The Shepherd and the Sheep; Who's Failing Who?

Have you ever moved? As an adult, has your career or other circumstance ever required you to pack up and start over somewhere else? My husband and I bought another house (in the same city as our old house) last year. Being a military brat, it was my first household move without a (paid-for) truck full of guys who come and stuff your junk into boxes, load it on a truck and reverse the process at the other end. I look back and chuckle, but it was mildly traumatic for me when my well-meaning father-in-law unexpectedly backed his truck up to my house and announced that he and his employees were there to help.

Well, here we ago again.

My husband and I are in the middle of an interesting transition (which you can read about here) to another church. I have to mention that this isn't just any church, it's the church I grew up in (or the closest thing to it for a moving military kid). One of the many (many, many) things on my mind through this whole process is the "career" of pastor. I've written about the responsibilities of the pastor before, but the way the job plays out in the life of todays clergymen (and women) and in our culture gives rise to concerns in my insides.

Several years ago, when my husband was offered the job as youth pastor at our current church, one of his mentors told him (who knows where he got this stat) that the average youth pastor stays at a church for only three years. That's not even long enough to see the freshmen graduate much less mentor junior high students successfully into adulthood. Nic and I have always been appalled by the frequent church-hopping that happens in our city, but pastors only staying for three years?

Nic and I have always considered ourselves "lifers" - we assume that we will be at the church God has brought us to for life unless God very clearly tells us otherwise. Attendance in any given body of believers should be considered carefully and faithfully. If conflict arises, resolve it. If sin arises, deal with it in grace and repentance. If you're "not happy with" some of the goings on, you remind yourself that church isn't about you and do what you think you need to to ensure that Jesus' body is honoring Him. I don't say this from a position of a perfect track-record, but I do say it from experience.

While the average Western Christian's view on commitment to a particular church is saddening, the cultural effect on the Western Pastor is even more disheartening. With the development of denominational networks and church job websites, a seminary graduate can climb the ladder in no time. Wait. What?

Therein lies our problem. Let's play a little fill in the blanks game here... Most young people graduate from Bible School and make their ___ (5, 10, 20) year career plan. [problem #1: needing a plan. As Francis Chan puts it, God didn't give Abraham a 5 year, much less a 20 year plan when he told him to pack up and move to a new land and that he'd become the father of nations.] Said student might think to themselves, I'll put applications in to be a/an ________ (children's, worship, youth, associate, small groups, interim, other?) pastor at a _________ (smaller, rural, less known, average, springboard) type church. [problems #2 & #3: The position and body one serves in cannot be seen as mere stepping stones on the path to career success] After I get some experience under my belt, I'll start looking at ______ (bigger, cooler, more trendy, more relevant, more Biblical, well-known, higher-paying) churches or a/an ______ (preaching pastor, head pastor, evangelist, traveling speaker) job that I really want. [problem #4: a pastor seriously wrongs their sheep when he even subconsciously considers them a bullet point on his resumé.]

First of all, pastoring is a calling. And no body of believers is a mere springboard for one person's career success. If a pastor doesn't think he is called to minister to young people, why would he think he has the right to take a job doing just that "in the meantime"? Doing a job God didn't design you for seems like a really quick way to get burnt out fast to me! Similarly, I find it interesting that exponentially more pastors are apparently "called" to wealthier and urban churches. If we measure by the number of clergy and their calling, it would appear that God cares very little about the communities and churches in less-hip or poorer areas. Thankfully, the Bible shows us that God's heart is for the marginalized. In fact, most of Jesus' ministry on this earth was focused on the blue-collar, poor and marginalized. It looks to me as if we need to reevaluate the term calling.

Secondly, I think we have shorted both pastors and congregations in the way we have defined their roles. Burn out often happens when a pastor doesn't pastor his family. This is his first ministry. Every pastor's wife and child knows their are time when we have to wait. But ensuring that he has time to spiritually attend to his family is the duty of the pastor. So where does the congregation fit it? Expectations. A church should expect their pastor to take time for his family in order for him to qualify to be their minister (see 1 Tim 2). Their expectations of him should be his best in home and ministry and the give-and-take (aka hard work and grace) that this entails. Also, the congregation should be expected to do their part. A great many pastors and youth pastors tucker out because they run like mad trying to fulfill all of the duties of the church. Instead, each believer should serve and grow in the unique gifts that God has given them. When we all pitch in, a pastor can help us grow (his job as shepherd) and ensure that we (the church as a whole) function to glorify God and further His Kingdom. (Eph 4 & 5, Rom 12, 1 Cor 12)

So now I ask you...how do you view commitment to a church? Why do you think Pastors move to new jobs (in or out of ministry) so quickly?

