One of the most significant changes in ministry at the local level has to do with staffing. When I started in ministry in 1975, I was asked to be an Associate Pastor. My main responsibilities were in Youth Ministry but I was also being groomed for a Senior Pastorate. Therefore, I attended Trustee meetings, CE meetings, developed a Young Adult SS class, participated in funerals, did general hospital visitation, and much more. When some problems developed in the music program, I became the defacto Minister of Music (a scary thought!). This was the nature of "multiple staff" ministry in the church. I was the first full-time associate the church had hired in, well, forever. This was a church of nearly 300 on Sunday. The only other person on staff was a retired minister who did hospital and nursing home visitation. He was paid a small stipend for his work.
As I progressed in ministry, the prevailing thought was that a church could only be effectively pastored by a single minister up until about 125 in attendance. After that, the church needed another pastor to help with the multiple cell church. This seemed to be born out by effective single cell pastors who had difficulty growing or maintaining a church by themselves when it got to the 200 barrier. What was needed was specialization of ministry. You didn't need an Associate involved in everything, you needed a Youth Pastor to do youth only or a Minister of Music to do worship only. The days of hiring a Youth and Music Associate Pastor were long gone. Associates needed one area of specialization and Senior Pastors needed to be "vision castors" that saw the big picture and then developed a staff to lead everyone toward the vision. This was the popular "business model" for church staffing, ministry and leadership.
Well, a funny thing has happened on the way to this model. The next generation of leaders coming along has not embraced it as an effective model of leadership. Maybe it is their dissatisfaction with the emphasis on the church as an institution and the lack of seeing the local church as a mission sender. Whatever the case may be, the old model is dying and a newer/older model is arising. Back at the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther emphasized the radical idea of the "priesthood of all believers" and taught that everyone -clergy and laity - had a call to mission and the need to minister in Christ's name. This doctrine has resurfaced in many ways. In the church growth movement it was categorized under the idea of motivating lay people for ministry (usually whatever program or emphasis the pastoral staff developed). Today, however, it is taking a far more comprehensive view.
Many seminarians are pursuing their M.Div. without any idea of what they are going to do in ministry. They know they don't want to be on a pastoral staff. They are moving to inner cities of foreign countries without the aid or assistance of professional sending organizations to do indigenous mission work in a community. One friend of mine at Fuller moved to inner city Chicago and planned to start, not a church, but a ministry to people in his apartment complex; another hopes to move to Spain and begin ministering to Muslims in their neighborhood. Neither is approaching sending organizations for support. They intend to do tent-making ministries to fund themselves - and be beholding only to Christ and his call rather than an organization and their bureaucracy.
At the same time churches are changing their approach. My son has just helped a congregation where he was an Associate to become part of a multi-site vision of a neighboring church. Led by leaders from the state organization, they are now the first multi-site congregation in this vision. As a result, Jonathan has lost his job and is looking for only part-time employment in the community. Why? Because he is going to take on a ministry role at the church (unpaid) that will be greater and more involved than his paid role in the previous church. When questioned about his plans by his mother, Jonathan replied, "That's the difference in generations. We are not looking for paid staff positions but places to minister and to serve." The new multi-site church is heavily dependent upon major responsibilities being handled by volunteer staff. Having attended their service last week, they are committed involving laity in mission. Not programming, but mission and ministry in the community. They will do this without trying to add staff but by motivating leaders to get excited about missions and ministry. It appears to be working.
In tough economic times, the church has to learn how to do more with less. More volunteers and less paid personnel is one effective way of approaching the problem. However, this new/old idea is being driven not by economics but by a real sense of being called to ministry. If this reemphasizing of Luther's doctrine is successful, it will change the role of the church from one of being an observer of the movement of the Holy Spirit to one of being the active participant in what the Spirit is doing. This will have a profound affect on budgets and education; mission and ministry; theology and preaching. The state of the church is changing.
No comments:
Post a Comment