Posted on 05/03/2005 1:55:42 PM PDT by suzyjaruki
Your Pastor: Shepherd or CEO?
Many observers have recently expressed concern that the biblical model of the pastor as shepherd has been replaced with the model of the pastor as manager. Some biblical priorities are threatened when such a managerial model of the pastorate replaces the shepherding model. In what follows, I will place the priorities of a managerial model in contrast to what I believe to be biblical priorities. I do not intend to suggest that such priorities are inherently opposed to each other, but I do suggest that lower values have replaced higher values.
Quality vs. Quantity
The effect of a managerial model on the church is that the number of people is a higher concern than the quality of those people. How many are reached by various outreach efforts becomes more significant than what actually happens to those reached, in terms of spiritual vitality. How many people attend a special program becomes more important than whether that program actually makes people stronger, more pious Christians. The apostolic "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. 3:18) is not so much overtly challenged as it is shuffled over into a corner somewhere and forgotten.
Biblical ministry never sacrifices true quality of spiritual experience for its quantity: Paul visited the Ephesians for three years, declaring to them the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:18-21). His prayers for them and for others were filled with concern for the quality of spiritual life: "For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding" (Col. 1:9).
We must raise the question of how large a congregation can be while still retaining a biblical ministry. If the God-ordained responsibility of church officers is to "watch out for your souls, as those who must give account" (Heb. 13:17), does there not come a point when the sheer size of a church makes such care difficult, if not impossible? Indeed, does not the very size of some churches promote anonymity? In the corporate model, bigger is always better. In a biblical model, it is not clear that bigger is necessarily better.
The CEO vs. Plurality of Elders
A given business has one chief executive officer, under whom various other managers function. The CEO is given final authority for decision making, and a good CEO listens to the counsel of the managers who work under him. Biblically, there is nothing analogous to this in God's order for his church. The pastor is not a CEO. He has no more or less governing authority than do the other elders; he is not more or less responsible for the church's programs and vision than the other elders. He does have a greater responsibility to administer the Word of God and the sacraments, but he does not have a greater responsibility in governance. Biblically, governance in the church is genuinely plural, as God provides for his flock those benefits that come only from the proverbial "multitude of counselors."
Such a managerial model degrades the role of elder to that of a corporate "yes-man." Many mistakes have been made when lower-level managers, themselves more familiar with the details of some aspects of corporate life, have been unwilling to express reservations about a policy that enjoys the CEO's enthusiastic endorsement. Similarly, there are churches in which the elders have abdicated their responsibility to govern by complying with the wishes of the pastor in areas where they respectfully disagree with him.
Equally problematic, when the minister-as-CEO model of ministry is embraced, is the degrading of the office of minister of the Word. Ironically, the minister becomes more influential than he should be in areas of governance, yet less influential and effective in the area of ministry of the Word. Hours in the day that ought to be devoted to prayer and the Word (Acts 6:4) become devoted to developing strategies and programs.
The Program vs. the People
One of the dehumanizing effects of the Industrial Revolution (and its first cousin, the managerial revolution) has been the creation of a work environment that rewards conformity while discouraging individual initiative and creativity. Reminiscent of the prophetic decree against idol worshipers, that "those who make them will be like them," those who stamp out cogs on an assembly line virtually become cogs themselves in a large corporate machine. For the program to run efficiently, individuality must be removed from the process. The program is sovereign, and people must learn to work within it.
Regrettably, this model has made its way into the church also. The church's strategies, vision, and programs are determined by the CEO and the managers, and the people must work within the program. The program is inflexible; the people are flexible. We might suggest that the opposite should characterize the church. God's (ever-changing) providence of people with particular gifts and particular needs (not necessarily perceived needs) should shape the ministry of a given church. Program-oriented churches should not replace people-oriented churches.
A managerial model can produce a minister whose interests are only tangentially related to the well-being of his sheep. Some ministers are happy to stay up to 11 p.m. at a planning meeting, but are less happy staying up to 11 p.m. on a hospital visit or with a couple whose marriage is about to dissolve. The Good Shepherd, by contrast, lays down his life for his sheep--not for programs. He expends his labors, his energies, his resources on his sheep. Paul, the apostle whom we consider a brilliant thinker and theologian, was also a shepherd, whose ministry to the Ephesians was accompanied "with many tears" (Acts 20:19), and who said things such as this about his affection for those he served: "But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us" (1 Thess. 2:7-8).
