The Church and Independence

Here is another excerpt from Tim Conder’s book, “The Church in Transition”.

Somtimes our churches resemble me and my chainsaw.  The chainsaw is high on my hierarchy of personal tools.  It’s convenient, efficient, and kind of fun to use.  I feel strong and in control when I use a chainsaw.  But each of the seven homes located on our circle owns a chainsaw–and none of us uses this tool more than once or twice a year.  Why do we have so many chainsaws?  Ignoring our affluence for the moment, part of the answer lies in the suburban “holy grail” of independence.  We want to be able to use the chainsaw at the precise moment we choose, and we don’t want to depend on anyone else’s graciousness to tend to our little corner of creation.  It’s our way of being adam in the garden and saying to Eve, “I don’t need you!”

An abbreviated list of “chainsaws” in the tool sheds of many churches could include our children’s programs, youth programs, support groups, mission endeavros, facilities, and vehicles.  These can all be necessities, but often they are redunancies created in competition with other churches.  Missional proximity and missional dependence are closely related.  When congregations have a stronger sense of missional proximity, it will diminish redundancies and increase their dependence on one another.

I would love to see more churches working together, and less churches competing.  Anyone have any idea on how to foster these types of relationships?

The Role of a Pastor

I’ve been reading “The Church in Transition” by Tim Conder.  I think the beginning of the book is quite boring – he talks about post-modernism and what it is…but that’s really nothing new considering the wealth of commentary on that subject.  However, I became intrigued when Tim started talking about the role of the Pastor as an ‘apostle’, ‘poet’, and ‘prophet’.  Some say that pastors need to have “the entrepreneurial skills of Bill Gates, the counseling skills of Dr. Phil, the organizational abilities of Stephen Covey, the authenticity of Oprah, the compassion of Mother Teresa, the courage of William Wallace, and the humor of Jon Stewart.”  I think this is a pretty accurate assessment of what most people expect from a pastor.  There’s no doubt about it – being a pastor is hard.  That said, just because a job is hard isn’t an excuse to do it poorly.  There are many professions which require people to wear many different hats.  Doctors need to have the technical skills to assess and diagnose illness, as well as the proper bedside manner.  Engineers need math and science skills to make machines work, as well as creativity to create and develop new technology.  Pastors simply need to follow God, and draw upon the wealth of resources offered by a multi-faceted supreme being.

an APOSTLE leads a congregation to be witnesses to the gospel in lands where old maps no longer work – he leads the church out of its insular experience as a safe harbor from the surrounding culture and into the uncharted seas of the emerging culture. 

 a POET hears and expresses the experiences of the congregation – sensing the experience of the body and giving that experience a voice….poignantly narrating the yearnings of a gospel community.

a PROPHET leads with insight and savvy, addressing of the word of God directly into the specific, concrete historical experience of the people of God.  The contemporary prophet translates God’s revelation into our current realities.

Does anyone know of a Pastor that is an apostle, poet, and prophet?