He spends some time reading in his office.
He visits some sick church members at the hospital.
He plans for the upcoming worship service(s).
He performs various administrative tasks.
He prepares for the next sermon.
He talks on the phone with church members.
He meets with fellow pastors for coffee.
He counsels in his office with church members.
None of the above activities are wrong in and of themselves. All probably need to be done in the life of the institutional church. However, all of the above focus on the church itself. The pastor spends much of his time alone in his office looking at books. When he is out of the building, his attention is aimed almost solely upon church members.
What professional pastors are missing is contact with the real world. I'm not referring to the occasional "Thank you" said to someone behind the counter at McDonald's. I'm talking about meaningful interaction out in the real world; this is what helps keep Christians from becoming irrelevant. It's where we are quickly reminded about the world's desperate need for the gospel.
Many times pastors seem sort of pointless. Even people within the institutional church joke about pastors not doing real work or working only one day per week. These jokes have a ring of reality to them because they are basically true.
Professional pastors need to resign from their positions and get out into the real world. If they need a job they can call me. In fact, I'm about to leave for work right now. I'll be in the real world all day long.
(This post is part of the blog series 25 Reasons Professional Pastors Should Resign.)
1 comment:
Sadly, while many local churches are separated by only a few miles, it may as well be a thousand miles, given that rarely, if ever, will individual congregations come together for any purpose, especially that of communal worship. And with such stiff competition for members, local pastors are often left serving for years in the vacuum of their exclusive church brand community without ever speaking or associating with any other local pastors, believers or the public at large. Likewise, local Christians may have acquaintances or even close friendships with other Christians in the community, but because they are members of different churches, rarely, if ever, will they worship together in each others' church. This divisive dynamic is a direct result of the corporate church model, and is exactly what is warned against in scripture.
"Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" 1 Corinthians 1:12-13
Maybe a better translation for this passage today might be:
"Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am a Baptist,” and “I am a Catholic,” and “I am of a specific pastor,” and “I am of Christ.” Has Christ been divided? A denomination or pastor was not crucified for you, were they? Or were you baptized in the name of your "church" or pastor?"
This behavior is a consequence of man’s carnal desire for control, power and money. And the only solution to this situation is to follow God’s original plan for His Ekklesia as laid out in the New Testament. All other solutions are against God's will and destined to fail.
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