The Failure of the Pastoral Role

I don't doubt that there are biblical and Godly reasons why certain persons should be in certain types of leadership in the Church.  I've come to terms with the fact that hierarchy can be holy.  But the way that the modern church has turned the office of a "Pastor" into a kind of all inclusive Christian role is simply wrong.  Pastors and lay-persons are both responsible for maintaining this problem.  For many who grow up in church in America, the pastor is expected to do a lot of things that I believe all Christians are supposed to do.  In our modern institutional churches in the west, the pastor is expected to do the work of the church rather than lead the church.  This distinction may seem insignificant, but I believe it is largely responsible for the disengagement and low commitment level of many congregations.  Let me give you an example.  "Pastor, why haven't you visited Mary in the nursing home yet?  No one from our church has seen her since she arrived at the new facility." Visitation of the sick, dying, and bereaved has NEVER been a biblical role reserved for Elders in the body of Christ.  If anything, it is a responsibility of all Christians.  "I've stopped coming to Church because the pastor would just walk by me like I wasn't even there.  She only greeted me once a month before worship."  Keeping up personally with each individual in a large church is impossible for one person, but I have found people countless times who become inactive or leave the church altogether because "the pastor didn't really reach out to me".  Aren't all Christians supposed to reach out to one another?  Since when is it the expectation of one person to do what all Christians should be doing.  Let me be clear, my issue is not that Clergy persons have too much to do (in fact I think we can get pretty lazy sometimes).  My issue is that by taking on so many responsibilities that belong to the whole church, Pastors give everyone else excuses NOT to be Christians in their daily life. When I do the "rounds" at church, greeting persons and introducing myself and learning something about their life, I'm not trying to be a good pastor, I'm trying to model Christian behavior that we should all embody.  When I visit the sick or comfort the grieving I'm not filling the tasks of an ordained elder, I'm showing other Christians how they too should care for their own.  When I teach from the scriptures the truth of the gospel I'm not imparting some secret knowledge to a group of students, I'm exemplifying that a knowledge of the bible and its message is available to all.   When Pastors are expected to do the work of the church (be the body of Christ by themselves), they become products for a needy people and eventually those churches will die.  The only biblical and sustainable model for pastoral leadership is one where everyone is empowered to do the work of the church and no one person is expected to do it all.          

The Sunday Squash

Lately on Sunday mornings, I've been feeling like I'm trying to squeez the universe into a thimble.  I want all of the transforming power and redeeming grace of God to be realized and avaliable during one hour of corporate worship.  I want people to catupult into a life of faith that will leave them changed forever.  I want to make disciples that will be agents of transformation in the world.   This needs to happen between 11:00am and 12 noon on Sunday.  "I may not have another chance! This is it!  Most people who come will not have another time during their week (or month, or year) to spend an hour intentionally focused on Christ and their faith in Him.  If it doesn't happen now, it won't happen." So my mind thinks as I come to worship each week. 
But does God want me to feel this way about Sunday morning worship?  Sure, I know that corporate worship is a holy time that holds great power for all who attend.  I know lives can be changed in a moment and that coming together as a community is biblical.  But I have a sense that I shouldn't be putting so much emphasis (and presure) on what turns out to be only one aspect of the Christian life.  And it dawns on me, maybe the reason the extent of many people's Christian life is Sunday morning is because they've learned, like I have, that this is the moment of the week when "God Happens".  What if the pressure to change lives and make disciples wasn't put so overwhelmingly on Sunday worship?  What if that burden was shared properly among the other aspects of the life of faith that scripture and tradition charges us with?  What if we made it clear each week during worship that it wasn't the most important part of being a Christian and that it wasn't the only (and primary) way to relate to Christ's Church.  What if Christian leaders spent the time they spent on planning worship on gathering people into missional activity in their communty.  What if the pinnical of our week wasn't Sunday but the days when we are building small groups and fostering one-on-one discipleship? What if we allowed Christian worship to be Christian worship and didn't try to make it evangelistic preaching or apostolic teaching?  What if we didn't try to represent every element of community in that one hour?  Would people look for more?  Would they start asking for other ways to get involved if we stopped giving them the reader's digest version of everything?  More likely, we have work to do.  Work to emphasize disciple making and world-transforming rather than worship spaces, professional muscisians and excellent preaching.  Maybe our work as Christian leaders is not to get more people to have a cursory encounter with God in a large group but to guide them, one by one, into meaningful and life-altering relationships with Christ through other people.  Maybe we give up having the best show in town and instead work on making the best disciples and the most living church. 

Each One Sent

I've been talking about a dream for the church in which EACH person experiences the transforming power of a relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Each one Known
Each one Loved
Each one Called
Each one Sent

Today I'll talk about the last element, Each one Sent:
When people are known by God and their family of faith and when they are fully accepted and loved in genuine relationships they begin to understand their value, giftedness and unique call by God.  Upon the moment that such a call is heard and accepted, the natural and immediate result is for that person to be sent to fulfill it.  Just because someone knows they have a calling, doesn't mean they have accepted the authority and responsibility of carrying that calling out.  I've met many people who know what God has called them to do in life but have never been sent by the church to go and accomplish that calling.  This may seem insignificant until we think about people's insecurity, hesitancy to act alone, and fear of seeming crazy ("God told me so!") or arrogant  ("He wants to use me because I'm especially special!").  Believe it or not people need permission, affirmation, and authority to go and be who they are. 
Once someones call is understood and accepted, it is the role of the Body of Christ to send (commission) that person to act and to covenant to support them in the living out of their call.  Our concept of this is extremely limited in the mainstream church and it is a huge factor in why lay-leadership is such a problem in the local church. 
To send someone is to do several things.  First it tells the person that his/her calling is not just about him/her.  Its about God and His mission in the world taking place through His people, the church.  Secondly, sending someone tells them that they are a living, important, and unique part of that mission.  Thirdly, sending people gives them the permission to act with the authority of a community behind them.  It allows them to take risks, but also provides them accountability and support when the calling is not easy to live out. 
Think about this, the very identity of the 12 disciples was defined by the fact that Jesus sent them to accomplish His mission in the world.  The word "apostle" simply means "one who is sent".  Who are we?  We are the ones who are sent!  We aren't the ones who came up with this mission or calling on our own but we come on behalf of one who holds unending love and power for the world that is here at our disposal through grace!  The point of becoming a Christian is to become an apostle (lower case "a") and to be sent out to accomplish the mission of God in a unique way by using your own gifts, calling, and environment. 
As the church we must Send people out and empower them to be all they are created to be.  Every worship service should have a commissioning of "regular" Christians - A mother who is sent to be an apostle to her family and the mother's day out she works for.  A retired man who is sent to be an apostle to his breakfast group, golf buddies, and grandchildren.  An accountant who is sent to be an apostle to his firm, clients, and industry.
When we are known and loved we can be truly called and sent.  This is one of God's dreams for the church!