Note to reader: Cartoons were shown illustrating each sentence.
What kind of pastor does it take to grow a healthy, vibrant church? First, he would have to be an extremely gifted individual, a jack-of-all-trades. He would need to be less of a butter knife and more of a Swiss army knife! He would need to be a polished communicator with a magnetic personality, skilled in the art of persuasion, gifted at storytelling, able to connect with people of all ages and background, and able to deliver a well-timed line. He would need to be a gifted counselor, able to comfort the grieving, able to encourage the discouraged, and able to lift up the depressed. He would needto rebuke, to admonish, to teach, to listen, and to understand.
He would need to be an administrative guru who was able to recruit and motivate volunteers, coordinate ministries, monitor budgets, define policies and procedures, manage sophisticated calendars, schedules, and databases, run meetings, implement change,and be able to communicate, communicate, communicate. He would need to be very pastoral, a warm and caring individual who could instantly make time for anyone who calls or who may have a need. He would need to be very spiritual, a man of the book, well-schooled in theology, in touch with the times, in touch with God, prayerful, devotional, disciplined, well-read, and a model Christian.
I think that about covers it. Oh, did I mention that he would need energy?Lots of energy! With so many needs he would have to be on calltwenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. He would have to be like the mechanical robotic Energizer bunny in order to keep going and going and going and going.
Super-pastor.
Basically, he would have to be just like Jesus. When Jesus was on earth he was a great pastor! He was a jack-of-all-trades. He could literally do it all! He was a polished communicator. He could connect with people. He was creative. He told powerful stories andhe could preach authoritative sermons on an instant's notice. He was a gifted counselor. He always said and did the perfect thing. He spoke the truth in love flawlessly. He mesmerized people with his intuition. He was a gifted administrator. He didn’t need a computer database because he was all-knowing. He knew every person and every need. He put people in the perfect place where they could shine and realize their full potential. He was pastoral, he was spiritual, he could heal people, and he had energy! No onewalked away from Jesus with empty hands, no one!
Jesus was the ideal pastor. He was the ideal minister. He was our great high priest. And ever since Jesus ascended into heaven to be with the Father, the world has been searching for that one ideal, perfect, jack-of-all-trades pastor! The world has been looking for that special someone to fill his shoes and deliver the same high impact, high energy, transformational ministry. But unfortunately, no suitable successor has been found.
The devastating reality.
With much frustration, churches today find themselves coping with the weaknesses of imperfect pastors who have limited and often unbalanced gifts. Traditionally, churches have put a lot of pressure on theirpastors. They keep on trying to squeeze as much ministry as possible out of them. They raise expectations higher and higher. They demand more and more. With great intentions churches have said, "If only he did this _____, or did that _____,or said this _____, or was able to be more _____, or could make it to my _____, or could_____" You fill in the blanks. Manychurches have adopted the view of ministry as represented in this cartoon where one man is rowing the boat while six others tell him to row harder!
You can see how this ministry configuration has devastated churches and pastors. The burnout rate for aspiring pastors is extremely high. Their frustration level is soaring. The dissatisfaction and guilt they experience over ministry left undone drives many into deep depression. They feel terribly inadequate! And there is frustration among church members as well. Needs have been left unmet. Opportunities have been squandered. Resentment, anger, and division builds. People conclude, "This guy isn’t getting the job done.Maybe we need to take another look at his job description!"
The result to thechurch's witness in the community is even more alarming. People usually give the church one or two shots to meet their needs. When people bring their needs to the church and those needs go unmet, they conclude that the church is out of touch and incapable of doing much more than holding worship services and Bible school classes. As you can see, this is a lose-lose situation for pastor, church, God’s kingdoms, and the community at large.
The fatal flaw most churchesmake today comes as they adopt a pastor-centered view of ministry instead of a body-centered view of ministry. Under the pastor-centered view of ministry, the responsibility of ministry is placed squarely on the shoulders of a single super-pastor or a team of super-pastors. The sentiment is, "Hey, we hired this super-pastor guy to do the ministry! He should be meeting my needs. The elder super-pastors should also be stepping up and doing more. Let's put the squeeze on them!"
The strength of the body.
In contrast, under the body-centered view of ministrya church collectively acknowledges that the responsibility of ministry is the responsibility of the whole church. Under this view, the church builds itself up instead of outsourcing its ministry to trained, paid professionals from pastor-land. The church acknowledges that as the body of Christ, ministry belongs to the church itself. Andas the body of Christ, it alone is the successor of the bodily ministry of Jesus. The Church as the body of Christ is the second incarnation of Christ’s ministry. Collectively we are Jesus' hands and feet and voice and touch to the world. He is living out his life and ministry through us, the Church. We are his body. This body-centered view of ministry is a total shift away from the traditional way of doing ministry in most churches. But make no mistake about it, it is the way Christ designed the ministry of the Church to be carried forward!
