The theme for today’s post comes from an encounter over five years ago — as I ran into a contractor who heard I was a pastor of a large church (their words) and wanted me to know in “no uncertain terms” that he believed large churches were bad. He said he’d been a Christian all his life (don’t you love that? Like it’s inherited or something) and had finally found the ONLY church he’d EVER been to where he felt the Spirit’s presence. To which, I replied, “Wow, you’ve never felt like God was part of any other church? Especially the big ones?”
“That’s right,” he said “They aren’t doing what they are supposed to…” At this time I stopped him and asked ‘where in the Bible he ever got this notion,’ but he was already on a roll and was not about to let facts get in the way. He continued, “Our church is several years old, about 130 people and our pastor doesn’t want it to grow any bigger than that and neither do we. He (the pastor) says that’s the only way that he can take care of everyone’s needs in the church and make sure that they are happy.”
I was stunned. I could hardly believe my good fortune. Here was a real live “I-Chair” (similar to high-chair but more selfish) Christian, an honest to goodness adult/baby. I was going to do my best to get his spiritual growth hormones going again and back on track toward becoming more like Christ if it killed me. Alas, death (for me) would have been easier.
“Your pastor actually says that?” I asked.
“Yeah, and he’s there for me and everyone else whenever we need them.”
“Do you have any other pastors there?” I inquired.
“Nope, don’t need any. He can do it all. Pastor Joe (not his real name) does ALL THE MINISTRY.”
“What do you do?” I asked, stunned.
“Oh, not much. We come on Sundays and learn stuff. But by him doing all the ministry it frees us up to live life…”
I won’t bore you all with the details. You can probably see where this thing went. But the good news is this. He did start to come around as I took him through scripture and showed him clearly how the very first church (Acts 2) was actually a mega church in one day! And I explained that if the apostle Peter went all “Lone Ranger” and decided to start scheduling out all the lunches, funerals, weddings, etc. himself (because, after all, he preached the first sermon, he was the pastor, so…) the church would not only have entered the record books as the fastest growing, but also as the fastest dying!
Friends, one man can’t do it all. In fact, it’s been shown time and time again in religious studies and secular studies alike that one person can only meet the needs of a group of up to between 80-100. If that same individual tries to take their solo act up to, say 300 or even 500—disaster strikes. It won’t be long before there will be grumbling and complaining about how poorly he’s doing his job.
Unfortunately, the greatest victims of pastors following the American business model of church leadership rather than the biblical model is his own family. His wife ends up feeling distant after just a few short years of it. His kids become rebellious and disrespectful from the neglect, and, in the end there is even divorce and finally loss of a job because of the marriage dissolving.
Sounds fun! Sign me up for that…NOT!
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, (NLT)
11Christ chose some of us to be apostles, prophets, missionaries, pastors, and teachers, 12so that his people would learn to serve and his body would grow strong. (ESV)
and in the Message,
11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.”
and in the NIV,
“…and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
Surprisingly, even though I’ve already got my work orders directly from God there are always a few folks who claim to have intercepted a heavenly telegram addressed to me (there must have been a lot of copies of this sent out because the message is always the same). The telegram (thank goodness it’s never a singing telegram) goes something like this,
Pastor, you are not doing your job right as the pastor of this church. You need to be the only one doing the ministry. That’s what we pay you for. It’s your job. We’re just suppose to learn and tithe so that the pastors can be supported and properly equipped to do the ministry of this church.
Hmm…That’s sounds familiar, but there’s something wrong with it. Did you catch what it was? First, if the sheep are just supposed to “learn” as these people say, then what pray tell, are they learning?
To ‘pass’ on ministry?
To redirect God’s purposes for their lives to the hired seminary grad?
It’s upside down. The individual who says this just took Ephesians 4:11-12 and reversed the roles. They are essentially sayin the sheep should equip the shepherd, the players should direct the coach, the, well you get the idea. And the idea is wrong.
But you know what? It’s not something I believe people are doing on purpose, or to get out of God’s assignments for them, or out of anger or pride or any of that. I believe we see this so much in America because we have (as I said before) elevated the business model over the church.
A lot of Christians in this country are not even aware of what Christ has called them to do in the context of the local church. But ignorance is only a good excuse as long as you are ignorant.
At SCC we are a biblically centered church. We highly value the Word of God and consider the Bible the final authority—period. And the Bible teaches that you and I were made to worship. You and I were made for ministry. You and I were made for fellowship. You and I were made to be a witness and you and I were made to grow into full maturity in Christ Jesus.
Here’s another truth for you. I really do love ministering to the people of Southbrook. My heart goes out to each and every need and hurt — every broken family, every sick and striken individual, every hurting spouse whose marriage is in shambles…EVERYONE — even the sheep who bite! And now we come to the great irony of it all.
About 7 years ago a pastor friend confronted me with the fact that I was saying one thing and still trying to do another. He pointed out to me that I was teaching Ephesians 4: 11-12 but still trying to be the only one who did all funerals all weddings all counseling all…EVERYTHING.
I’d heard it all before but here’s how he made the message hit home. He said, “Rob, do you realize that at the size SCC is now you are doing your sheep more harm than good? You are disappointing more people than you’re helping, neglecting sermon preparation time, and taking your eyes off the vision because you won’t shift gears and fulfill the ministry obligation that God gave you — EQUIP THE SAINTS!!”
Wow. It kinda stung, but he was right. I didn’t want to let anyone down, but the truth is, I was letting almost everyone down by spreading myself so thin.
So, I made the shift, and we have never looked back. In the place of an army of one we now have that same army of one (me…hi) and the real army of 2,000 plus! And the delta force of nearly 80 plus Life groups and midsize groups, and the army of youth taking mission trips and reaching people in inner city ministry, and the army of praise bands leading the masses in worship and praise, and many, many more!
My friend gave me one more warning that really helped. He said, “Don’t expect everyone to stand up and cheer the new you. There will be those who absolutely hate you because you won’t be the kind of pastor they think you should be. They will resent you for not being there for them at a moments notice and they will never consider the impossibility of the math, the wear and tear to your family or even the hundreds or thousands that would go neglected if you really did go down their sadly misguided path. Be ready for them too.