Another Kind of Pastor

Another Kind of Pastor
by Tom Johnston

So, what is a pastor, anyway? There are a number of different definitions, most of which are cultural, some of which are biblical. The term pastor is found only once in the English text, In Ephesians 4:11 –

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ

The Greek here, poimen (poy-mane’), means shepherd, one who watches out for (oversees) and cares for the flock. Paul seems to link it here with teacher. Now, much has been written on the subject lately, so I don’t really want to try to create a whole theology or philosophy of pastoral ministry here. But I do wonder how what we have as a pastoral role in the Western Church might be going through some serious changes.

For the past century or more in our country, being a member of the “clergy” has meant that you were, in most cases, the primary, singular spiritual leader of a local community church. For the vast majority, it has also been seen as a vocation, and in the past 75 years or so, has been viewed as a profession, a desirable career track for one to pursue. In the past 30 years with the rise of the “Mega” church, pastors have been challenged to become a whole lot more than just shepherds. Leader, manager, financial wizard, vision-caster, promoter, communicator, and program manager are now part of the expectations of being a pastor.

With the American “bigger is better” mindset still prevalent in the Western Church, success or effectiveness is equated with the size of the church. And yet research continues to find that real church growth in America – via conversion growth – is still between 5-7 percent, with 93-95 percent of growth coming through transfer. So, maybe bigger isn’t really better. Maybe better is better. Hey, we all want to see the harvest come it – and it’s not – and we want to see churches grow – but through conversion, not transfer.

But I digress. The point is those Megas, (will we have Gigas soon?) and we are glad to have them, representing a tiny fraction of the total churches in America. But do they really represent “success”? Yes, and no.

Success in the Kingdom is obedience. Jesus tells a great story about obedience in Matthew 25:14-30, where He is talking about the talents. Three different people, three different levels of investment, two different responses. Two were obedient, one was not. Two traded with what they had been given, one buried what he had out of fear. So, if a Mega church pastor is someone with grace empowerment from Jesus at “5 Plus” talent level – then yes, their obedience would potentially produce something massive. For them that is success. But not for the rest of us. The fruit of our obedience will look different from one person to the next. What matters is that we are obedient to be who we are called to be, do what we are called to do, and that we bear much fruit, bringing glory to the Father, and proving to be Jesus’ disciples (John 15:8).

Is this an excuse for us to be lazy in pursuit of our mission? No way. If we did, then we would get the response from Jesus the one who buried the talent got – rebuked and kicked out of town. No, we have to press in to mission, being obedient to our calling, investing what has been invested in us by the Holy Spirit into the Kingdom economy.

But here’s the rub: The current paradigm of pastoring in the West, and the accompanying church system, limit who can be released into the pastoral role. We’ve built, or perhaps inherited, an expert-driven, professionalized system that spends $286 Billion per year on ministry – and we aren’t reaching our own kids (less than 5% of teens indicate faith in Christ). How can the one, two, three, or in my case, a zero-point-five talent pastor find expression of their giving and calling? Do we all have to be CEO’s? Is that what Paul was thinking when he wrote Ephesians 4:11? Are there more people with the ability to pastor 20, 30 or 50 people than there are who can pastor 500, 800 or 1000? I think maybe there are, and if we want to see a spiritual revolution, a Third Great Awakening, then we might need to figure out how to mobilize them, from the local church for the local church. And do it fast. We may need to let go of our preconceptions about what pastoral ministry is, and allow our structures to become more flexible, adapting to new pastoral roles, and consequently, new incarnations of church.

So here is my question for discussion: Is there room for another kind of pastor in the Western Church? Let’s talk.