Jesus Was Culturally Relevant

Everyone wants everyone else to do church their way. If this weren't the case, we wouldn't have thousands upon thousands of denominations within the Christian church. There are divisions and subgroups within those denominations. Young people wouldn't be running off and planting unbalanced churches because the elders don't disciple or even seem to care about them and old churches wouldn't be dying off because they refuse to change the changeables to relate to the culture. We wouldn't have five churches on one block and still have unchurched, de-churched and hungry people across the street.

Doesn't anyone want to do church Jesus' way? As the Christ, Jesus was able to prune the functions of the church while He was on earth. I think He addressed each group's habits with one of three attitudes.

The first is toward those with a lazy form of religion that I like to call Checkmark Christanity. Because of the religious leaders of the time (which I address in the second category) many followers became adjusted to simply checking the requirements of being a good Jew off of their list. Giving? Check. Attending? Check. Eating correctly? Check. Cleanliness? Check. I see Checkmark Christians everywhere I look. This is why people shop for a church like it's their Friday night movie. Does it look good? Does it have people I'm attracted to in it? Will I feel good when I walk out? Will I get home at a reasonable hour? Will my kids like it? How much is it going to cost me? Are there food and drinks available? It's because they just need to check church off their list and they want it to be comfortable. Checkmark Christians want to pull up to the window to be served their God for the week so they can go back to their busy lives and give up as little of their time and energy as possible. A prime Bilical example is that if the Rich Ruler. In Luke 18 he asks Jesus what he needs to do to inherit eternal life. After establishing that he has a check in all of the boxes, Jesus asks him to make a sacrifice a show people some love. Unfortunately he is sad and unwilling. He was raised as a Checkmark Jew and the transition, or transformation rather into authentic Christian is to much for him.

The second addresses laws that God the Father had set up for good reasons, but leaders had elaborated on them and over prioritized them to a point of making the rules themselves a religion. 'And He said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it:You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."' You can spot these overzealous modern day Pharisees most often doing great things. These people get anxious because in their pride they rely on themselves and their gifts to grow God's kingdom, and they're right! They can't do it! You'll find them frequently looking at attendance in their services and groups because they must "measure success". They have the hardest time relying on the grace of God and trusting for future grace! Pharisees however, are great accountability partners: they never let anyone get away with anything. Another way rules religiosity surfaces is through an unwillingness to separate the changeables from the non-negotiables. Compromise is not and should not be an option in areas that deal with Truth. Unfortunately, like the original pharisees, many of today's church members get stuck on how things are supposed to be done simply because that's the way it's been. Jesus Himself managed to be culturally relevant and we know He didn't distort the Word. Why can't today's leaders imitate that?! This encompasses a good portion of today's leaders and "devout" Christians. Sadly they breed a good number of baby Pharisees and even more Checkmark Christians who've been taught to just keep the overzealous "rules people" happy. When I struggle, I admit it's in this direction. I guess I'm one of those lucky people who had my fair share of influence by Pharisees. My frustration is always directed, however, at other Pharisees.

I think the third group and habit that Jesus addressed was the group who loved God and tried to do religion right but in their humanity still needed some guidance. Jesus' disciples had to grow in many areas: shame, pride, materialism, forgiveness and faith; just to name a few. "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

No matter how we approach living out our faith, we'll never "do church" perfectly. But we put ourselves in a good spot when we remain humble and teachable. This way when the Spirit speaks to us, we are free to follow no matter what He asks. As long as we are loving God with all of our hearts, souls, minds and strength and loving our neighbor as ourselves, we can be confident that we are following the Law! Do church the way God asks you to. Hold to the Scriptures and then don't worry about anything else!