What a pastor is - and isn't
Pastors are some of the last true generalists. Their day-to-day work is rich and varied, which is one of the aspects of ministry that is most appealing to some clergy. A pastor is:
A proclaimer of scripture, interpreting the meaning of ancient texts for our modern lives
A spiritual caregiver who accompanies people through life’s celebrations and devastations
A face of the church to the larger community, building a two-way bridge over which people can cross to connect with those similar to and different from them
An equipper of people as they discover and utilize their gifts and live into God’s calls on their lives
A leader or facilitator of important conversations and processes about faith and being the Church
The holder of a bigger picture, a vision into which the congregation is attempting to live
An administrator of details related to that larger vision
Aren’t we lucky to have leaders who are made for this kind of compassionate, hard, life-changing work?
Now, the list above is not comprehensive, and pastors do the work above in varying percentages according to their contexts, strengths, and staff situations. But it’s a good start, and I offer it in order to contrast it with what a pastor is not:
The savior of a church
The receptacle for a congregation’s anxieties
The person who gets yelled at because someone can’t say what they feel to the person they’re actually mad at
The paid help that does all the ministry (or even non-ministry tasks) church members don’t want to do themselves
A scapegoat for conflict or for the numerical decline of a congregation
A one-person planner and implementer of strategies to attract young people
A warm body to occupy the office 40 hours a week so that she is there whenever a person wants to drop by and shoot the breeze
A compensated buddy
A referee of political or personal conversations
Someone to make people in the pews feel comfortable and finished in terms of their theology and contributions to the world
There is so much upheaval in the world that we’re all looking for a person, a practice, or a perspective that seems solid, and leaning on pastors in list #2 ways feels like it could be that thing. The effects of doing so are significant, though. Clergy aren’t just thinking about leaving their current congregations. They are contemplating leaving ministry altogether, because they don’t feel free to pastor in the ways they’ve been called. And that in turn leaves congregations without the spiritual guides they need, thereby lessening the possibility of faithful meaning-making, deep connection with fellow disciples, and real transformation.
Mercifully, there is grace for us all when we disappoint and are disappointed by one another. And, I urge church folks to consider thoughtfully the ways you interact with your pastors. Let them love and lead you. (And love them in return!) Let them challenge you, because in that gentle nudging is the promise of spiritual growth and richer relationships with others made in God’s image. Let them invite you into mutual ministry, because ministry is not the work of the paid staff alone. If you open yourself in these ways, you won’t want or need your clergy to fulfill list #2, and you will be journeying arm-in-arm with your pastor closer to the heart of God.
Photo by Florian Schmetz on Unsplash.