There have been times over the past few years when not only have our friends wondered why we continue to seek a full time pastorate once again, and to be quite honest, we have wondered ourselves. Years ago when we did serve over the course of a number of years two churches with widely varying backgrounds and theological persuasions, we found that while there were a number of things that tried our sanctification, and did so on a very regular basis, yet we knew that what we were about we had been called to and frequently this knowledge alone was sufficient to see us through many a trial.
At the same time we ministered in those days in a milieu with which we were both very familiar, and in a sense that granted us a comfort in its familiarity. When we left our second church, a Fellowship Baptist church here in southwestern Ontario, to take on the reigns of Eastern Canada Regional Director for a large mission working, in those days, behind the Iron Curtain we knew that we needed to find a new church home. There was never any question what church that would be for while we stayed on in the same geographical location, our new church home was just up the road apiece in the city of Sarnia. It was even in those days a fairly large church and while entering into ministry within the church family did not take place right away given that my schedule kept me on the road a fair bit and especially so on Sundays. In later years this changed a considerable amount and whenever the opportunity for ministry came up, we both involved ourselves quite a bit. But again, the church environment in which we found ourselves was one with which we were very familiar and hence our methods of ministry were, we felt, very efficient given our experience and training.
But then one day that began to change. And this was precipitated by the pastor of this church reaching retirement age, and announcing to both the body as a whole and the board (on which I sat at the time) that he would be retiring in one year and it was time to set up a Search Committee to find God’s replacement. The search continued throughout the year with very little being accomplished. Just prior to the pastor’s final Sunday it was decided that we would find an interim pastor as the search continued. As it turned out, over the course of the next two years several interims were brought in. Each of the men so used was very gifted in a number of areas not least of which was the expositional ministry of the Word. But with the start of each man’s “interim” it was made clear that we would not be using him any longer than he himself felt he could stay on. Still, the time of each man’s interim ministry extended into several months. Each of them was very gracious and extremely helpful in the process that most of us had never been through before. Finally one day we received a recommendation from a man that was very highly respected within the “Fellowship”. A profile (résumé if you prefer) was received, copied and given to each Board member. We went over them very carefully. During my own examination I noted one or two items that gave me some concern. I brought my concerns to the Search Committee Chair; he thanked me and said that he would consider what I had shared with the committee as a whole. Unfortunately this never happened. A short while later the pastor who had been recommended was brought in from his home in Denver, Colorado. He was asked to preach on a Sunday that I was away for some surgery and hence I was not there to hear him firsthand. I later heard the tape and re-voiced my concerns. Still, nothing was done and the process moved ahead.
The long and the short of all of this was the church’s calling this man with a very hefty majority. Initially, he came here with his wife and family and until more permanent accommodations could be found, they stayed with one of our church families. The interesting part of his coming had to do with a question that he had been asked on at least three occasions prior to the vote, and that was this: What changes will we see when you come here? His response: For the first year you will note nothing of any significance, it will be “business as usual”.
Most of us felt quite comfortable with this since I don’t believe there are too many of us who like to see a lot of radical changes taking place all at once.
The problem was, this was not exactly true. In fact his first official Sunday in the pulpit the whole of the morning worship service saw more changes effected than we had seen over the course of some time. This did not sit well. However, when this was coupled with a lot of problems suddenly coming out from under their respective rocks during his first full week as senior pastor and the man went into almost, though not quite, a clinical “depression”. Then with very little warning he disappeared back to his former home in Colorado. When he finally returned he made it clear, at least to the Board, that it was his intention to bring the church into line with all that was taking place at Willow Creek Community Church outside Chicago. Meanwhile his depression continued and rarely could church members get to see him.
This went on for several weeks and I finally made it a point to have lunch with him one day to see if I could decipher what on earth was happening. He was polite, but extremely reserved. We “small talked” through most of the entrée and finally over coffee I just had to find out where he was intending to go with his approach to ministry. I then asked about the question (mentioned above) which he had answered with, in effect, “No changes will be made for at least a year”. He stiffened up and replied, “Well, there are changes where you just move the furniture, and there are changes wherein you knock out walls”. My response: “Brother, you have been knocking out walls”. I don’t think this helped his depression too much. The following Sunday he called a sudden Board meeting and when we had all settled in, he began by saying that he thought it would probably be a good idea if he left and went back to Denver to start a work that was solely patterned after Willow Creek.