So what kind of super-pastor does it take to grow a healthy, vibrant church? Well, it doesn’t take a super-pastor! We totally reject the premise of the question! Alone, even the best among us will prove woefully inadequate to the task of ministering to the needs of an entire growing church.
Priesthood of all believers.
Instead, the New Testament speaks of a priesthood of all believers. 1 Peter 2:5 (NIV) says, "you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
1 Peter 2:9 (NIV) says, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."
In other words, we aren’t a church with "a" minister or "a" priest or "a" pastor. Rather, we are a church full of ministers. We are a church of priests. Together, all of us are the ministers! We own the ministry of this church together! Ministry belongs to the whole body, not just to part of the body. Together as a holy people, we are equally and collectively responsible for carrying on the ministry that Jesus inaugurated before ascending into heaven. We are his body, his people, and we represent his life to this dying world.
Now as you can imagine, this changes everything about church and about you. Suddenly this church becomes a place where each of us freely gives and receives ministry. Suddenly every one of us has value. Every one of us has a responsibility. Every one of us has a ministry that others can benefit from. Every one of us has a purpose. Every one of us has a place to get plugged into and in which to contribute. Suddenly every one of us has something of value to give and share with one another. Suddenly we collectively own both the joys and the frustrations of ministry. Wherever there is success we share in that joy. Likewise, where needs go unmet we share and own the frustration. And no one person is forced to carry the whole ministry load alone as Jesus the super-pastor did when he lived among us.
The scriptures take this truth a step further. It isn’t just that we own the ministry together. We discover that God has gifted us personally to carry on his ministry. 1 Peter 4:10 (NIV) says,"Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms."
Equipped to serve.
This verse implies that all of us have been given a special ability or gift that enables us to uniquely contribute to the ministry of this church. No one person has been given all the gifts. The gifts have been spread out so that all of us can administrate God’s grace in its various forms. This means that no one person has to be in demand all the time.
Rather, one person encourages, another comforts, another offers wise counsel, another preaches, another teaches, another gives, another offers hospitality, another shows mercy, another offers a prayer of healing, another rebukes, another administrates, another leads, another evangelizes, and another serves. Jesus possessed all of these gifts by himself. But as a church we are mutually interdependent with the rest of the body, with each other, to give and receive these gifts.
This is why every one plays a vital role in the life of the church. If just one person holds back from using his gift, then the whole body bears that burden. If just one person holds back from using his gift, then the whole body, the Church, is being denied that particular experience of God’s grace.
Channels of God’s grace.
Lets suppose that you have the gift of mercy. God has given you the ability to come alongside those who are grieving or experiencing pain. So a family in this church cries out to God day and night asking for his comfort. They're facing hardship. Every day they receive more bad news. Through conversation with friends, you become aware of their need. You decide to visit their home, you write them a note, you make a hospital call, you cook up a hot meal, you pull some strings, or you take up a collection among friends. In that moment you become God’s grace to them. You become their answered prayer. You become the very comfort of God. You become one of the various expressions or forms of God’s grace. You become a representative of Christ’s body as you serve their needs. You become Christ’s hands, his feet, and his mouthpiece! You become a minister, a priest!
This is why 1 Peter 4:10-11 (NIV) says, "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen."
God’s purpose for your life.
Do you believe that God has such a powerful and clear purpose for your life? He wants to use you as a conduit for his grace. He wants to administer his love and grace, not around you or in spite of you, but rather through your life.
There is no greater experience than knowing that God has used your life to touch a life within the body of Christ. This experience is available to everyone, not just to the privileged few who have received professional ministerial training. This experience is available to everyone in this room because every one of us has been gifted with a special ability to serve others and administer God’s grace.
Over the last few weeks we have been talking about stewardship and about leveraging our gifts for God’s purposes. Our time is a gift from God. Our possessions are gifts from God. Our bodies, our money, our children, even our spiritual gifts, are gifts from God. All of these gifts are temporary. We have them only for a short time.
1 Peter 4:10 (NIV) speaks of, "faithfully administering" God’s grace. The word administering is the word for stewardship or managing. We must manage our spiritual gifts and use them to serve God. We are stewards. While we have these gifts, God calls us to be faithful. None of us wants to be the reason that another person was deprived of God’s grace. All of us want to experience being God’s channel of grace to this world.
As you look around ask yourself, "To whom does God want to channel his grace?" Who is he tugging on your heart to love, to serve, or to be the expression of his grace to? And will you be faithful? Will you be a faithful steward of God’s grace?