Thursday 29 May 2008

no room for pastor-teachers?


I don't think we need any more pastor-teachers. There I've said it, so how does it sound? The thing is I'm hearing Churches send a mixed message on this one - on the one hand they generally say, during a Pastoral Vacancy, we don't want someone who'll do everything for us, but my observations suggest something quite different in practice. Our Colleges are caught in the same dilemma  - do we try and develop what we think Churches need, or what they want? My hunch is, after sitting through our recent Home Mission Grants Group meeting (one after the other someone said 'what this Church really needs is .... but what they want is....') we need more people who are able Biblical teachers, sensitive pastorally, but primarily focused on something else. I think the missionary context is crying out for it and the continual shrinkage of the Church demands it, but the present mindset of many Churches suggests otherwise. It would be good to be able to talk openly about this one, but I recognise it's a scary one for many because we identify so much of who we are with the roles we've inherited. I'd welcome comments so we can glean where we go next with this one.

2 comments:

Ruth Whiter said...

Hi Nigel, I'm working out how to comment. What is the something else that they need to be focused on?

Unknown said...

glad you picked up on the teaser! Not sure how this blogging thing will work, but I'd hoped someone might engage with that one - no doubt my own views will become apparent soon enough.