Authenticity vs. Accessibility
You might not think so, and my wife might beg to differ, but I’m still a fairly young man. Though I’ve been a Believer for nearly 15 years, attained a seminary degree and served in paid ministry positions for almost six years, it is still tempting for some to look down upon my youth, in spite of Paul’s admonition to Timothy (1 Timothy 4:12).
This has often created an internal tension of sorts. Once I came to grips with the “call to ministry,” my wife and I spent three years in Louisville, KY at “the” Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Though I had a terrific seminary experience, it often came with “Southern Baptist” trappings I didn’t necessarily sign up for. I was often presented with ideals of what a minister should look like that I didn’t necessarily feel I felt.
This experience created in me a running inner dialogue of trying to understand exactly what Paul meant when he said that he had become “all things to all people” (1 Corinthians 9:22). Is it possible to truly be yourself, understanding that nearly everyone has a different expectation and presupposition of what a pastor should be?
The pastors I’ve often found to be most effective have also been the most authentic. What I mean by that is that there is no aura about them of trying to fit an image or be someone they are not. Yet, it seems that churches are often not interested in “authenticity,” but a fixed image of what a “pastor should be.” Or, on the other end of the extreme, “authenticity” trumps accountability and we have “pastors” flaunting their liberty and “individuality” to the detriment of others. Surely there must be a balance!
The reality is that established churches often have a pre-formed mold into which they expect new pastoral candidates to fit. If they don’t, it’s sometimes viewed as a question of maturity when it should be viewed as an issue of personal (even if its corporate) preference. In opposition to this, some young men have opted to plant churches, so that they could “be themselves” without any preconceptions. But churches should rarely if ever be planted out of opposition to something (so please hold me accountable if you sense this spirit in me).
I once heard a pastor urging young(er) pastors to seek to be a sanctified version of themselves rather than a watered-down version of someone or something (including just an image) else. Indeed, this is a balance not easy to achieve. The issue seems to be one of understanding the culture into which you have been called to minister, honoring the Gospel, and when acceptable, that culture’s expectations and understanding when (and asking forgiveness) for when you might infringe upon another’s conscience. Pastors of all people should strive to consider others as more significant than themselves (Philippians 2:1-3).
It would be both naive and foolish of me to believe that I could find this balance between authenticity and accessibility by myself. Left to myself, I will always defer to my own personal preferences. That is why it is utterly important to stop and listen and to be willing to understand and bridge gaps that might otherwise be present. For example, left to myself, I have no interest in sports. But if I am going to strive to be “all things to all people,” it seems to me that I should at least seek to be conversational in a topic that otherwise wouldn’t interest me. After all, this does not negate or diminish my own interests or personality, but it it is a practical way that I can be all things to people whose interests might not otherwise interest me.
It doesn’t seem to me that this means that I need to import the conscience-levels of others, but that I do need to learn to be discerning and respect these issues when possible, all the while using them as teaching opportunities, pointing to the truly radically freeing nature of the Gospel (though not to licentiousness). Complicated issues indeed. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
- Read Lectures to My Students by Charles Spurgeon
- Read Confessions of a Reformission Rev. by Mark Driscoll
- Read Brothers, We Are Not Professionals by John Piper
- Read Al Mohler’s piece “Has God Called You? Discerning The Call To Preach”
Thanks for the window into the inner dialog that most of us aren’t aware of. So many good things here, in such a concise post! It’s great to see how you’ve thought through your own calling and are seeking to found Church of the Cross on a positive confession of Christ instead of anything negative or a self-conscious notion of “doing church” to meet others’ expectations.
Hey Brent-
You’ve pretty much stated exactly (no overstatement, either!) the same issues I’m dealing with, being at Southern myself. Tell you what- if you come up with any ideas or revelations, hit me up with an @blils on twitter ;) I’ll do the same.
A few thoughts in no particular order:
Transparency tends to run low in the pastorate for fear of being branded ‘disqualified’ by those who use unbiblical criteria. This tends to promote a certain type of hypocrisy in leaders who ‘keep up appearances’ rather than being authentic in their struggles and hence their ministry.
Since the pastorate has become a job, with many churches acting like HR departments under business-like structures instead of raising men up from among themselves to oversee and equip the saints of the local flock, pastors have had to suffer the same treatment that any job seeker must go through. While sometimes profitable, I have grown to despise that entire system for I have seen it treat men like cattle and employees rather than God-sent shepherds.
Another part of the equation which stems from this ‘importing’ model is that many of the men who are ‘called’ are usually thrice removed from their zone to pastor in places they are not familiar with. A guy raised in Texas goes to school in Kentucky and accepts a call to pastor in New Orleans. That has a bearing on your query IMO since many of the ‘liberty’ issues tend to have regional influence.
The dregs of rabid hyper-fundamentalists have also managed to penetrate many nooks and crannies of the church as well as a certain idolization of the Puritan era. A failure to truly contextualize and stay up to date culturally as well as a failure to remain human and relational rather than purely theoretical have cause both a run to emerging thoughts and a disdain for theology proper. A gospel-minded church lives knowing that true relationship and religion are built on both sound doctrine AND great personal care. Ask James and the widows and the orphans.
Like many topics, until the church gets back to the Scriptures and punts the traditions that it has accepted as doctrine men who seek to lead churches, especially within denominations, will have to tow the party line or risk being flagged.
I firmly believe that we need a new Reformation and I believe that the growing interest in Reformed theology is, hopefully, the result of God’s people being fed up with being fed pablum by pastoral hipsters and borderline-legalists. A focus back to the pure beauty and perspicuity of Scripture is the balm we need.
It took me about six years to ‘find myself’ pastorally as I attempted to be other men I admired and tried to fill the supposed mold that others expected from me. It was only after understanding the fullness of the gospel and the profitable freedom of Christ that I let myself become who God made me personally.
The Lord uses us as we are tempered by the fruit of the Spirit. He does not intend for us to try and be someone else. Barnabas should never have attempted to speak like Peter nor Peter to preach like Paul.