Most of the pastors I know (and I was one for almost 40 years) are great hearted, spiritually determined people, who truly believe that they have been called by God to serve. And most bust their backsides to do so, to the point even of sacrificing almost all their time, energy and jeopardizing their health and, sadly, their marriages and families in the service of God's people.
The sad thing is that such a responsibility is not put on any person by any command, example or principle of the scriptures these men and women so revere. The pastor model is not "biblically based" and, indeed, has proven to be the antithesis and even oppositional to the "one another," "every member a minister" model commended and commanded by NT scripture.
I realize that many will disagree with me and you are free to do so. However, serving in variously named leadership roles for four decades in churches ranging in membership from 20 to 1500 Christians, trying as hard as I might, preaching as directly as I could, encouraging as positively as I was able, I never once observed more than a small percentage of members who found ways to use their gifts for the good of their faith community.
The problem, for the most part (but not without exception), is not that the pastors want power and are unwilling to relinquish control. The problem is also not that the members want to be spiritually lazy and irresponsible (again, not without exception). The problem, at least in my experience and opinion, is that the vast majority both pastors and members have bought into a leadership/membership model, that is, regardless of titles, a clergy/laity model. And that is a model that infantilizes most of the members and burns out all but the hardiest and most determined of pastors.
Can we break ourselves of our addiction to the pastor model? I believe it is entirely possible, but I will leave that for further posts.
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