All kinds of models for church pasturing swamp the market, but it never hurts to try and think of new ones or refine old ones. However, the goal of church pasturing must always be kept at the forefront of all contemplation. “What is the goal of church pasturing?” As I see it, it is simple: “To present the gospel to others, and to help those who have come to faith and repentance in Christ to mature so that they can help carry the gospel message to others, as well.” This must always be kept in mind. My dad and I went out to eat at China Cottage a few days ago, and he presented to me something he’s been thinking about lately. It is a “different” style of pastoring that, so far as I know, isn’t done too much around
In this model of church pastoring, there are three different pastors: the senior pastor, the house church pastor, and the outreach pastor. Each of these pastors has different responsibilities within the local body of the church.
The senior pastor’s responsibility is to present the gospel in dynamic, effective ways to non-believers and new believers (as well as mature believers, though they are not listed on the chart). This is done specifically through preaching, story-telling, dramas, etc. done during the Sunday morning gatherings. It is his job to fill the typical, stereotypical pastoral role of preaching on Sunday mornings. He encourages people to turn to Christ, and he encourages new believers (as well as non-believers) to plug into house churches.
The house church pastor does not have a job of preaching on Sunday mornings. Rather, he is in charge of making sure the house churches are alive and breathing. He organizes the house church leaderships, encourages people to become a part of a house church family, and he helps organize certain activities and such within and between the house churches to help non-believers come to Christ and to help new believers to mature in their faith. The leaders of the house churches will make genuine friendships with those in the house churches, and when they see a great depth of integrity, character, and discipleship (the hallmarks of maturity in Christ), they will encourage the people to spread the gospel to those around them. He will contact the house church pastor, who will hopefully meet with the person and give them opportunities and advice to let them know where they can best serve within and outside the church.
When a certain mature person makes the decision to serve, he or she then meets with the outreach pastor. The outreach pastor does not have any professional ties with the senior pastor. He operates outside his reign of control. It is the outreach pastor’s job to organize evangelism events, help people get out into the community, and make ties within the community. He will help mature Christians find ways to serve and reach out to the community outside the walls of the church building. The goal of such outreach is not to get more people into the Sunday service but to introduce people to Christ. If they want to go to another church, that’s great! The joy is found in leading the people to the source of life (Christ); the source of true life is not the church, but the one whom the church worships. The outreach pastor will also help mature believers find ways to serve within the church, whether it is through leading house churches, working behind-the-scenes on Sunday mornings/evenings or Wednesday nights (whatever the church’s “operating schedule” might be), or perhaps he will encourage mature Christians to help with the youth or children. In this case, a children’s pastor or a youth pastor is not really necessary. The mature Christians within the body of the church provide the function of those roles.
I hope that made sense. I think my dad might be onto something. If you have comments, questions, or concerns, please let me know!
5 comments:
Apex Community has been doing this for over 1 year. check out their web-site. They have those ideas and ministers in motion and it is very successful. As soon as the house church grows it then splits into a new group. Kendall's group started with 4 and soon the group has gotten to 12+. A lot of outreach goes into the neighborhood of the unchurched.
They also have the mission minister in place since we were there. They went to India this year and Mexico. Plus 3rd. Thurs.
Hope your New Year is Happier! God has great things for all of us! Stay on the journey..I Peter 3:15
I went to Apex last night, actually! It's good to see that my dad isn't the only one looking at things this way!
Interesting thoughts on pastoral leadership ... I guess I don't think people need to be mature before they are doing outreach, I see a lot of baby Christians that are way more on fire then supposedly older Christians. I'm also not sure how one decides when they move on from one category of maturity to the next, who decides that? And what happens if someone who is mature in many ways, then goes throug a season where they aren't so mature. KWIM? We don't always travel a perfectly linear line toward maturity, so I think it would be very difficult to organize things in this fashion. And if you could know when the maturity has reached a level that they should move on to the next pastor's area, will the person transition to seeing somone else as their "new" pastor? What happens when someone under the outreach pastor leads someone to Christ through their outreach? Do they then pass the person to the SP to work with for a while? What about the relationship that was already built with the two people? Now they are kind of functioning under to different areas of the church.
I do know that there are times when pastors wish their older congregants would realize that they should be maturing more, and maybe "needing" him less, and so that he could devote more of his time to unbelievers and baby Christians.
1) Good point about Christians who are not mature wanting to do outreach! This model doesn’t really take that into account. I guess it depends on your definition of maturity. As I see it (and this could be different from how my dad sees it), maturity involves a dedication to loving God and loving others, and having correct doctrine. Much of the help of maturing given by the second pastor would involve growing deeper in the knowledge of the faith, i.e. correct doctrine. The Apostle Paul tells us correct doctrine is a must. Yet remember, people are not “shoved” into serving when they become “mature.” Rather, it is a choice. So a new Christian would have as many opportunities to serve as someone who has been a Christian for a lot longer. It all revolves around their own choice to serve.
2) Good point with a person’s maturity decreasing over time. I don’t really know how to answer that one. Anyone have any ideas? My only thought is that someone who decreases in maturity would not see much need of serving/evangelism anymore, so they might choose not to be part of the outreach. Again, it is a choice they get to make.
3) The rest of your questions, I believe (correct me if I’m wrong), have to do with the person’s relationship with the pastors and the transition between pastors. The pastor that everyone sees is the Senior Pastor. Both non-Christians, new Christians, and old Christians will hear his sermons and see him “on stage” Sunday mornings. The other two pastors work behind-the-scenes, though their relationships with the people have a possibility to be deeper. It is assumed (by me) that the mature Christian who is involved in outreach will still go to church on Sundays to hear the senior pastor preach, will still be involved in small groups that the second pastor organizes, and will be connected with the outreach pastor who helps him or her find ways to outreach within and outside the local body. The transition, then, is a smooth one that the layperson may not really see at all. As much as they know, they’ve just plugged into a house church and decided to serve. Unbeknownst to them, they are part of a cycle to draw them to a deeper walk with Christ and to serving others as Christ commands us to do.
Welp, there they are. My responses, as foolish and childish as they may seem :) Forgive me if I missed anything!
The outreach pastor wouldn't be totally cut-off from the other pastors. They would still interact, but he wouldn't be under their authority. That's what I meant.
- Dad
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