The (Not So Incredible) Invisible Pastor
Please don’t misunderstand, I’m not looking for sympathy. But I have a hard job. I’m not complaining, but there are times when I am overwhelmingly affected by the weight of the calling that is before me. I am continually convinced that no one can truly pastor God’s people simply by human strength and wisdom. Oftentimes, this reminder is simply enhanced by my own limitations. It is common for pastors such as myself to seek out helpful resources on preaching, counseling and leadership. Yet the truth seems to be that many of these resources, even from “Christian” booksellers often rely more on the wisdom of the world rather than the wisdom of God. As John Piper reminds us in his book Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, so much of what pastoring is to be about, when rightly understood, is antithetical to the world’s approach to leadership. Piper writes:
We pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry. The mentality of the professional is not the mentality of the prophet. It is not the mentality of the slave of Christ. Professionalism has nothing to do with the essence and heart of the Christian ministry. The more professional we long to be, the more spiritual death we will leave in our wake.
There has been a surge in the “pastor as CEO” model where many churches are built on the charismatic personalities of certain men and modeled after business structures. Growth, growth, growth is the goal and not necesarilly spiritual growth. I do not strive to be one of those “pastors”. In fact, I do not want people to hear a sermon and say, “I never would have seen that in the text if you hadn’t shown me.” I want to make myself invisible. I know that this is counterintuitive to the world’s approach to leadership, but at the end of the day, I am not striving to point people to myself but to Christ. John describes John the Baptist’s ministry in exactly this way:
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light (John 1:6-8).
Later, the Baptist describes himself as not even worthy to untie Jesus’ sandal (John 1:19-28) and he makes it very clear that his ministry is that of pointing to another, pointing to Christ. Though many came out to hear John’s message and receive baptism, his message was that he was not the one they should be listening to! In other words, John wanted to be made less so that Christ might be made more. John didn’t want people looking to him. Instead, he wanted people looking past him to Christ. He wanted to become in a sense, invisible.
This is a hard truth. We, by nature, have a tendency towards pride when part of our job involves being in a spotlight, no matter how dim the spotlight might be. For the most part, people don’t handle public attention well and pastors are certainly prone to pride, to buy into the lie that people have come to hear what I have to say rather than being pointed to Christ through the Word. This is a difficult task to say the least. In a sense, my job requires that, though I stand behind the pulpit, I must ultimately stand behind Christ. Though I must speak publicly, I must strive not to draw attention to myself but the object of my message, which must always be Christ.
In former times, many armies had flag-bearers. These men, as you might imagine, carried the flag into battle. Sometimes they might have a gun or sword in the other hand, but oftentimes, they had a trumpet. A flag and a trumpet marching into battle was often all they had. We immediately assume that these men lagged behind, shying away from the heart of the battle yet the exact opposite is true. The flag-bearer often led the charge, holding the flag high. When the surging soldiers would grow weary, when fatigue began to set in, they would look to that flag leading the way and remember what it is they were fighting for. If the flag-bearer fell in battle, another soldier immediately picked up the colors and surged forward. The flag-bearer was a vital part of battle.
Please pray that I would not only have this heart, but this courage to remind God’s people what they are fighting for, and that I might lead the charge, disappearing all the while. Please pray for your own pastor and every pastor you know.
- Read Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea for Radical Ministry by John Piper
- Read Preaching With Passion by Alex Montoya
- Read A Pastor’s Sketches by Ichabod Spencer
Posted in Preaching, Scripture, The Church
April 17th, 2007 at 8:48 am
This really bothers me Brent. I know from the Bible that a pastor is really to be mostly about the Ministry of the word but I am perplexed as to how so many are really mostly about ‘the ministry’. There has been a definition shift, I think, especially among my SBC brethren.
Josh
“…the word of God is not bound.”
–2 Timothy 2:9
April 17th, 2007 at 9:15 am
Josh, I think it should bother us. As Piper so eloquently points out, “professionalism” has made its way into the ministry and we more often view leadership in terms of the world than in the Bible’s terms. The wisdom of man will not accomplish the purposes of God. We might be able to pack the pews (or stadium seating) but are we truly making disciples? The two cannot always be equated.
April 17th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
I know exactly how you feel. I was assigned to lead our church plant after the previous leader left. It was a mess. I had to rebuild the entire team and start from the ground up with the community. The entire church plant was built around the former leader’s personality, and when he left, so did everyone involved. As it is, we may have to scrap our church plant if something does not give in the next year or so; it may never recover from the “cult of personality.”
April 18th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
I so get whipped by the ecclesiastical/ministerial lingo. I even get beat down by the word “ministry,” as in so and so has a ministry to Slooge People or whatnot.
To minister means to serve. This is where the KJV really lets me down, making something elegant in an activity that demonstrates one’s desire to subordinate for others.
I don’t want to have a ministry to people or minister unto them (What the Sheol is that?). I want to serve them. I don’t want people on my staff or in leadership would want to minister to people (as though we’re employing some craft). I want them to serve others in service to Christ.
Okay, perhaps a bit of a reaction in the category of over, but you feel me, right?
There is legitimate use of the word ministry, but it’s become so personalized to the point that folks “own” a ministry in churches that it really chaps one’s hide.
This professionalization is not good and if it continues, the terrorists have already won.
April 18th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
Preach on Gunny!
Josh
“…the word of God is not bound.”
–2 Timothy 2:9
April 18th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Please, don’t encourage him. It’s hard enough to keep him this tame! Plus, he’s developed this odd slooge about terrorists . . .
April 18th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
Josh, you see? You see that?!
He hates us because of our freedom!
This is a very difficult time for our country right now and if he stifles our slooge, then the terrorists have already won.
April 19th, 2007 at 9:34 am
This is completely tangential to the conversation but I actually said that one Sunday, out loud during the sermon. The Pastor had just drove a point home and in that silence where everyone checks their watch and starts to rattle their keys I bellowed out a big loud gravelly “Preach on, Brother!” It was great. And he did too…boy do I know how to make friends or what?
As for the slooge thing Gunny stand fast in that pulpit and preach. You think one of these days They, you know, the terrorists, (I’m talking about the 2 Timothy terrorists) will figure out a way to make it illegal? Then we’ll all have prison ministries.
*chuckle
Josh
“…the word of God is not bound.”
–2 Timothy 2:9
April 19th, 2007 at 10:51 am
[...] Brent over at collosiansthreesixteen posts this excellent piece about pastors. [...]
April 20th, 2007 at 8:39 am
Personally, I’m convinced that the professionalization of the ministry started about 1,700 years ago when Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. Believers shifted from a house-to-house ministry to the erection of specialized buildings for Christian worship; and along with it, paid professionals (read “pastors” and “priests”) to study the Bible and preach sermons to the large crowds that gathered in them.
Soon the Roman priesthood was firmly established with its clergy/laity distinction among believers and the Reformation did absolutely NOTHING about returning to the biblical simplicity of the early church. We are still “living large” on the pedestal and in the spotlight, drawing significant paychecks from the poor slobs who sit in our pews, as convinced as those in the Middle Ages that they are unable to read and interpret the Bible for themselves. The real problem is that we’re so deep into this unbiblical scenario that we can’t imaging anything else or, if we could, how we could make the transition back to where we should be. All the while, we talk of “the priesthood of the believer” and “equipping the saints for the work of ministry,” but if it really began moving in that direction we would be selling shoes or working some other 8-to-5 in order to make ends meet.
April 28th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Hi Brent,
In response to your article about the invisible pastor, you might like to read some of the articles at http://www.batteredsheep.com. One of of the articles is entitled “The Pastor Chasers.”