All Crossed Up
Michael Horton on the Ordinary Ministry That Can’t Corner the Market
Never mind Paul’s exhortation to Timothy to submit to elders and pastors as official ambassadors of Christ. These days, even in more confessional denominations, it seems that instead of being the Lord’s servant, ambassador, and minister of reconciliation, a pastor is supposed to be the community’s quarterback, class president, or the one voted “most likely to succeed.”
It used to be that the pastor had an office and worked in his study, but today the pastor has a job and works in his office. Whereas Peter organized the diaconal office so that the apostles could devote themselves to the Word and to prayer, ideal ministers seem increasingly to be managers, therapists, entertainers, and entrepreneurial businesspeople.
Open up the average issue of Christianity Today to advertisements for pastoral positions and you’ll find descriptions like “team builder,” “warm and personal style,” “outgoing,” “contagious personality,” and “effective communicator.” (Catholic friends tell me that something like this affects Catholicism, too.)
I think they’re looking for a Director of Sales and Marketing, whom they may (or may not) call “Pastor.” I’m not against directors of sales and marketing; I just don’t think that this is what we should be looking for in the way of shepherds.
Habits of the Pastoral Heart
We wouldn’t have had Paul, for example. Who, having advertised for an outgoing team builder with a contagious personality, would have hired a pastor who openly disclosed the fact that he was not a great communicator, suffered everywhere he was sent, was nearly blind, and lacked the natural charisma of the “super-apostles,” who were only too happy to point out these weaknesses themselves?
Perhaps, like the immature and sectarian Corinthians (1 Cor. 3:5–9), we celebrate the extraordinary minister more than the ordinary ministry of the gospel.
The different approaches to church life, worship, and outreach more generally express different ministry values, which might be summarized this way:
Ordinary <-----------------> Extraordinary
Communal <-----------------> Individualistic
Predictable and Disciplined <-----------------> Spontaneous and “Authentic”
Respectful of office <-----------------> Respectful of persons
Hierarchical <-----------------> Egalitarian
Patient <-----------------> Restless
Receptive <-----------------> Expressive
Mediated <-----------------> Immediate
Wise/Knowledgeable <-----------------> Practical/Intuitive
Custodial/Pastoral <-----------------> Entrepreneurial
Formal <-----------------> Casual
Mature <-----------------> Creative
Traditional <-----------------> Innovative
Deferential <-----------------> Independent
I am not suggesting that these contrasting tendencies should be simplistically identified with “good” and “bad” respectively. Although for a couple of decades now I have been a parishioner and minister in confessional Reformed churches that favor the left side of the chart, I was reared in churches that tilted toward the right side.
Michael Horton is J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California (www.wscal.edu), near San Diego, and the editor of Modern Reformation magazine (www.modernreformation.org). His most recent book is Covenant and Salvation: Union with Christ (WJK, 2007). His essay on the ?worship wars? will appear in a future issue.
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