3/26/14. BLOG: THE POPULAR DESIGNATION AS ‘PASTOR’ IS REALLY FUZZY …
Pursuing these Blogs along the theme of an alternative narrative for the church will of necessity bring us to the question of the church’s leadership, and of that role which we have designated: pastor. This came to mind this week as we observed the 34th anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador as he was seeking to challenge the faithful to oppose the horrendous use of power by the government and the criminal cartels. He was faithful, and also is an example of how faithful pastoring doesn’t always make one popular.
How do we even approach such a question: How do we define a true pastor? The answer is both simple and complex. There is no simple algorithm that we can invoke to answer this question. For the sake of this discussion let me propose that there are two primary definitions—one is the product of a Christendom redefinition of the pastor into some kind of an official ecclesiastical figure who oversees a community. The other is a mature practitioner of the teachings of Christ who, in turn, equips others into maturity and ministry by teaching, example, and mentoring. I will designate these two definitions as: 1) custodial pastors, and 2) equipping pastor-teachers. The line between these can, admittedly, sometimes be ambiguous.
In the Christendom era, the pastor tended to be someone appointed or approved by a higher ecclesiastical body, and made available to local communities. These persons usually had been to some kind of theological school, and perhaps held a degree in divinity, which, ostensibly, qualified them to assume the custody of the congregation. What this so often produced were those who were institution-keepers, who created a safe religious zone for the parishioners, who preached therapeutic sermons, which sermons were long on the promises of the gospel and short on the costly demands of the gospel, i.e., faith without repentance. You know the rest: they visited the sick, buried the dead, tried to keep the peace, especially not offend the prominent and wealthy members of the community. Plus they like to be called “Reverend” or “Doctor,” to be “clergy” and they tend to hang out with other clergy. They tend to be ‘light’ on scriptures, so that (to quote Milton): “The hungry sheep looked up, but were not fed.”
Contrast that with what the New Testament gives us as the one pragmatic definition of what the pastor is all about (Ephesians 4:11-16). Here we have a gift from the Risen Lord to the church of a teaching-shepherd, or pastor-teacher. It is a hyphenated designation. Its purpose is to equip all of God’s people into maturity in Christ so that they can be fruitful in the missionary essence of the church. It has a goal of spiritual and Biblical maturity for all of God’s people. Paul will, elsewhere, testify that he declared “the whole counsel of God” to those whom he discipled in Ephesus. The pastor-teacher, by this definition, is the one who is the one who equips God’s folk in the teachings of Christ both in word and example, so that in the Christian community, the word of Christ dwells richly (Colossians 3:16).
By such a definition, this pastor-teacher emerges within the community of faith as one who is mature in knowledge, and in the praxis of Christ’s teachings. This role has nothing necessarily to do with seminaries, or ecclesiastical affirmation, and may be carried out modestly and quietly on the fringe of a Christian community—but it is obvious. There are those who know and teach that: those who build their house on the rock are the ones who have Christ’s teachings and keep them. They know and teach that it can be dangerous to one’s health to be a follower of Christ. They remember that Jesus began his ministry declaring good news to the poor, and release to those captive to economic injustice. They teach that it is dangerous to be rich, but that to faithful to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount teachings can result in persecution—it is such that makes God’s people to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth.
Archbishop Romero was a faithful pastor to a nation, and he paid the price.