The silence for the next few seconds was deafening. Personally I was pleased with his decision, and commenced by saying so. He looked at me rather oddly and replied, “Yes, I knew you would be”. I then tried to make it clear to all present that there was nothing personal in it at all, but that he ought to be about a work for which he feels best suited. For the next two hours every other Board member spent a considerable amount of time trying to get him to change his mind. I knew that they were whistling in the wind. He left a month later just nine months after assuming the rôle as senior pastor in one of the most respected Fellowship Baptist churches in Canada.
The senior pastor search started up again. However, by this time the winds of change had begun to blow and a small but growing contingent of folk in the church had seen a new way of “doing church” that they liked and were becoming daily more determined to see it implemented here. As for me, well, I too saw the changes that had been going on in other large, and not so large churches across the land. It was being called “contemporary”. Some churches were trying to walk a fine line between this and what was being derogatorily referred to as “traditional” or just plain old fashioned, and preferred the handle, “blended”. But whatever it was called, the changes had been introduced, and few were now willing to revert back to the “old ways”.
I served the search committee for better than two years, if in fact “better” is an appropriate appellation. Dutifully my wife and I and other committee members and their spouses would go out and visit churches of the Fellowship as well as a number of independent Baptist works with the view to possibly attracting other pastors to leave their present pulpits and join with us. We put together a survey form that we filled out at the conclusion of each visit. It was hoped (at least by me and one or two others) that the most important part of this information would be concerned with the man’s ability to preach the Word. But at the conclusion of every report that was given, only one thing seemed to matter: was the service contemporary, blended or traditional? Many times I felt constrained to counter with, “What difference does that make?” Eventually I gave up trying to come to grips with this and succumbed to the will of the majority.
A number of months went by and there was little if any agreement on any of the pastors whom we had visited. We did proceed a little further with one potential candidate, but when he met with three members of the Search Committee, he admitted that he had heard of some of the problems our church had been through and was not really interested in going any further. This began to be a fairly familiar response.
One evening as the Search Committee came together we were handed our customary “potential candidate” list, and going over it fairly carefully I noted that one name that had just recently been added had suddenly found its way to the top. It was explained that this was a pastor that had been highly recommended by our present interim pastor. In fact this pastor at one time had been mentored by our interim a few years back and it was believed that he would probably be interested in leaving his present pulpit. Personally I had all kinds of red flags suddenly burst before me, but decided to keep the whole thing to myself. The man was brought in for a get together barbeque and we were allowed, informally of course, to pose a few questions. Without having seen any of his background or even hearing what he had been about I felt rather ill at ease asking questions so I posed one or two rather innocuous ones.
A week or so later this man was brought before the whole Board, and Search Committee and once he had spoken about all that he had been about and was looking to do in the future we were once again allowed to put our questions to him. I tried not to monopolize all the time but at this point I was very concerned about what was about to take place. One of the things that came out was his heavy ties to Willow Creek and the whole of the mega-church growth movement. In his words, “… this was where God was at work”. By this time I knew more of this market driven program and was rather fearful that this was what was about to happen in a church that we had known and loved for many years. The following evening there was brought together more of the over all church leadership for a longer and more thorough question period, and I will always remember a statement that this man made with respect to the changes that he would, no question, be implementing should he be called. He looked around at the group and with no hesitation whatsoever stated quite emphatically, “… we may just have to say goodbye to some of you”.
The next day I sent this man an e-mail asking him if I might, confidentially, ask him some things and give him some additional information. I asked if he would be so kind as to keep our conversation between the two of us, and if he wished not to so correspond then that would be fine.
The Board was not particularly happy with all of this and we came to the conclusion that the church was moving in a direction that we could no longer support. Very regretfully we left shortly thereafter after many years of service.
At the same time we ministered in those days in a milieu with which we were both very familiar, and in a sense that granted us a comfort in its familiarity. When we left our second church, a Fellowship Baptist church here in southwestern Ontario, to take on the reigns of Eastern Canada Regional Director for a large mission working, in those days, behind the Iron Curtain we knew that we needed to find a new church home. There was never any question what church that would be for while we stayed on in the same geographical location, our new church home was just up the road apiece in the city of Sarnia. It was even in those days a fairly large church and while entering into ministry within the church family did not take place right away given that my schedule kept me on the road a fair bit and especially so on Sundays. In later years this changed a considerable amount and whenever the opportunity for ministry came up, we both involved ourselves quite a bit. But again, the church environment in which we found ourselves was one with which we were very familiar and hence our methods of ministry were, we felt, very efficient given our experience and training.
