Hello friends of Jesus and Peace

Last week I introduced the idea of the managerial status or the managerial life. I defined the managerial function as the class of people who push resources and paper around to equip other people. The managerial function has been pretty well documented in modern life. I pointed out a few examples in our congregations:

  • lengthy reports

  • tracking spending, purchases

  • emails, advertising

  • making budgets

  • planning projects

  • a reduction of almost 50% of the number of people we are able to serve

I could give other examples. These are a start. Pastors and ministry workers spend a growing amount of time “managing” congregational life.

Today I want to remind us that congregational life has not always been like this. Then I want to raise the question, are we doing what we want to do?

We don’t always realize how different ministry was in other times. Harold Senkbeil describes the work of ministry in this way. “We’ve inherited multiple competing models of what a minister supposedly is, each with its corresponding job description. Many seem diametrically opposed. Is a pastor a chaplain or a missionary? Is he to focus on tending people who are already Christians, or on winning more people to a living faith in the Lord Jesus? Is the pastor a coach or care giver? Is he a manager or CEO of an organization or a preacher of God’s word and steward of his sacred mysteries? These various models aren’t mutually exclusive.” He goes on to answer, “The challenge for pastors in every generation is to link the person and work of Jesus to every shifting era by means of his unchanging word—not to contextualize the message, but to textualize people into the text of Scripture, you could say. (Harold L. Senkbeil, The Care of Souls: Cultivating a Pastor’s Heart (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2019), 17) Notice how Senkbeil doesn’t reject or ignore the importance of paperwork and leadership, but he describes ministry as so much more - linking the person and work of Jesus to every era by means of his word. That is what congregational ministry is supposed to be.

John Braun gave a different but similar description of ministry work in the 1990s. He said, “The pastoral ministry is a ministry of the word of God. Those who occupy this form of ministry will be spokesmen of God who understand clearly and thoroughly the word of God and the doctrines it proclaims. Therefore, among other things, the pastor must know enough to handle the word of truth correctly, be apt to teach, and be an example to the church so that the message of God is not discredited. (Cf. 1 Timothy Titus, 1 Corinthians 3-4, 2 Corinthians 2-6). http://essays.wisluthsem.org:8080/bitstream/handle/123456789/712/BraunMinistry_0.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

I’m sure you can find many other descriptions of a pastor’s job. My point is to share a few and allow you to consider them. You can compare them to a description like this one: “Quite simply, the job of a leader is to take people where they wouldn’t otherwise go.” (Carey Nieuwhof, https://careynieuwhof.com/thankful-pastor-behaves-like-ceo/)

I don’t have a huge problem with Mr Nieuwhof’s description of pastoring work. But it IS very different.

It also requires that we, as a group of Christians working together, figure out what we expect our pastors and key volunteers to do.

That’s my question to you today: are we doing what we want to be doing? Are we doing the right and good things?

Thanks, and I’ll see you Sunday at 9:30!

BLESS

We’re slowly filling the homes around us with prayer!

Who have you prayed for these days? Add a pin to the map and if it is a particular prayer, drop their name in the box.

Thanks for joining me as we pray for the gospel to fill the homes and lives around us.

“LOVED” Fall kick off

You are loved. Peace Lutheran Church is a place for people who want love, a place for people who need love, and a place for people who are committed to extending God’s love. We are all sinners who cannot fix ourselves or the world around us. We need God’s love.

Come be loved September 15th at 9:30 am. We’d like to see the whole congregation together as people loved by God.

We’ll have …

  • installation service

  • team building activities

  • snacks

  • congregational project

Let’s be people who are loved.

Calendar

September 7th 9:30 am Evangelism workshop - CANCELLED

September 12th 6:30 Christianity Explored

September 15th 9:30 am Fall kick off/Welcome Home

September 19th 6:30 pm Kzoo study group starts

September 19th 12:00 pm Senior lunch

September 20th 11:00 am Ladies Guild

September 20th 6:30 pm Bunco

September 22nd 9:30 Regular classes for kids start!; Volunteer recognition and celebration

September 27th 7:30 Campfire

September 28th 9:30 am Christian Theology #4

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Peace Lutheran Church 805 S Wilmott St Otsego, MI 49078

269-694-6104 https://peaceotsego.org