Pastor - Diaconate anomalies .
In the Church institution today there are commonly 3 groups of people.
- 1. The pastor. (Typically one.)
- 2. The diaconate (nominated members of the congregation. A Decision making group with a variable classification of elders and deacons, though in most cases this group is made up of what is classified as "deacons")
- 3. The congregation.
With the order of things above there is much spiritual need.
1. The pastor .
¶ Where does he come from? Typically he is hired and can be fired. The arrangement that is common, is that 'pastors' fill a five year term at any one Church and then after that they can expect that the Church 'governing body' (Maybe the 'Diaconate' or some other Church 'council' committee) may require him to move on to another ministry or may invite him to stay on for another 5 years.
---Host of Sad Issues :
¶ There is a host of sad issues with this, for example, if the present pastor has just built a house and is happy living in the region and is happy with grown children that are settled in school, what then if he is required to vacate the position? The answer: A sad wrong result! This sad result has been observed to happen and could be a common dilemma occurring again and again for pastors locked into such an arrangement of Church order and "professional" service. This is a lot like a company CEO who in his career spanning years may end up being hired and fired a number of times with various companies. It gets worse! Another sad observation has been the event of a minister of a Church who filled a long standing position and (according to the report) was asked to leave when he was replaced, even though he was retired because of the perceived problem that the retired minister would be a conflict of interest and a distraction to the incoming minister and the congregation. This retired minister left and joined another congregation within the district.
---Professionalism is Spiritual Loss :
¶ Wherever man and his professional position and tradition is involved there is always spiritual loss, a short fall on the love of God and loss of oneness among the saints of God. Where a minister or pastor is in such a 'professional' position the outcome can be as cold as the prescribed 'professional' position that is held. Sometimes the outcome is very different with a minister being much loved and appreciated, but the scope of mess is always there where any believer is held to a (paid) 'professional performance based' expectation instead of love and acceptance and fellowship.
Pastors and The Church. Part 3.
