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.