From teacher to facilitator
For years, we’ve elevated teaching to the exclusion of other gifts. Paul described the church in terms of a body. Whether we realize it or not, we’re walking around with a body that’s grossly out of proportion to our head. Our obsession with teaching has made us a caricature of what God intended. The shift from teacher to facilitator ultimately requires wrestling with our own motivations. The bitter, resentful, angry pastor is not a pretty picture – and yet it’s a reality in many churches. The more worship is decentralized, the more humility is required. After years being the star of the show, many pastors find it hard to take a back seat and let others take the spotlight. Becoming a facilitator requires dying to pride and recognizing just how much identity we’ve drawn from our position of power. (Spencer Burke, Making Sense of the Church)
I’m 65 pages into MSOC and it’s even better than I had hoped. There’s only one or two books a year that make me want to go and buy a stack to give out to my friends, and this is one of them. Update: More good thoughts at Jordon’s blog and at the MSOC website.