The Burr in the Burgh

Bob Dylan sang, "You gotta serve somebody. It might be the devil. Or it might be the Lord. But you gotta serve somebody."

Well, here is a good question for us: Is a pastor the servant of the congregation? Or is he a servant of Christ Jesus? The answer is "yes."

A Christian pastor is not a lord or master over his congregation. So he is not to tyrannize them. This happens whenever a pastor tries to micromanage every sphere of congregational life and sometimes when he allows his lay leaders no opportunity to make decisions of any consequence. In other words, I don't have to impose my ideas about our new parking lot construction as if I'm the boss. I have plenty of people here who know more about that than I do.

A pastor also becomes a tyrant when he asserts his own personal opinions as the Word of God. For instance, I may have very strong political views. Would it surprise you if I do? But outside of teaching people what the Bible says about certain moral issues and the role of government, I don't have any business - as their pastor - of commanding people to vote for this candidate or another. I suppose I could envision scenarios were this would be otherwise, but not often in our democracy would this be the case.

Or a pastor can become a tryant when he tries to govern his members in ways that do not belong to the pastoral ministry. I can (must) tell someone if they are living in a sinful manner. But I can't tell them whom to marry, which house to buy, where to send their children to school, etc. I can (must) exercise church discipline with unrepentant sinners, but I have no civil authority over them.

There have been ministers who have abused their holy office in the ways mentioned above. But at the other end of the spectrum, you have congregations who want to tyrannize their pastors. That is no less ungodly. There was a fine book published a few years back called Clergy Killers. And it's about a growing tendency of congregations to adopt a "hire-and-fire" mentality. "We hired you. You work for us. Do what we say, or we'll can you."

But the fact of the matter is, I don't work for my congregation. I am not their employee. I am a servant called by God, through the congregation. But I answer to God first, my church council or board of elders second. And where those two entities may conflict, God gets my first allegiance. Now, I personally, have been blessed not to have a tyrannical congregation, not in the least. Quite the opposite. They are loving, generous, kind and willing to be taught from Holy Scripture. They have also exercised an extraordinary measure of patience for their young, relatively inexperienced pastor. And I can only pray that I will never be a harsh overlord toward them.

Sometimes pastors can be over-bearing, but an over-bearing church board can be just as pernicious to the kingdom of God. God tells us to submit one to another. It's like marriage. Without submission, mutually, there can be no love-making.

Yes, the pastor serves the congregation, but he does so as an agent of Jesus Christ. He serves Christ in the sense that he is waiting on the Body of Christ. Jesus told Peter, "feed my lambs." We are the undershepherds who answer to the chief Shepherd and bishop of our souls.

Pastor David Petersen, over at Cyberstones, has a further reflection on these sentiments.