The Right Place for Leadership in Pastoring

Perhaps our churches have become so influenced by culture that the number one gift for pastoring is regarded as leadership. Yes, pastors besides coming alongside and walking with, also have the role of presiding over (as John Lynch points out in response to the previous post), but in conversations I am always being corrected for not pointing out "leadership" functions of the pastoral office -- but when talking about leadership, hardly anyone corrects to point out the shepherding or servantship functions of the pastoral office.

The reason I find this unique is not that there are leadership functions in pastoral ministry, but rather than we are more concerned with leading than we are with shepherding or serving. Years ago, Walt Wright and Jack Balswick in a article on leadership noted that the leadership gift in Romans 12 in the fifth or sixth one listed -- rather than the first. However, in our culture and in our churches, we have more or less made it the primary gift for exercising our call in the life of the church. There may be many reasons for why we have made it primary, but one reason its become primary (and remains primary) is that we still have not taken to heart fully what Jesus meant when he declared in Mark 10: 42-43 "not to lord it over others." We hear this word of Jesus and even want to follow it, but we just can't bring ourselves to the point of giving up "not lording it over others" just a bit, just a little, so that things will work out in our churches, in ministry the way we want them to.

So yes, there may be a presiding over, being in front, but not in the way we think. In leadership involving these kind of things it needs to grow out of a servantship framework and not a "lording it over" paradigm.

So rather, than always trying to make a place of leadership, lets begin to discover what we are really called to when Jesus takes "lording it over others" off the table as a viable way of thinking for us. Let's focus on rediscovering the depths of servantship, rediscovering what it is to shepherd, let's give attention to the processes of discernment and gaining wisdom -- let's focus on relationships and releasing people to mature in the way God names them, calls them, rather than making them mere resources for ministry tasks.

As pastors we are called to walk with people, to help them attend to God -- to have ears to hear what God is saying in the world, their world, to have eyes to see what God is doing -- to encourage them (to have the courage) to participate in God's mission here on earth. I know there is a need to hold leadership issues in tension, but I have come to the place in my understanding and my journey, that I would rather err on the side of viewing what I am called to from the perspective of serving and shepherding, rather than from the side of exercising leadership in the way it has been expressed (and is still being expressed) for over the past 20 - 25 years.

Interested in your thoughts!

Helping Others to Have Eyes to See

I like what Eugene Peterson has to say about the pastoral role. The pastor is a sinner amongst sinners in a community looking to live life in the way of Jesus in this world. The pastor in this community is no greater than others within this community, but the pastor does have a unique role. Peterson talks about pastors having the responsibility of walking alongside with others in order to help them attend to God in the midst of life. This attending happens through engagement with Scripture, participation in prayer, and also through spiritual direction (see Peterson's book, Working the Angles, where he expands on this).

For me a key aspect of this pastoral role of walking with people in order to help them attend to God is helping others to have eyes to see. If you think of it, Jesus' ministry on earth was not his own. In John's Gospel on numerous occasions we see Jesus stating that his ministry is not his own, but that of his Father -- I do what I see my Father doing, or I say what I hear my Father saying (see: John 5:19, 7:16-17 etc.) Jesus had eyes to see what his Father was doing and ears to hear what his Father was saying and his ministry was one of participation in God's activity, God's mission (missio Dei). Jesus also expressed in the telling of parables, "Whoever has ears, let them hear" (Matthew 13:9).

What better ministry could there be but to help people have ears to hear what God is saying in the midst of everyday life and to see what God is doing in the world, in their community, in their family, in themselves. And then it is in this hearing and seeing, that pastors encourage those they are walking alongside with in order to have the courage to participate in what God is doing and to speak what they hear God speaking.

I remember when I was a new Christian and I was giving the responsibility of leading bible study in my youth group, I would often hear some message or exposition of Scripture by a Christian teacher I respected and I respoke what I had heard them express. Likewise for us, what joy do we encounter in ministry when we help the communities we have been called to serve, not only for them to hear God and see God's actions, but to speak into the lives of others what they are hearing and participating with God in bringing about human and creation wholeness through reconciliation with God the Father through Jesus Christ.

As pastors we are called not for people to see our visions and agendas, but to help people, guide people develop a greater sensitivity to hear God and clearer eyesight to see the activity of God, and to encourage them to live their lives in participation with God in God's mission. In this way the people we are called to serve become and are salt and light in the world.