I met a guy at the grocery store and when he found out that I pastor a church, he made this statement, “You don’t look or act like a pastor.” My first thought was, “Good!” I am aware of the irony, here, but I am a pastor and my opinion of the pastoral office is not that great. This is mainly because of the way most pastors I saw growing up presented themselves. When I think of a pastor, I think automatically of someone who thinks he is better than everyone else. I think of someone who dresses well in order to present himself as an authority. I think of someone who fights with his church and doesn’t consider himself as part of the body he has been charged to lead. I think of someone who is unwilling to serve. I think of someone who cares more about getting his own way than giving up his own way in order to declare and stand on the true Gospel alone. I am so glad that I don’t fit the “cookie-cutter” perception of a pastor.
The pastoral office has become something that it was never designed to be. The pastors in many churches become the object of a church’s dependance, doing everything for the church. They have been the face of the church. When a church succeeds, it is the pastors who receive credit. When a church fails (however a group defines failure), it is the pastors who are blamed. Many pastors are expected to visit, preach, plan, strategize, implement, grow, reach-out, evangelize, encourage, counsel, study, pray, and be there for every church member at all times (impossible to do in only an eighty hour work-week). It sure seems like, in many churches, the pastor is expected to be god. This focus is not the fault of the average church member. While there are a few church members who have come to these over-burdensome expectations on their own, most church members have come to have this focus and these expectations because it has been reinforced over a period of years by church leadership. It is the fault of the pastor presenting himself as something that he does not have the right to be. The focus of the church was never to be the pastor. This is the outflowing of the serpent’s gospel in today’s church. The focus of the church is to be Christ and the very word of God.
2 Timothy 3:16 says this: “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” There is no difference between the preacher and the teacher according to Scripture. God’s Word is to be taught and taught in such a way that it is profitable for the both the listener and the speaker. It is meant for correcting and for training. If there is no growth in the congregation, it is often the fault of the preacher for teaching by method rather than making sure that God’s Word is preeminent. The serpent’s gospel states that there is a certain way we ought to preach. Christ’s Gospel states that we preach God’s Word and trust Christ to accomplish His own sanctifying work in the life of the listener.
Furthermore, when the pastor gives in to unbiblical expectations, he verifies those expectations and perpetuates the serpent’s gospel. In this case, actions do speak louder than words. If unbiblical expectations are met by the pastor for years, then those unbiblical expectations begin to be seen as biblical expectations when they are not. This causes entire congregations to take their eyes off of Christ and place them on the pastor. The pastor is worshipped and any pastor who comes after him is held to a standard that contradicts the very Gospel of Christ. As pastors, we ought to do everything we can, even though it is more difficult, to keep our congregations from depending on us so that they can depend on Christ. After all, this is why God has placed us in the church.
I see this pattern far too often. A pastor resigns or retires and the church suffers, declines, and experiences conflict. While it is not always the case, many times these things are evidence that a church body worshipped its pastor. The pastor did much of the ministerial work and did not take the time to equip the members of the church do carry out that ministry (see Ephesians 4:11-13). Pastor, I want to challenge you, here. Stop trying to do everything that everyone expects you to do. Fulfill the role that you’ve been given according to Scripture. Address unbiblical expectations in a loving manner. Equip the body to do the work as a body. Not only will we, as pastors, experience burnout when we try to do all things for all people, but we harm the church by perpetuating a gospel that was given by someone other than God. If we desire that our congregations depend on Christ, then we will have to humble ourselves, not giving in to the temptation to be Christ for them. God has given us a role. I imagine it is best for us to fulfill the role that He has given rather than take on a different, human-established and human-centered role in our own power and to the neglect of Christ’s Gospel. If Christ is to be exalted in our ministry, then we cannot be.
If we are not exalted, then there is another application we must grasp for ourselves. In humility, we can strive to lead our churches in a way that is good for them without fighting to achieve our own preferences, polity, or direction. We get to serve as overseers, not domineer. The serpents gospel, in this New Testament age, has wreaked the most havoc in our church through the pastoral office. This needs to change.