March 21, 2019
‘Pastor as coach’
We continue our look at different approaches to pastoral ministry. Today we look at the pastor as a coach.
David Lose (pastor, author, former seminary professor) in an article titled, “Change your self-image from performer to coach” reminds pastors that we were trained to do things - preaching, teaching the Bible, presiding at sacraments, pastoral care and counseling. This “performative” model of ministry served the church well for several centuries, but the culture has changed over the years.
Surprisingly, we have not changed the old ways to adapt to the new challenges.
He writes…“In response to this drastically changed situation, pastoral leaders also need to change. In particular, we need to stop executing religious skills for our people and train them to perform them for themselves. Otherwise, they will continue to be spectators, appreciating the faith but never really learning how to do it for themselves.”
Imagine you send your child off to piano lessons once a week and all they do for that hour is watch their instructor perform various piano pieces. They would certainly develop an appreciation for piano music, but they would never learn to play. So it is with our present model. Faithful church attendees appreciate all the pastor does but are we fulfilling Jesus’ command to make disciples? Are we teaching followers of Jesus to be apostles?
Rob Bell in his NOOMA: “Dust” (dvd), reminds us that Jesus chose the ‘B’ Team to be his disciples(not the best of the best of the best), not just to learn from him, but to actually go out and do what he had been doing.
Jesus said in John 14:12…”I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
Pastor as coach would encourage believers of all “skill levels” to use their God-given abilities to further the message of God’s Kingdom. This would make ‘players’ for God’s team of missionaries and be far more exciting than simply watching someone else ‘play the game’. It would build up workers for God’s mission and not just build up spectators of the pastor’s performance.
Blessings,
Pastor Mike
‘Pastor as coach’
We continue our look at different approaches to pastoral ministry. Today we look at the pastor as a coach.
David Lose (pastor, author, former seminary professor) in an article titled, “Change your self-image from performer to coach” reminds pastors that we were trained to do things - preaching, teaching the Bible, presiding at sacraments, pastoral care and counseling. This “performative” model of ministry served the church well for several centuries, but the culture has changed over the years.
Surprisingly, we have not changed the old ways to adapt to the new challenges.
He writes…“In response to this drastically changed situation, pastoral leaders also need to change. In particular, we need to stop executing religious skills for our people and train them to perform them for themselves. Otherwise, they will continue to be spectators, appreciating the faith but never really learning how to do it for themselves.”
Imagine you send your child off to piano lessons once a week and all they do for that hour is watch their instructor perform various piano pieces. They would certainly develop an appreciation for piano music, but they would never learn to play. So it is with our present model. Faithful church attendees appreciate all the pastor does but are we fulfilling Jesus’ command to make disciples? Are we teaching followers of Jesus to be apostles?
Rob Bell in his NOOMA: “Dust” (dvd), reminds us that Jesus chose the ‘B’ Team to be his disciples(not the best of the best of the best), not just to learn from him, but to actually go out and do what he had been doing.
Jesus said in John 14:12…”I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
Pastor as coach would encourage believers of all “skill levels” to use their God-given abilities to further the message of God’s Kingdom. This would make ‘players’ for God’s team of missionaries and be far more exciting than simply watching someone else ‘play the game’. It would build up workers for God’s mission and not just build up spectators of the pastor’s performance.
Blessings,
Pastor Mike