But then one day that began to change. And this was precipitated by the pastor of this church reaching retirement age, and announcing to both the body as a whole and the board (on which I sat at the time) that he would be retiring in one year and it was time to set up a Search Committee to find God’s replacement. The search continued throughout the year with very little being accomplished. Just prior to the pastor’s final Sunday it was decided that we would find an interim pastor as the search continued. As it turned out, over the course of the next two years several interims were brought in. Each of the men so used was very gifted in a number of areas not least of which was the expositional ministry of the Word. But with the start of each man’s “interim” it was made clear that we would not be using him any longer than he himself felt he could stay on. Still, the time of each man’s interim ministry extended into several months. Each of them was very gracious and extremely helpful in the process that most of us had never been through before. Finally one day we received a recommendation from a man that was very highly respected within the “Fellowship”. A profile (résumé if you prefer) was received, copied and given to each Board member. We went over them very carefully. During my own examination I noted one or two items that gave me some concern. I brought my concerns to the Search Committee Chair; he thanked me and said that he would consider what I had shared with the committee as a whole. Unfortunately this never happened. A short while later the pastor who had been recommended was brought in from his home in Denver, Colorado. He was asked to preach on a Sunday that I was away for some surgery and hence I was not there to hear him firsthand. I later heard the tape and re-voiced my concerns. Still, nothing was done and the process moved ahead.
The long and the short of all of this was the church’s calling this man with a very hefty majority. Initially, he came here with his wife and family and until more permanent accommodations could be found, they stayed with one of our church families. The interesting part of his coming had to do with a question that he had been asked on at least three occasions prior to the vote, and that was this: What changes will we see when you come here? His response: For the first year you will note nothing of any significance, it will be “business as usual”.
Most of us felt quite comfortable with this since I don’t believe there are too many of us who like to see a lot of radical changes taking place all at once.
The problem was, this was not exactly true. In fact his first official Sunday in the pulpit the whole of the morning worship service saw more changes effected than we had seen over the course of some time. This did not sit well. However, when this was coupled with a lot of problems suddenly coming out from under their respective rocks during his first full week as senior pastor and the man went into almost, though not quite, a clinical “depression”. Then with very little warning he disappeared back to his former home in Colorado. When he finally returned he made it clear, at least to the Board, that it was his intention to bring the church into line with all that was taking place at Willow Creek Community Church outside Chicago. Meanwhile his depression continued and rarely could church members get to see him.
This went on for several weeks and I finally made it a point to have lunch with him one day to see if I could decipher what on earth was happening. He was polite, but extremely reserved. We “small talked” through most of the entrée and finally over coffee I just had to find out where he was intending to go with his approach to ministry. I then asked about the question (mentioned above) which he had answered with, in effect, “No changes will be made for at least a year”. He stiffened up and replied, “Well, there are changes where you just move the furniture, and there are changes wherein you knock out walls”. My response: “Brother, you have been knocking out walls”. I don’t think this helped his depression too much. The following Sunday he called a sudden Board meeting and when we had all settled in, he began by saying that he thought it would probably be a good idea if he left and went back to Denver to start a work that was solely patterned after Willow Creek.
The silence for the next few seconds was deafening. Personally I was pleased with his decision, and commenced by saying so. He looked at me rather oddly and replied, “Yes, I knew you would be”. I then tried to make it clear to all present that there was nothing personal in it at all, but that he ought to be about a work for which he feels best suited. For the next two hours every other Board member spent a considerable amount of time trying to get him to change his mind. I knew that they were whistling in the wind. He left a month later just nine months after assuming the rôle as senior pastor in one of the most respected Fellowship Baptist churches in Canada.
The senior pastor search started up again. However, by this time the winds of change had begun to blow and a small but growing contingent of folk in the church had seen a new way of “doing church” that they liked and were becoming daily more determined to see it implemented here. As for me, well, I too saw the changes that had been going on in other large, and not so large churches across the land. It was being called “contemporary”. Some churches were trying to walk a fine line between this and what was being derogatorily referred to as “traditional” or just plain old fashioned, and preferred the handle, “blended”. But whatever it was called, the changes had been introduced, and few were now willing to revert back to the “old ways”.
I served the search committee for better than two years, if in fact “better” is an appropriate appellation. Dutifully my wife and I and other committee members and their spouses would go out and visit churches of the Fellowship as well as a number of independent Baptist works with the view to possibly attracting other pastors to leave their present pulpits and join with us. We put together a survey form that we filled out at the conclusion of each visit. It was hoped (at least by me and one or two others) that the most important part of this information would be concerned with the man’s ability to preach the Word. But at the conclusion of every report that was given, only one thing seemed to matter: was the service contemporary, blended or traditional? Many times I felt constrained to counter with, “What difference does that make?” Eventually I gave up trying to come to grips with this and succumbed to the will of the majority.
