*note: This is an excerpt from a draft of my book-in-progress. To learn more about the project, subscribe here or on my blog, https://defaultingtograce.com/
"Where do you go to church?" It's a natural question when believers meet each other. The answer can reveal more than the words themselves. Commonly, the response is something to the effect of "I attend [pastor's name]'s church." But the local church does not belong to the senior pastor. The larger the church, the more dangerous it becomes for a church to be known more for its pastor's fame because, when that pastor is revealed to be a mere mortal, the church suffers. And when the individual church suffers, so does the Church writ large.
Pastors are fallible, sinful, weak human beings, saved by the same grace that redeemed the rest of us who are fallible, sinful, and weak human beings. For a church to put a single person in a position of such power--or for a pastor to put himself there--is both dangerous and unbiblical. Paul addressed this very practice in his letter to the Corinthians. Corinth was a city very much like large prosperous cities in the US. It was known as a trade center and its citizens were from all over the known world. It was a cultural center whose elite were powerful influencers on all parts of life, including the church. Because personalities were important to the Corinthian people, they elevated speakers who represented particular points of view, much the way 21st century Americans elevate politicians based on party affiliation.
The same kind of elevation happened within the community of believers in Corinth. Paul heard of the divisions and acted quickly to stop the practice:
I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name.
By citing Paul or Apollos or Peter as their leader, they divided the church itself into cultural factions instead of a united body of Christ. In the same way, when we assert that we follow a particular pastor, we similarly remove the focus from Jesus and place it onto a fallen human being. And when that pastor disappoints, there are repercussions that may cause some people to question their faith altogether. The Church, in both its universal and local representations, must stand on the promise of "Christ crucified...so that no human being might boast in the presence of God" (1 Corinthians 1:29).
What does all of this have to do with grace? Three primary things. The first thing is in our treatment of the pastor. Putting a person in leadership on a pedestal adds to the burden of leadership and absolves us of our role in ministry and the gospel. Pastors, according to Ephesians 4, are to equip the saints for ministry. We who sit under the teaching are the ministers being trained to do the work of building the body of Christ to a place of maturity and unity (Ephesians 4:12). When we treat our pastors (preachers, bishops, priests) as the only active agents in sharing the gospel, we fail to be the body at work. Grace for church leaders means we embrace the work of going and telling the world the hope of the gospel.
The second way we show grace to vocational ministers is in how we support the structure of pastoral succession. There are pastors who have spent their lives with a single congregation, but those are becoming fewer and fewer as stress, burnout, age (and sadly, ambition) cause more and more pastors to leave churches in search of something more. There are still some churches where the senior pastor has served for decades, but most pastors move from one church to another within three to five years. The way in which we let a pastor move forward, no matter why he (or she) is leaving demonstrates the love of God that transcends human ability. How we welcome a new pastor speaks volumes about God’s work of grace in us.
The third element of grace in how congregations treat pastors comes through our interactions with secular society in how we speak about individual pastors, churches, and the nature of grace. When the congregation is divided, full of gossip, malicious, and unkind, the world can no longer see Jesus. Our treatment of the leadership God has placed over us is an illustration of how we treat the Lord himself, although we may never admit it. Christians who pray fervently for their pastors find themselves sympathetic to the needs of their spiritual leaders and are equipped with grace to pour over their heads like anointing oil. Pastors from every denomination need that balm, especially in a post-pandemic Western culture that is rolling on a track of secularism to disaster.
E.M. Bounds wrote,
“Pray for your pastor. Pray for his body, that he may be kept strong and spared
many years. Pray for his soul, that he may be kept humble and holy, a burning
and shining light. Pray for his ministry, that it may be abundantly blessed, that
he may be anointed to preach good tidings. Let there be no secret prayer
without naming him before your God, no family prayer with carrying your
pastor in your hearts to God.”
E.M. Bounds (1914) Purpose in Prayer.
Prayer is our privilege and our priority. Church leaders take on a greater share of spiritual attack than most of us because they are equipping us to do the work of the kingdom. We must be on our knees for our pastors, praying for courage, wisdom, faithfulness, and joy. This is the beginning of grace.
To better understand the need for grace within the Church, I am currently collecting and analyzing data regarding the connection of grace between pastors and congregations. So far the data have revealed that the most important way congregations can show grace to their leaders is by knowing them as people, not their positions. *
The relationships between church attendees and the pastors' families need to be developed based on a shared humanity. Offer genuine friendship. One pastor said, "My value is not in the position I hold. Kindness that overflows to my family is a game changer." Being a pastor can be isolating when people put them on a pedestal and expect ministerial duties all the time. For many pastors, the work is a thankless endeavor because it never ends. According to one pastor, "Ministry is inherently unfinished work." As such, real friendships and genuine relationships can become a safe haven to lay aside the burden of the work and enter into the shared fellowship of community. Pastors need to receive love and grace from both their collective congregations and individual friendships there. One pastor summed up the essence of relational grace by saying, "Grace is receiving all of me, even if you don't agree with all of me." There are very few relationships where there is complete agreement, yet we love unconditionally in spite of differences. Treating the pastor with the same love is the foundation of grace.
The local church requires community to grow; it is the Lord's work, not the individual pastors. They are not coaches called in to turn a program around. Neither are they intercessors for sinners as the priests of old were. Jesus is the Great High Priest and every person can approach him boldly without the need for a priestly blessing or sacrifice. Pastors of this current church age are shepherds and teachers whose role it is to prepare church members to act as the Body of Christ. When church members share the same vision of the mission, that becomes grace. When church members commit to walk with a pastor through the fire of challenges and change, that becomes grace. When church members respectfully communicate disagreements to the leadership and/or the pastor, that can become grace. Conversations spark grace.
Loving a pastor's family well also means stepping in when the pastor cannot. Grace worked out in love goes beyond events like Pastor Appreciation months (October 2022). Every pastor is delighted when congregations remember special days, but is moved when people reach out in personal sacrifice to demonstrate love every day. One pastor choked up a little as he remembered church members from a previous church visiting his father during an extended illness because he was several hundred miles away. He didn't ask anyone to go, but a group ministered faithfully to this pastor and his father by taking time to just sit with the ill parent. It's a powerful demonstration of grace when church people care about the things the pastors loves and needs.
Often, the best grace is not directed toward the pastor but to the community. One pastor wrote, "The best grace our congregation can show me is to fulfill our purpose, mission, and vision which is to strengthen the saved and love on the lost." He went on to say that seeing his people "live life through a love lens," they achieve a greater life in God, which allows his preaching to come alive in the community to bear fruit. In other words, be the Church. Live in such a way that the secular community may be drawn toward Jesus. Another pastor exhorted, "Christians must stop being transactional and consumeristic," but rather learn from the teaching of the pastor and the fellowship of the saints and then go out to the people in their lives and do what they've been taught. That is amazing grace.
"Putting a person in leadership on a pedestal adds to the burden of leadership and absolves us of our role in ministry and the gospel."
Solid truth. Fantastic article to chew on. 💜