Congregational expectations

This post is from the defunct blog "Dying Church"

From Waving or Drowning? :

"I am having the depressing experience of reading congregational descriptions of what churches want in a pastor. With hardly an exception they don't want pastors at all - they want managers of their religious company. They want a pastor they can follow so they won't have to bother with following Jesus anymore." (Eugene Peterson)

Comments

[Mike]

Doug raises a good point. Darryl, maybe you want to look at this issue some time. Why do we expect those who have the gift of "pastoring" to also have the gift of "leadership". Do we want pastors with both? What if they don't have both? What does that say about the need to surround them with good people who compliment their skill set? What if the "CEO" is as cold as ice? What if they compassionate sympathizer couldn't make a decision to save his/her life? Do we want pastors who can lead or leaders who can pastor? Tough job.

[doug]

I remember the first time I read that and thinking, "Yeah. That's pretty much what I've encountered as a 'pastor.' That's pretty much what's been expected of me." I can't tell you how I cringe when I hear, "Well pastor, you're the boss. You're our leader." I'm a leader, yes. The sargent of a platoon, no.