Pastors as Helpers, Not Heads

No, Your Pastor Isn’t the Leader of Your Church

In our human nature, filled with sin, we are very prone to pride, even in ministry. Really in everything we do. You’ve heard the song, “Everybody wants to rule the world.” Such a statement is so true from our natural human hearts–before Christ redeems us, gives us new hearts, and conforms us to His image. Our desire to lead other people in ministry or any occupation is a strict desire of the flesh–a sign that our pride remains in us full strength.

Please don’t mishear me on this. I am not saying anything about anyone’s salvation. Even after we are saved, pride remains in us. We are being sanctified, but I understand sanctification to be a process, not a point. Christ is removing our pride, but we must be conscious of it and gather people around us who will question our motives sincerely and to our faces without gossiping. It is wise to do so even though it is difficult–you know, because we are prideful by nature and don’t really want to be questioned or experience growth.

The best business owners and managers serve their staff and clients to make others successful. The worst ones rule over their people so they can make more money. Consider the recent downfall of Disney and other companies. They stopped focusing on creating content their clients wanted and started trying to tell their clients what was good entertainment… and they suffered loss, not gain.

Jesus, God in the flesh, certainly had the right to rule the people. He was the rightful davidic king. He was God. There was a moment when 2 of Jesus’s disciples, giving in to their pride, said they wanted to sit at Jesus’s right and left hand in His kingdom. They even claimed to be able to drink from His cup. The other 10 disciples became indignant. That always happens when people try to take a place of authority. Others become indignant with them. It’s not always a result of jealousy. The pride of the one who wants to be above the others causes the indignation. Our sin always affects others negatively. Jesus called the 10 to Him,

…and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

You can find that story in Matthew 20:28-28. Jesus explicitly says it there. The way of gentiles, unbelievers, is to have rulers who excercise great authority over them. Instead of being like this, Christians are to be like Jesus who can to serve rather than be served. According to Jesus, this is the difference between being like an unbeliever and living like a Christian.

Sadly, the norm in our world is to have so-called pastors who lead and rule their churches in their own worldly pride instead of being like Jesus. They want their high places at Jesus’s right and left. They bear all the responsibility as if they can drink from Jesus’s cup. There are not many who live by the instruction Jesus gave to the 10.

When John described the church in Revelation 21:14, the 12 disciples were not at Jesus’s right and left hands. They were not in some high place to be honored. They were at the lowest place. They were the foundation stones of the kingdom. Yet, that low place provided the best support for the kingdom. If they were at a high place, they could provide no structural support at all.

Doing what little structural engineering I do in woodworking, I can say for certain that everything at the bottom structurally supports everything at the top. If pastors place themselves or are placed at the top, they are being supported by the whole congregation. They are not providing anything meaningful. Instead, they are seen, celebrated, and propped up on the backs of the congregants–like the Pope is propped up on the backs of the poppers. In this type of structure, the pastor serves no purpose but to drain the resources from the people. Take a moment and read through Martin Luther’s 95 Theses. This was the most basic reason for the protestant reformation. Rome was at the top, and used the people to build cathedrals for its own glory. It didn’t benefit people. It only stole from them. Sadly, this has become what we expect of ministry today–such that many protestant churches are effectively mini papacies. From our pride, we develop a church structure that is exactly opposite from Jesus’s most basic instruction to His disciples. In doing so, we hurt ourselves greatly–even if we might experience some short-term, personality-based growth.

Admittedly, I am not above blame. I spent most of my ministry thinking in terms of leadership, honor, personality, and casting vision. I suffered a slight messiah complex that caused me to want to be the one to go into a church and be the one to save it. I took it upon myself to build the ministries and do the evangelism and outreach of the church. As a result, I became the personality of the churches I pastored. It was unhealthy. Such an approach is the result of immaturity in Christ. I didn’t want to be questioned. I gathered people around myself who agreed with me. