As many of you know, a couple of times per year, we hold an introductory class called, “Intro to Good News.” The most recent one was this past August, and the next one is coming up in a few Saturdays (Jan 17). If you are new to our church, or have never been to one before, I hope that you will join us for this upcoming one; it’s always a great time.
The class we hosted a few months ago went well. However, after it was over, I thought back on one of the things that I said. There was a point in that meeting where I said something that was not written in my notes and that I don’t usually say at Intro to Good News. It was something like this:
“If you want a church that treats you like a customer, this is not the church for you. We think of you more like employees. We believe Christians are here to serve/work on God’s mission, and we don’t treat Christians as clients who sit around and are served by the ministers. If you want a church where the pastor treats you the way your dentist does, that’s available to you (somewhere else). But that’s not what we do here at Good News.”
As I have thought back on that moment, I realized that it might be good to clarify what I meant by that. In what way is a church different than the dentist’s office? Let me explain.
Imagine you go to the dentist to get a cavity filled. You would probably expect the dentist to serve you. You would expect her (or him) to fill your cavity and then you’d pay them for their services. That is a normal doctor/patient relationship, and it’s also similar to the business/customer relationship.
But instead of that happening, picture that she trains you on how to fill the cavities of other people. Further imagine if at the same visit, she also trained one of the other patients on how to fill your cavity. And imagine that she was successful – that the other patient filled your cavity!
You’d probably be upset. Even though your cavity got filled, you’d still be offended. Because that’s not how it’s supposed to be. The dentist’s job is to fix people’s teeth, not to teach her patients how to fix each other’s teeth. How ridiculous.
And yet, that crazy situation I just described is closer to what the Bible says a pastor’s job is. Look at this verse written by the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians:
The class we hosted a few months ago went well. However, after it was over, I thought back on one of the things that I said. There was a point in that meeting where I said something that was not written in my notes and that I don’t usually say at Intro to Good News. It was something like this:
“If you want a church that treats you like a customer, this is not the church for you. We think of you more like employees. We believe Christians are here to serve/work on God’s mission, and we don’t treat Christians as clients who sit around and are served by the ministers. If you want a church where the pastor treats you the way your dentist does, that’s available to you (somewhere else). But that’s not what we do here at Good News.”
As I have thought back on that moment, I realized that it might be good to clarify what I meant by that. In what way is a church different than the dentist’s office? Let me explain.
Imagine you go to the dentist to get a cavity filled. You would probably expect the dentist to serve you. You would expect her (or him) to fill your cavity and then you’d pay them for their services. That is a normal doctor/patient relationship, and it’s also similar to the business/customer relationship.
But instead of that happening, picture that she trains you on how to fill the cavities of other people. Further imagine if at the same visit, she also trained one of the other patients on how to fill your cavity. And imagine that she was successful – that the other patient filled your cavity!
You’d probably be upset. Even though your cavity got filled, you’d still be offended. Because that’s not how it’s supposed to be. The dentist’s job is to fix people’s teeth, not to teach her patients how to fix each other’s teeth. How ridiculous.
And yet, that crazy situation I just described is closer to what the Bible says a pastor’s job is. Look at this verse written by the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians:
“And He [Jesus] personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of ministry to build up the body of Christ.” ~ Ephesians 4:11-12
Notice the part that I put in bold. The purpose of the pastors/teachers is for them to train the saints (a word Paul uses as a synonym for “Christians”) to do the work of ministry. Isn’t that different than the way we often think about “ministers”? Also notice that the saints/Christians are supposed to do the work of ministry in order to build up the body of Christ (a phrase Paul uses as a synonym for “the rest of the Christians.”)
If I’m interpreting this verse correctly, the pastor’s job is not to be the “minister” to all the Christians, but rather he is to train Christians to minister to one another. Wow! What a game changer if we really went by it.
So, that is what I was thinking when I said: “If you want a church where the pastor treats you the way your dentist does… that’s not what we do here at Good News.” We believe that pastors ought to help people understand God and the Bible well enough that they can use the gifts that God has given them to meet each other’s spiritual needs.
This is all well and good. When Christians hear this in a sermon, or read about it in a church newsletter article, they are often quick to say, “Amen.” But then real life happens, and it’s easy to abandon this position. Let me give you an example.
I have had people say things like this to me: “I went through a rough patch last month. I was in and out of the hospital. I missed several Sundays at church. And the most discouraging thing of all is that the church didn’t notice or care that I was gone. I mean, no one reached out to me except for Jeremy. And Russell. Oh, and the Smiths and Jenny. But that was all. The church completely failed me.”
As I stand there and hear these kinds of things, I think to myself, “Wow. It sounds like at least five people in your church actually noticed your predicament and ministered to you in your time of need. How many more people would have been enough?”
If I’m interpreting this verse correctly, the pastor’s job is not to be the “minister” to all the Christians, but rather he is to train Christians to minister to one another. Wow! What a game changer if we really went by it.
So, that is what I was thinking when I said: “If you want a church where the pastor treats you the way your dentist does… that’s not what we do here at Good News.” We believe that pastors ought to help people understand God and the Bible well enough that they can use the gifts that God has given them to meet each other’s spiritual needs.
This is all well and good. When Christians hear this in a sermon, or read about it in a church newsletter article, they are often quick to say, “Amen.” But then real life happens, and it’s easy to abandon this position. Let me give you an example.
I have had people say things like this to me: “I went through a rough patch last month. I was in and out of the hospital. I missed several Sundays at church. And the most discouraging thing of all is that the church didn’t notice or care that I was gone. I mean, no one reached out to me except for Jeremy. And Russell. Oh, and the Smiths and Jenny. But that was all. The church completely failed me.”
As I stand there and hear these kinds of things, I think to myself, “Wow. It sounds like at least five people in your church actually noticed your predicament and ministered to you in your time of need. How many more people would have been enough?”
And that’s when I realize that it’s not about the number of people. When they say “the church” completely failed them, they actually mean “the pastor” did not show up to personally meet their need. And that is interesting. A situation that I would consider a win (five Christians all reaching out to this person in their time of need) is considered to be a loss by someone looking at the situation from a different perspective.
It is for this reason that I think it is worth explaining the biblical view of how church works. If Ephesians 4:11-12 is correct, good pastoring will require not setting up the church like the dentist’s office. We ought not turn the ministry of the church into some kind of contraption where people’s needs are only able to be met by a few professionals who were hired for that purpose. That kind of thing is fine for the dentist’s office. But in Christ’s church, it’s neither healthy nor biblical.
It is for this reason that I think it is worth explaining the biblical view of how church works. If Ephesians 4:11-12 is correct, good pastoring will require not setting up the church like the dentist’s office. We ought not turn the ministry of the church into some kind of contraption where people’s needs are only able to be met by a few professionals who were hired for that purpose. That kind of thing is fine for the dentist’s office. But in Christ’s church, it’s neither healthy nor biblical.
Jesus gave some to be pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of ministry to build up the body of Christ.