Oversee or Overlook?
Where the managerial model replaces the shepherding model, God's overseers become overlookers. Ninety-nine sheep are herded into a program, while the one straying sheep perishes apart from the loving pursuit of a faithful shepherd.
We want to be catered in everything ,so we lose our right to develop into becoming the ministry. We put all the spiritual responsibility on pastors thus forfeiting our right as Christians to mature and develop.We live in a world where getting ahead means moving up the ladder,no different than in the church.What happened to decreasing and Him increasing.Institutionalized Churches are Agenda orientated and revolve around positional parties. I think God wants us to be more intimate with each other,while coming together with no agenda but to seek Him and to share Christ with one another. It's time to move outside of the box and to grow in Christ.
When a church files for tax exemption as a 501(c)(3), it becomes a non-profit corporation. It's just a short walk from there to having the pastor think of himself as a manager/CEO.
This kind of coming together would include accountability.
Thanks for your comments.
I have seen a refusal by someone to become a member of a church for this very reason.
Yes I agree ,so when we don't forsake getting together with other Christians ,our walk with Christ will show itself. The hard part is trusting God to teach because we don't walk with each other daily, but we do need to go to battle for our brothers and sisters through prayer and relationship.
When I left the institutionalized church ,the first thing we tried to do as believers were to try forming another organization,by getting a tax exempt. The problem with this is that it started to put rule upon rule. So if we wanted to give,it wasn't done freely but through the organization. Jesus Christ came to set us free so that we as believers would start to move from the heart without any motives but to follow him. God's gifts are present when we get together and there is no hiding out because we are starting to know each other like a family. Not an OFFICIAL membership but members of a bigger family with Jesus Christ written on our hearts. So hard for some to handle because people want you to be controlled and to fit into their system.
Many large churches hire a business manager who reports to a board of trustees or elders elected by the membersip of the church so the Pastoral staff can concentrate on pastoring. It is not a pastor as CEO and the pastor.
Certainly, there are churches where the senior pastor controls everything, but it isn't Biblical and I wouldn't attend such a church. One might also contrast this with a denominational system where absentee overseers control virtually all the decisions of the local congregations through edicts. That is much worse.
Good stuff. I'm a slow reader with little time, but from the little I've skimmed ("dehumanizing effects of Industrial Revolution... Overlookers not overseers), looks like this is worth a read...
A great truth in today's churches. I think of some of the churches where, once the charismatic preacher has fallen (like Swagger or the Bakkers), the "ministry" falls and assets are sold off to entertainers.
Does it make you feel bigger to degrade other people's churches?
If these people spent half as much time extolling the virtues of their own empty churches instead of tearing down the ones that are filled, they might find that their own churches would begin to grow. But then if their churches grew, they might turn into - gasp - mega churches.
I got news for the naysayers:
(Acts 2:47 KJV) Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
Praising God = Happy Clappy
Having favor with all the people = Popular with the unwashed masses
And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved = Mega Churches
We are having a problem with our pastor. He is not the shepherd I thought he was..
We form an artificial entity called a corporations created by the state to take advantage of the limitation on personal liability
Lawsuits have certainly changed our freedom. Whenever the public is involved, a potential lawsuit is at hand. It is for protection that the corporation is formed in the first place. That is very sad.
Some pastors are great at teaching, but not at evangelism. Others have a heart for visitation, but are so-so preachers. I'm sure you have some particular talent you could help with, rather than sitting on your hands bemoaning about how bad of a pastor he is.
You have no place to complain if you are not actively involved in the ministry yourself. The Biblical model of leadership, while instituting particular leaders of the congregation, anticipates an active involved laity that is no less in the ministry than the pastor.
We have nine pastors, each with a different gift/calling. A couple deal specifically with the business aspects of the church. They are not the senior pastors.
On the rare occasions when we see all nine pastors on the platform at once, I am amazed at the picture of completeness in ministry and how their gifts compliment each other.
There's two pastors, each with different temperments and strengths. The session of elders, too, fill in the pastor's holes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.