In any case, there seems to be a revolving door, or pulpit, in many Bible-believing churches these days.
In the last post we discussed one of the two main reasons this happens, which is the consumer mentality of Christians these days, a mentality that churches have willingly and wantonly created in their people over the last 30 years. The second reason for churches losing pastors fairly regularly is that those pastors are being lured away by a bigger church, better location, or some other personal reason.
Why does this happen? Aren't these "men of the cloth" above such temptation? Don't churches hire them to be "good," so that the congregants can be "good for nothing?" Sorry, a little pastor joke there. Very little. News flash...pastors are people, too. They are also sinners. Another news flash...pastors act as shepherds and they find out one thing very quickly; sheep bite!
When you mix sinful pastors (which they ALL are) with consumer driven sheep with sharp teeth, you get a volatile mixture. Most pastors want to be appreciated for their ability to care for people and to preach and teach the Word, while at the same time being under tremendous pressure to serve as the CEO of the local Church, Inc., growing programs and enlarging the church every Sunday. When the sheep don't get what is "right for them," they rebel, make the pastor's life miserable, and normally either leave the church or force the pastor out.
Pretty grim picture, right? So what is to be done? A few suggestions follow:
1. Pastors need to reset their priorities to tending to the minstries of Word (preaching and teaching), Prayer (praying with and for people and doing visitation of the sick and infirm) and Sacrament (proper administration of Baptism and Communion). These ministries are the calling of the pastor, and not tending to these ministries first, last and always will continue to result in dissatisfaction for the pastor and the church.
2. Congregations need to reset their priorities by learning to seek after Word, Prayer and Sacrament as the means of grace given to us by our Lord in the Scriptures. It is the responsibility of parents to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, not the church. The church can and should provide an able assist, but too often, parents assign this duty to the church and abdicate their God-given authority over their children. The same is true of all adults looking to church for entertainment rather than community, worship and mutual caring for one another.
3. As churches seek new pastors, they should learn to look at candidates more deeply than "Who has the strongest resume?" It is impossible to define "strongest" anyway, because not all churches need the same set of strengths in a pastor. Churches and search committees need to learn to seek pastors who fit their congregation and needs after realistically assessing their strengths and shortcomings.
We as believers need to demand of our churches that they attend to the ministries of Word, Prayer and Sacrament FIRST, and seek to help us build ourselves into functioning Biblical/covenantal communities. Then, and only then, will the church flee the program mentality infecting it now and regain their savor and influence in our culture.
Thanks for the insightful post!
Posted by: Steve Dragoo | March 05, 2009 at 05:37 AM