A Model Missing Pieces

When I was a kid, I liked to put together model cars. Every once in a while I would get a model kit and find out I had key pieces missing and couldn’t put the model together the way it was meant to go together. Inevitably I would try to do the best I could and I would manage to glue some semblance of that particular model together. But…

The other day a friend called to tell me that he and his wife were filling in as interim pastors for a few months with a small congregation. He shared that the “church” was down to about 25 folks who still gathered at that building. He shared how other denominations were also struggling to have enough pastors to handle the vacancies in so many churches. Interim pastors and full time pastors are in short supply!

I shared with him that after nearly 40 years of active ministry and the majority of that in “pastoral ministry” and having been out of the Sunday Saddle for about 3 years, I had come to some conclusions: 1.) We’re out of pastors because the church has not been focussing on discipleship; 2.) We’re out of pastors because we are asking too much of pastors; 3.) Pastors expect way too much of themselves and too much of the people they are supposed to shepherd; 3.) Denominations and local expressions of the Body of Christ – The “Church”, are focused on world methods instead of Biblical models. The focus has been taken off of discipleship and placed squarely on “developing leaders”. Jesus incidentally called us to GO and MAKE DISCIPLES… not “leaders”. There are all kinds of goofy things happening with “leadership development” within the “church” in an effort to fix the problems, but most of those efforts appear to not have a lasting affect except where there is a strong personality… and even that may produce results that are anti-bible; 4.) We are not making disciples unless the people we pastor (lead) are willing to follow our programs.

Bottom line is, we are dealing with attempting to put together something with some critical parts missing. This isn’t a recent problem… it’s actually been happening for quite awhile.

I grew up in “church” or should I say, “attending church” with the model where everything pretty much revolved around the gathering at the building we called “the church” and was led by many at the time because the members had a high value of involvement. From Sunday School teachers to elders, deacons, deaconesses, a choir, a band, and the pastors, there were many ways to be involved with the many gatherings that happened. Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon, Sunday evening, midweek service and other things sprinkled in, it was a social and spiritual structure centered around that particular church and denomination. I look back on that time with some fondness, but also with some sense that there was something missing and developing within that structure that was off. As I grew up and moved into ministry within another gathering of folks, I drew on that rich history and heritage of being taught the scriptures from an early age. And then I began to attempt to pastor and ultimately recreate many of the methods and models I learned in those gatherings. Some things very good and some things… well… frustrating. One common problem is that we tend to think, “bigger is better” and the model was always get more butts in the seats and get that tithe up, so that there was money enough to get bigger and better. This model became more dependent on the talented and entrusted to the pastor to set the mission/vision and I followed that model in pastoral ministry as I felt I was “called” to do so. I tried to do just as I had learned from many who taught and trained me for “ministry” and just as they had been taught and trained for “ministry”. Looking back, I can see that things were already missing some critical pieces, but we still put things together the best we could.

That model used to kind of work, but it seems that the proverbial wheels are falling off the bus.

We have gatherings of people who have attended “church” for years, but have no real knowledge of scripture or an understanding of how they fit into the Body. They have been taught to follow the pastor’s “vision” and fill in the empty spots wherever needed, so that “ministry” can continue. The standard is high and many large congregations prefer to hire the smart ones to do the work and produce the results. If they don’t do well, then they are classified as not having the “right stuff” or some other such excuse. Sadly, I am responsible for that as much as those I am referring to. It’s a systemic problem with how we interpret “church” and our commission. It’s probably the number one problem in the lives of Christians… the “we’re not smart enough to understand what the Bible says and how to be a Christian, so we will let the professionals do it.”

So my question is, what if we aren’t called to make bigger gatherings as much as we are called to make disciples? What if some of us can only make one disciple at a time? What if we still have a whole lot of “issues” going on in our lives? Can we still make disciples?

I was told by a ministry leader once, that to entrust the interpretation of scripture to unlearned Christians was dangerous… that they needed some Bible College before they could really understand how to interpret scripture. Hmmm… did Jesus really call us to such a complicated task?

Seriously, that kind of thinking is really at the core of most Christian “Leaders” whether they want to admit it or not. I’ve run into it countless times and modeled it in ministry myself too many times to count. I had people who wanted to start a Bible Study but who didn’t seem smart enough or perhaps didn’t act “Christian enough”, in my estimation, to lead in any way within the church. I grieve now over my own actions and decisions to foster an incomplete model of Jesus’ ability to supply everything that is lacking.

So what’s the solution? As many substance abuse recovery programs say, in helping to address the addiction with their members, FIRST, YOU MUST ADMIT YOU HAVE A PROBLEM. Admit that according to the evidence, there is something missing in our attempts to go and make disciples. SECOND, quit thinking that if you just try harder and preach better, or try that latest program or subscribe to the latest “talking head”, that it will change. THIRD, ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to make disciples that also make disciples.

There’s much more to say here, but my opening illustration just keeps saying it to me over and over. We’re missing some key parts and we need to return to the Source and get the complete model, even if it puts us out of a job or we lose a paycheck. There are some things missing and we need the Lord of the Church to open our eyes to the simplicity and wholeness (holiness) of His Church and not think that bigger is always better, or that we can show God how it’s done.

What do you think?

January 22, 2024 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: church, discipleship, jesus, ministry, pastors | 1 Comment