The Unhelpful Pastor

Most pastors genuinely love their churches. And many of the most deeply-loved pastors are appreciated for just that reason. That’s a good thing, of course.

But sometimes that can be a problem. Let me explain.

Most of us as pastors really want things to well in our churches. We know that people will tend to flourish if things go smoothly at church. We also know that we ourselves have a much easier time of things if the moving parts of our churches keep running smoothly.

And that dynamic can create an unhelpful sense of over-eager helping that can actually get in the way of what God might want to do to grow his people and deepen your congregation.

Background: in passages like I Corinthians 12:12, the Bible describes the church as a body with many parts. In that picture we each provide some important part of that body’s function. We each fit and we all are needed.

Unfortunately, the church is an imperfect entity, and the body of Christ can be pretty uncoordinated at times. In fact, sometimes parts of the body can actually entropy, passively absorbing resources without giving of themselves to further the cause of Christ in their church’s ministry or anywhere else. Ecclesiastically, they might be the equivalent of a paralyzed limb that just hangs off the body, motionless.

Every church will inevitably have at least a little bit of that going on. But sometimes some churches have a lot of that, and that can really cause problems. In those churches the pastor may find himself or herself really busy—but not busy equipping the saints or leading the church forward to follow where Christ is leading, but instead busy taking care of the tasks that could taken care of by members of the body, but aren’t.

Sometimes churches develop the idea that they have hired their pastor to do church for them. To set up and pick up for everyone so that church can be ready when they show up and can be cleaned up after they leave. Now it’s a healthy thing when the pastor helps clean up after a church dinner with everyone else (I was setting up tables and chairs with our pastor just last evening). But if the pastor is consistently doing that work instead of anyone else, their helping might actually be hurting the church’s continued development.

How?

When a pastor over-functions, he or she ends up displacing other members of the body who God might be growing in their roles in service. A pastor who takes care of everything creates church members who need to take care of nothing. Another word for that kind of person might be a consumer.

Well-intentioned but unwise pastors may actually get in the way of opportunities for someone else to give of themselves for a cause that’s bigger than themselves. That kind of pouring ourselves out for a larger cause is integral to the life of God’s people, and a pastor who anxiously can end up accidentally displacing God’s work in their peoples’ lives. 

Remember: God didn’t call us as pastors to the ministry to be busy, but to be helpful. There’s a difference—although we as pastors can easily confuse the two.

Ultimately, a church needs their pastor to be developer-in-chief. And he or she can’t provide that if their fingers are into everything before anyone else’s.

Why is this so serious? This sort of pattern can also lead to other challenges to a church’s health.

For instance, fostering such a spectator mentality among members of a church family can dull their desire for God’s work in their life. Every church member needs someone who looks them in the eye and reminds them that God intends to use them for his purposes, and we at this church want to help you find your place to make a difference in God’s world. Mere spectators never get the chance to hear words like that.

Furthermore, a church where such spectator perspective becomes normal becomes a church full of consumers. After all, they give their money, they pay the bills, they have a right to expect a decent show when they show up, right?

Ultimately such a church can steadily lead to unnecessary pastoral burnout. Even in the smallest congregation the number of such tasks remains insurmountable, leaving little time for the kind of sermon prep that will hopefully rival the best that people might find on YouTube. And, in a situation like this, unnecessary burnout can lead to unnecessary pastoral turnover, requiring the church to train their next pastor in how to attempt to do everything for them.

This is discouraging. My heart feels heavy, even as I write these words.

But what’s the alternative?

The alternative is intentional leadership. The kind of leadership that can open God’s word and help people hear a different perspective on themselves than the stories they might be telling themselves.

The kind of leadership that can gently remind people that they are “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which he prepared in advance for (them) to do.”

The kind of leadership who can draw in a few key people in the congregation to help him or her spot potential in people so they can be positioned and then cheered to the hilt.

That kind of leadership comes from the kind of leader who prays for people by name—not simply praying for them as they currently are, but asks God to help him or her see them as he intends them to become.

In short, a pastor needs to be a church leader who prays for God’s kingdom to come, and his will be done, in the nursery as well as in the pupit.

Unfortunately, most churches don’t readily ask their pastor to lead. They may ask their pastor to preach, or to visit, or to be sociable and visible. That’s usually front and center, especially in the early seasons of a pastor’s tenure. But over time, churches slowly come to appreciate having been led. But there’s often a long waiting period before leadership can be seen for what it is: essential. Somehow each pastor will need to do what they need to do to maintain their perspective in between those two points of view. (That’s why I love coaching).

• If you’re a leader—who helps you keep track of what will eventually matter most in the next ministry week?
• If you’re a member of a congregation, what can you do to encourage your pastor in their efforts to grow up your church into the body of Christ (Eph. 4)?