A number of months went by and there was little if any agreement on any of the pastors whom we had visited. We did proceed a little further with one potential candidate, but when he met with three members of the Search Committee, he admitted that he had heard of some of the problems our church had been through and was not really interested in going any further. This began to be a fairly familiar response.
One evening as the Search Committee came together we were handed our customary “potential candidate” list, and going over it fairly carefully I noted that one name that had just recently been added had suddenly found its way to the top. It was explained that this was a pastor that had been highly recommended by our present interim pastor. In fact this pastor at one time had been mentored by our interim a few years back and it was believed that he would probably be interested in leaving his present pulpit. Personally I had all kinds of red flags suddenly burst before me, but decided to keep the whole thing to myself. The man was brought in for a get together barbeque and we were allowed, informally of course, to pose a few questions. Without having seen any of his background or even hearing what he had been about I felt rather ill at ease asking questions so I posed one or two rather innocuous ones.
A week or so later this man was brought before the whole Board, and Search Committee and once he had spoken about all that he had been about and was looking to do in the future we were once again allowed to put our questions to him. I tried not to monopolize all the time but at this point I was very concerned about what was about to take place. One of the things that came out was his heavy ties to Willow Creek and the whole of the mega-church growth movement. In his words, “… this was where God was at work”. By this time I knew more of this market driven program and was rather fearful that this was what was about to happen in a church that we had known and loved for many years. The following evening there was brought together more of the over all church leadership for a longer and more thorough question period, and I will always remember a statement that this man made with respect to the changes that he would, no question, be implementing should he be called. He looked around at the group and with no hesitation whatsoever stated quite emphatically, “… we may just have to say goodbye to some of you”.
The next day I sent this man an e-mail asking him if I might, confidentially, ask him some things and give him some additional information. I asked if he would be so kind as to keep our conversation between the two of us, and if he wished not to so correspond then that would be fine.
The Board was not particularly happy with all of this and we came to the conclusion that the church was moving in a direction that we could no longer support. Very regretfully we left shortly thereafter after many years of service.
This pastor was called and though many had heard his decision to make all kinds of contemporary changes, few believed that he would go as far as he did. Over the course of the next two years over three hundred left the church.
A church as I mentioned that was at one time one of the most respected in the Fellowship has become one of the most market driven churches in North America. Its finances have gone down considerably for the simple reason that those who are attracted to this kind of “program” have really no idea of what the New Testament doctrine of ecclesiology is really all about. They come for the entertainment factor. The Word holds little attraction for them.
As you look back to the top of this blog you will note its name, viz, “Maxaira”. Simply, that is a “Sword”. On one brief occasion in His ministry the Lord Jesus stated what the verse at the top of this page states, and I will just repeat it here – “’Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.’”
Now we don’t often think much of this text because somehow or other we believe that the “Prince of Peace” came to bring Peace, not a sword of division. But alas that is not what He said. And so over the past two millennia we have seen extant within the church of the Lord Jesus Christ more “swords” than we like to think about. One of the really big ones came some five hundred years ago when a young preacher named Luther decided that what the church was doing in those days was not right. So he brought out the Scriptures. And he preached Christ and oh, such a sword was yielded that the church of the day was rent in twain in a great upheaval – we know it today as the Reformation. You see the sword was and always will be the Word of God and when it is stood by in truth, then there will be such rendering among the people of God for truth must always stand alone though the bearers of it are put down, and often savagely so even by those who are “fellow professors” of it.
Today is no exception to this reality. Just as the Apostle Paul had to wade heresy-deep into the church as it existed in his day in Galatia, and wield the sword of truth against those who would have destroyed it with a gospel that was no gospel at all. And he did not mince any words with regard to those who were bringing to those young saints a first century heresy, for to them he stated quite emphatically:
“…If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”
For what they were bringing was not the gospel of the Lord Jesus, it was in Paul’s words, “…man’s gospel…”, and when men bring this as preachers to the church then they must be turned back. Well, of course in Paul’s day they had no written Scriptures of the New Covenant vintage, and so when this “new gospel” was being hailed as the truth, they had little to work with and compare and so by many it was being accepted. That is until Paul heard of these shenanigans and so he wrote them a letter and to them he wrote that through the preaching of the gospel they had been given new life in Jesus Christ thanks not in part, but wholly through the Sovereign grace of God. That works of the law had nothing whatsoever to do with it. They were as we are, “free from the law, oh happy condition”.
