Spiritual Formation

Weary of “Well Done?”

/ Luke Panter / Leave a comment

The words I hate to hear – “well done.” Don’t get me wrong, I love whenever I get the opportunity to eat steak with my wife. But it hurts buying her a filet mignon when she treats it like that. I’ve tried to convince her to stop using those words and to venture into a far superior dining experience, but to no avail. I know you thought this was going to be a post about spiritual things and ministry, but.

Ok, it is. We pastors often say that we want to glorify God alone and simply do everything in life to hear the words “well done” spoken to us by the Lord. But is this really true? Is it consistent with our behavior? Is there something else that we long to hear even more? Doesn’t the evidence suggest that many evangelical pastors do things to be “well remembered,” rather than to hear “well done?” I think that it does. I want to list some reasons why we tend to live this way and encourage you to overcome these challenges.

Pastors who are actively engaged in their family, church, local community, and denomination make hard decisions each day. Each of these spheres brings unique challenges to decision making. The stress accompanying each of these ministry spheres has the tendency to influence pastors to create unique personas for each challenge. So, the local shepherd creates a podcast to engage in the latest denominational and cultural dialogues. He may write a book, serve on a denominational committee, speak on a panel, or just feel obligated to roll the dice on social media platforms. But whatever the outlet of engagement, the pastor begins to write his own story. Why? Because he feels obligated to do so. Every other pastor seems to be doing so, AND they are lauded for being so engaged. They are resected and praised for how much they seem to care about issues, people, and God. This tends to create a longing in other pastors who are motivated by hearing “well done” by the Lord, but who now feel they may not be cutting it. So, they enter the fray and stumble upon a new motivating impulse.

The result is that evangelicalism becomes flooded with pastors who seem more concerned with being remembered as one who fought hard for the Lord, than simply being an instrument in the Lord’s hands. The word “legacy” is often talked about among pastors and in denominational settings. Every pastor has their own cadre of ministry heroes; most of whom are perched neatly in bobble-head form on the shelves of their study. Calvin, Luther, Knox, and Spurgeon – men whom none of us knew personally. We have no idea how they were received into the Lord’s hands or what his words were to them. Why? Because their relationship with the Lord was personal and their stewardship from the Lord was unique. Truth be told, we don’t want to be like these heroes because we know exactly how they lived unto the Lord. We don’t have access to those details. We want to be like them because their public lives and actions are respectfully etched in the annuls of Christian history. So, while these men may be worthy of hero status, there are countless others who may also, but whose heads will never bobble on our shelves. Why not? Not because they weren’t faithful to do well, but because they were largely unknown during their time and therefore forgotten for the rest of time.

In sum, we pastors (and denominations) have a tendency, accelerated by contemporary impulses and exacerbated by well-meaning heroism, to engage in legacy-building for the Lord. We feel the pressure from within the church and without that we too must do something that will be remembered. We must leave our mark in such a way that nobody forgets our impact on the world for Christ. Anything short of accomplishing this is failure and disobedience. Unfortunately, in doing so, we essentially say to the Lord that we don’t care to hear “well done.” We would rather be worthy of bobble-head status; even if bobble-head legacy building comes at the price of our ethics, and even if it means we turn a blind eye to sexual abuse, for example. “But the kingdom of God needs me and my influence!” No sir, it does not. And your soul is on the line; better see to that first. See to the things in your heart, not the things written (or not written) about you in the headlines. Because on that day the Lord will not look you over for medals, bobble-heads, or twitter mentions and facebook followers. Your legacy won’t matter, because “from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things.” Only your personal faith in Christ will matter. Abide in Him and do not grow weary of anticipating the words, “well done.”

P.S. I have nothing against y’all’s bobble-heads. And I am thankful for the many media outlets and contemporary tools that pastors have made available to others like us.

Identity Crisis

/ Bryan Jerry / Leave a comment

Paul, a servant of God…(Titus 1:1a)

With most introductions, the most important things about a person, about you, get said. It’s
usually an issue of identity that drives our response to, “What’s your name?”, when we meet
someone for the first time. It turns into a moment for us to establish who we are and what we are
about.

