Moving in a New Direction

Our Rockbridge Seminary course has focused on the equipping role of pastors when it comes to involving the members of our congregations in ministry.


Moving toward a new paradigm:

We see the experience of co-dependency between the pastor and the congregation in some traditional mindsets. One student pointed out that, in general, the pastor has become co-dependent on his church, where "he gets his sense of value by doing many things, hoping to please God and others and going to great lengths of self sacrifice in this effort.” Others see this as being related to “omnicompetence”: According to one, “Growing up in the church, I've seen many types of pastoral omnicompetence. Pastors feel that they must be everything for every person. What an exhausting lifestyle, but it does feed the ego.” Another gives a personal struggle: “I personally struggle with the model of omnicompetence. I like to be known for having the answers and being able to help people. A result of this is that I used to find myself spending too much time on things that are outside of my specific calling.”

Others see the move in a new direction as good, but they also see new ideas becoming old traditions. I have had the wonderful privilege of being involved in a relatively new work that started almost from scratch. The wonderful things was that we did not have any traditions (although we all did bring some “baggage” with us). We were able to try new things. Now that we are going on our ninth year, I find that we have developed our own traditions, and we are in the place where many could begin to say, “We haven’t done it that way before.” Another student in our class pointed out something similar in church history when he said, “This is not unlike the time of the reformation when many left the Catholic Church and followed Luther to form the Lutheran Church. The not so funny part is that often these “new” entities experience some of the same problems they left and undergo their own growing pains and pruning by God.”

Yet, we do some moves in the right direction. One student is experiencing some exciting things: “There is a big difference in the "top-down" type church which invites me to actually be more than a work-horse that is available and willing to do the tasks or activities that need a warm body to complete rather than a ministry opportunity that matches my gifts or passions.” Another sees some other things, when he observes, ”The other force that I see in play is the fact that our church members truly seem to excel not in the administration of ministry but in the actual work of ministry. I know part of this is because not many are administratively gifted and I've noticed they are motivated by being able to directly meet needs of others.”

Our friend, Roger Odom, who has a ministry to/in Mexico may wonder how this plays out. One of the students in the class, who is currently ministering as a missionary in Mexico sees what we have been talking about as completely different in the culture of Mexico, but does see some move in a new direction: “Our shift is in its infancy. If anything, this is a matter of teaching and equipping because of the vision of the missionaries here. We (including our predecessor) have been and continue to work with and pray with our pastor, submitting to his authority but gradually introducing new ideas to him. We are slowly building confidence and hope to become even more of a “leadership” team with him.”

May we all see good successful moves in a proper direction in our ministries, and, when they come about, be reminded that new directions may need to be implemented at that times. After all, corporately, we are a growing “organism.”

Do you see your church as an "equipping" church? If so, what are some things you could share to help others?