So, a strange thought came to me in the shower the other day. Being a pastor is like being a Chinese buffet. Everyone shows up with different and specific expectations and everyone walks away disappointed.
This thought didn't come to me because I was feeling sorry for myself, because I'm not. I love what I do because of who I do it for (Jesus), and I have no internal need to meet everyone's expectations of me. My job is to please the one who loved me and called me to himself. (And, awesome thought, he is already pleased with me and will continue to be because I am covered with Christ, the delight of God!)
The thought actually came to me as I was thinking about how the church today has lost the experience of being the church. Our cultural Christianity has essentially taken all the “one another's” of scripture and robbed them of their community experience.
Notice who is told to do the work of ministry here: the church.
We have lost a vision of the church edifying (building up) one another, encouraging one another, teaching one another, challenging and correcting one another, praying for one another, sacrificing for and giving to one another, leading one another to worship God and reach out to the outsider in love.
By and large, the church now sees the professional leadership of the church as the "one" and themselves as the "another." It is the pastor's job to teach us, the worship leader's job to give us a dynamic experience of worship, the mission pastor's job to create opportunities for service for us, the kid's pastor's job to teach our kids, the counseling pastor's job to help us overcome their hang ups from the past - and so on.
Obviously it is not my intent to undermine the importance of leadership in the local church. But is also not my intent to replicate our culture's consumeristic approach to church life.
Consumers show up, consume, critique, and then go home, like semi-interested teenagers at the family table eating what looks tasty and criticizing everything else and then leaving before the table gets cleaned up.
This thought didn't come to me because I was feeling sorry for myself, because I'm not. I love what I do because of who I do it for (Jesus), and I have no internal need to meet everyone's expectations of me. My job is to please the one who loved me and called me to himself. (And, awesome thought, he is already pleased with me and will continue to be because I am covered with Christ, the delight of God!)
The thought actually came to me as I was thinking about how the church today has lost the experience of being the church. Our cultural Christianity has essentially taken all the “one another's” of scripture and robbed them of their community experience.
Like Colossians 3:16. It says
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Notice who is told to do the work of ministry here: the church.
We have lost a vision of the church edifying (building up) one another, encouraging one another, teaching one another, challenging and correcting one another, praying for one another, sacrificing for and giving to one another, leading one another to worship God and reach out to the outsider in love.
By and large, the church now sees the professional leadership of the church as the "one" and themselves as the "another." It is the pastor's job to teach us, the worship leader's job to give us a dynamic experience of worship, the mission pastor's job to create opportunities for service for us, the kid's pastor's job to teach our kids, the counseling pastor's job to help us overcome their hang ups from the past - and so on.
Obviously it is not my intent to undermine the importance of leadership in the local church. But is also not my intent to replicate our culture's consumeristic approach to church life.
Is it my job as a pastor to teach truth? Absolutely
Is it my job to encourage people to praise God and worship him? Yes.
Is it my job to remind you how much you have to be thankful for in Jesus? Yes.
Is it (and can it be) only my job? No way
My job is to teach the church truth – but more importantly, it is my job to equip the church to live in it, and if I am doing my job well, our church should become less and less dependent on me.
Ephesians 4:11-16 (part of the passage for our sermon, Why am I here, at Trailhead Church this weekend) compares this whole thing to the process of growing a child into a mature man.
In the beginning the child is dependent and needy – you have to feed them and change them. You pretty much have to start there. When they learn that, you have to tell them how to treat others.
Don’t hit – don’t bite – share – be polite.
Then later you help them to become discerning and productive – pick good friends – only date people you think you might be able to marry - work before you play - clean up what you mess up. And, gradually, they need you less and less.
They never completely outgrow their love for you or their need for your influence in their lives (thank God - I love my kids too much to think that one day they will never need me). But they do become independent and autonomous. They do become mature men and women.
In the same way, while the church never outgrows its need for its leaders, a mature church will be continually producing new leaders. It's members will not just waiting for marching orders - they will be initiating gospel ministry around them continually. And it's a good thing too, because a healthy church is a reproducing church that will see a continual inflow of new (and somewhat messy) young believers.
In the same way, while the church never outgrows its need for its leaders, a mature church will be continually producing new leaders. It's members will not just waiting for marching orders - they will be initiating gospel ministry around them continually. And it's a good thing too, because a healthy church is a reproducing church that will see a continual inflow of new (and somewhat messy) young believers.
If we have any hope of experiencing the power of the church, we need to stop putting our cultural, consumeristic, self-centered expectations on it. We need to stop coming to church like we do to a restaurant - showing up to consume what we like, criticize what we don't, and then going home and leaving the clean up to the professionals. We need to stop talking about the church as if we weren't the church.
Oh, and remember, your pastor isn't a Chinese buffet.
Oh, and remember, your pastor isn't a Chinese buffet.
Comments
Absolutely. Some seasons are harder than others - the same way some seasons are harder to connect with family. There are certain seasons that we need to take much more from community than we take. And that is OK.
I had an older friend tell me once that I had more free time now than I will have for the rest of my life. I asked when that stopped being the case, and he said he didn't know because he hadn't gotten there yet.
Community is hard - we have to value it and intentionally seek it out. The benefits far outweigh the cost.
"We need to stop talking about the church as if we weren't the church."