I never experienced this more than when I left Florida as a Student Pastor and began seminary.
Every where I went I found myself saying “Hi, I am Bryan, I used to be a Student Pastor,”
especially as we visited churches. It was as natural as breathing, my initial introduction was a
moment to say what I wrongly perceived was most valuable about me. I would vomit insecurity
while tripping over my desire to be perceived as important. A full blown identity crisis! I say
crisis, because that is the result of wrongly gathering your identity from a role. The role comes
and goes, and at times you don’t fulfill the role very well. Identity then goes into crisis mode
and you begin to swirl down the joyless rabbit hole of doubt. I struggled greatly during that time
unsure of myself and wondering if I could do anything of value for the church. This is where
Paul serves us Pastors well. In all the Pastoral Epistles, Paul describes himself in light of God.
In Titus, he says that he is a servant before he gets to his role as apostle. In 1 and 2 Timothy he
does state first that he is an apostle, but that is only a quick mention. He launches into what God
the Father and Christ Jesus has done in calling him to serve in that capacity. He understands
himself and his work only in reference to God’s work. He is first and foremost a servant, ready
to receive whatever the Lord sees fit. Since his ultimate identity is not tied to a role, in joy he is
able to serve as an apostle

Pastor, what is the most significant thing about you? Is it the role you currently have, or the
work God has already done? Don’t let your role as pastor be the place you drawn value and
significance from. That is a gift from God given to you because you are first and foremost a
servant. You are not valuable to the church because you are a pastor, it’s because he has
redeemed you and called you

The Pastor as Public Theologian

/ Luke Panter / Leave a comment

Published in 2015, The Pastor as Public Theologian sets out to “hasten theology’s return” to the local church pastorate. Strachan and Vanhoozer write together as a plea for pastors to “recover their theological hearts.” They write to churches who need to “reclaim their heritage as a theological community created by God’s Word and sustained by God’s Spirit.” They decry the fact that “the vocation of pastor,” as well as church planter, “has been replaced by the strategies of religious entrepreneurs with business plans.” Altogether, the understanding of the ministry of local pastor needs revival, as it is “the world’s boldest profession.”

A few things bear mentioning in order to whet your appetite for this book. But even if this blog post doesn’t convince you, don’t let that stop you. It’s worth the read for every pastor, but especially for those who, like me, always seem to to vacillate between the two worlds of academia and ecclesia. It’s also helpful for pastors who just need encouragement and to be challenged. Here are a few nuggets from the book.

“A theologian is a minister of understanding. Pastors are not called to practice academic theology but to minister theological understanding.”

“At the very heart of the pastor’s work is the need to foster biblical literacy in the church. What is needed is canon sense: the ability to interpret particular passages of Scripture in light of the whole Bible.”

“Pastor-theologians must have cultural literacy: the ability to “read” or makes sense of what is happening in our contemporary situation. The most important task of the pastor-theologian is thus to ensure that the congregation wakes up and stays awake, becoming aware of culture and what it is trying to cultivate in our hearts and minds. When we truly understand our situation, we are able to do something about it. Gaining understanding produces know-how.”

“The seminary’s primary task is to form the mind of Christ in its students.” (I would add that the primary task of the seminary student is to be formed spiritually rather than educated theologically.)

“The sermon is thus a word full of grace and truth that takes sub-evangelical thought captive, exposing the emptiness of other narratives and false gospels that seek to colonize our imaginations.”

“Disciplined expository teaching, either of creeds or confessions, is the best way for a pastor-theologian to foster theological literacy in the local church.”

Canon sense, cultural literacy, and theological literacy are primary tasks of the public pastor-theologian. No one else can or will practice these disciplines in the church or in the public sphere. The pastor is a general practitioner while professors are academic specialists. The pastor must be nimble, much more widely adept than the specialist, and always expanding his knowledge. Pastors must embrace their distinct calling as the highest calling. We must reclaim our place as public pastor-theologians, and “build the house of God one human household at a time.”

There’s much more to be said of Strachan and Vanhoozer’s book. I found it convincing, convicting, and compelling. Now if I can just find a homiletics book to break me of habitual alliteration.

The Pastor as Public Theologian: Reclaiming a Lost Vision. By Kevin J. Vanhoozer and Owen Strachan. Pp. xi, 221. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2015. $22.00. 978 0 8010 9771 3.