This gospel, this truth, this preaching was the sword and with it Paul cut away all the heresy that had come about through preaching otherwise.
Today now in the twenty first century we are going through a period of time in the church’s history in which contemporary preachers in ever growing numbers are not concerning themselves with the “sword”; the Word of Truth. They are building churches based on the sand of expediency which is providing large, flamboyant buildings, filled with people who know little in their professing Christian lives but a mis-application of John 3:16, and yet so often are barely able to locate this magnificent text in their Bibles.
We have mega-churches sprouting up all around us with little to commend them but the latest in trendy church programs and “Forty Days of … whatever”.
As a result of all this we have preachers out there by the literal score who are not quite sure what it is that they should be about. If they are over forty and have Bible College and Seminary training they probably have been fairly well endowed with theological knowledge but so often in today’s church economy they are not sure what to do with it. The church has developed a number of new buzz words of sorts that have been borrowed from secular corporations and are now intended to see the church develop and grow. I have heard most of them having received e-mails from Pastoral Search Committees that tell me, “we need a man to take us to the next level”; “we are looking now in a ‘different direction’”; “we want someone who will get with the program” and so on.
Those coming out of seminaries today where Bible and theology are no longer of prime importance in a man’s pastoral education, he must decide how he shall approach this new age of church and how it is to be conducted to “attract unchurched “Harry and Mary”.
As I have gone over church “pastoral openings” I am finding with increasing regularity that the rôle of the senior or sole pastor is that which is less in demand today than perhaps at any time in the church’s history. Pastoral titles have become so diversified that one hardly recognizes them as being pastoral rôles at all. Today churches want pastors to take on every level of society in their own specialized format: pastors for children; pastors for young people; pastors for the college and career group; pastors for young couples; pastors for men and pastors for womens ministries; and possibly one of the largest categories today right now is that which is known simply as “Worship Pastor”. Imagine having a job to do nothing all week but plan for the church’s time of worship on Sunday morning. And then there are pastors of music whose sole responsibility is to make sure that all the music used on Sunday morning is designed to make everyone – shall we say “happy” and “worshipful”.
But now in addition there is a new rôle that certain new “Generation X” churches have brought into being and its tools are the new technological gadgetry that has invaded the whole of our society. There are lots of churches out there that are becoming totally reliant on the ways and the tools that are now widely available, to build their churches (from a strictly physical sense of course). One of the most colourful that I have come across in some time I noted about a year ago as a church in the Midwest U.S. advertised for, in their words: “… An experience and Ethos Designer”. The description of this staff member was quite extraordinary, for this is what was being sought:
“Wanted: An Experience and Ethos Designer:
Ministry is art; a co-mingling of the human and divine. [Church name] is an artistic and creative church that is constantly reflecting on how to create more effective moment collections that increase people’s incidence of bumping into the presence of God. In [church location] three weekend services allow a 1000+ people to experience a combination of sculpture, painting, digital art, poetic reading, digital confessional, video and various interactives. The Experience and Ethos Designer (the real title we use) is responsible for the overall creative process and teams that pull off the weekend experience. From parking lot to auditorium this rôle oversees the entire “feel” of [church name] . We are looking for someone with at least five years of programming experience, familiarity with video and video editing, experience in leading multiple teams (primarily consisting of volunteers), excellent communicational skills, and a definite feel and eye for how the arts can be used.” … contact … & so on …
I am not totally sure but I think I sensed the “Prince of Preachers” groaning just a little.
I suppose the bottom line of all of this is the fact that to pastor a church today, one does not spend much time concerning one’s self with the Scriptures and how to preach, teach, disciple and counsel using them. That’s passé. What is apparently needed today is nothing more or less than an experience of “…bumping into the presence of God”. Sound Scriptural exposition to the Glory of our wonderful God is something out of the past, and I guess we all just have to “…get with the program.” So … that’s the pastorate of the twenty first century?
![[Rev] R. James [Jim] Duval](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipA85uGnZxKg5gkwD0UQes49lZn4HBIStgHObfkXtPslEAuWR9abn4MvD_DiqmH83EvtEc-ULalivYR3iEHKRFnuoRyJAZQZXYfWsCgByBBlieU8TrNuSVmM_0P8FC496S2bn0/s1600/Jim+in+His+Office+-+Oct+-+2013.jpg)
