The Menu From The Pastor Café, Part Two

“You can’t always get what you want.

But if you try sometime, you’ll find, you get what you need.”

The Rolling Stones

Last week I began describing a tool that I developed a number of years ago to help pastoral search committees come to grips with what I term, “pastoral humanity,” or “pastoral limitations.” No individual pastor is endowed with all the gifts needed by the teams of individuals who lead and feed Christian congregations. Passages such as Acts 20:28-32, I Timothy 5:17-21 and I Peter 5:1-4 point to the need for two or more individuals with diverse gifts to pool their God-given talents for the leadership of churches.

And yet, we continue to pray and search and wait for that one individual, a superstar who is willing to work for a falling star’s salary, to preach, lead, shepherd, manage and evangelize our churches to congregational stardom.

It’s not fair to pastors and it doesn’t work for churches.  Typically, it leaves church members disappointed and looking longingly – every few years – for the amazing candidate who got away last time.

Here’s a summary of what I shared last week:

Before returning to our entrée items, the most important skills we look for in pastoral candidates, I want to re-emphasize this line from the menu: “All pastors come with Christian character and high emotional intelligence, or your money back!”

No church should have to suffer along with a pastor who doesn’t even approximate the Christian character described in Titus 1:5-16 and I Timothy 3:1-7. Whatever his areas of giftedness, every pastor should be godly, growing, a lover of people and willing and able to show it.

At the Pastor Café you get to pick two.   That is, you can realistically expect your new pastor to be pretty good at two of the following entrée level skills.  Note: The Pastor Café is not an all-you-can-eat buffet.  You can’t always get what you want, but you can choose two of the following:

• Preaching
• Shepherding
• Managing
• Evangelizing
• Leading

 If you didn’t read last week’s post and you’re not able to read it now (click here if you’d like to see it) here’s the warning from the menu that you don’t want to miss:

While most of the entrée items above are compatible with the other items, you will not likely find a pastor who is a strong shepherd (caregiver) who is also a strong leader.  You can only choose one of these two. Jesus did both well; His under-shepherds rarely do.

My last post also included some of the downsides which typically accompany each of the above entrée items: preachers can get lost in their libraries, caregivers pet the sheep but fail to challenge them, administrators can organize a congregation to death, evangelists can focus on the lost to the exclusion of the found, leaders can lack compassion for the unproductive members of the flock.

 It’s time to choose our sides: 

This time you are privileged to choose three of the following, but you can’t have all of them.

• Any of the above entrée items (preacher, caregiver, manager, disciple maker or leader), in a smaller quantity. Any of these are worthy “secondary gifts.”
• The prayer warrior – One could argue that this should be an entrée item, in light of Acts 6:1-7, but in the real world, it almost never is. If you can find a pastor who puts serious time into prayer and leading others to pray, you can consider yourselves blessed.
• The counselor – This is probably not a good choice as an entrée level item, but it can make a good side if the preacher is truly Spirit-led and God-blessed in this work.
• The equipper – Some pastors feel that, in light of Ephesians 4:11-13, a significant portion of their time and energy should go into the training/equipping of the rest of the church for ministry. In my pastoral ministry I came to believe that everything I did – including preaching and caregiving – should fit under the two categories of leadership and equipping. Most will disagree with this, but again, this reflects my own giftedness and passions.

It’s time for dessert:

If you’re on a congregational pastoral search team, these items should not be your priorities, but no one will fault you for having some interest in them.  (I won’t tell your mother if you eat dessert first, but mom knew what was best for you, of course.)

• The worship leader. This shouldn’t usually be a priority, though in some congregations it’s very helpful to have a worshipping, worship leading pastor.
• The building and grounds guy. This should almost never be a priority for the pastor.  The pastor who serves as the groundskeeper or general contractor for the building project is almost always neglecting something he shouldn’t be neglecting.
• The community activist. Pastors should be an example of love for the community but it’s very easy to give too much attention to the food pantry or, worse yet, the controversial place on the school board.
• The financial whiz kid. Most pastors are not experts at church finances and that’s probably for the best. Having a keen eye for the church’s financial priorities and condition is good; “doing the books” or writing the checks is not good.

The conclusion of the matter:

Search for the pastor that your congregation needs, at this time.  Make sure you find out about his weaknesses after he tells you about his strengths, and that you are able to compensate for these weak areas with the gifts of other key leaders. You will bless both your pastor and your church if you are realistic with your expectations.

KEY QUESTIONS FOR YOUR CONGREGATION:

1. What do the following passages tell us about the kind of gifts and abilities we should seek in a solo or lead pastor? Acts 6:1-7, Acts 20:28-32, I Corinthians 3:1-4:5, Ephesians 4:11-13, I Thessslonians 2:5-12, I Timothy 5:17-21, II Timothy 3:10-4:5

 

2. What does our search committee, our governing board and our congregation want most in a pastor? (Is there any consistency here among and within these three groups?)

 

3. Is the type of pastor whom the church desires the kind of pastor the church needs, right now, and in the future?

 

4. In looking at the type of pastor who is wanted by your congregation, are you thinking clearly, Biblically and objectively, or is your thinking significantly clouded by your experience with your last pastor? Are you over-reacting to that individual’s weaknesses?  Are you in danger of going from one extreme to another?

 

5. What would your denomination’s leaders say about the kind of pastor your church needs?