Excellent article over at Out of Ur this morning on three types of pastoral leadership.
Eugene Peterson claims that there are two common types of unhealthy pastors. The first is the messiah. Messiahs seek out wounded, broken people, to make them healthy again. It is a noble task, except for its motivation: messiahs need to feel needed.
Then there are managers, who seek not the unhealthy but the healthy: talented, faithful, and prepared people. Managers plug them in, finding the right places for them to serve in an ever-expanding congregational machine. The bigger the church gets, the better managers feel effective and useful. People become numbers.
In the article, Magrey deVaga argues that instead the pastor should focus on becoming a docent - a tour guide in a museum or art gallery.
Clergy showcase to the world the architecture and artistry of the Christian faith. We are tour guides, leading people from one gallery to another, shifting their attention from one work of God to the next. At times, we offer language to describe the unutterable: magnificence, awe, anguish. We are wordsmiths for life’s most muted moments.
deVega admints that this metaphor is not perfect - people are drawn to churches that are committed movements, not to monuments - but I love his point that good tour guides never steal the attention from the artist. Pastors should not focus on their own celebrity. They merely point to the Artist, rather than trying to become the art itself.
You can read the full article HERE.
Comments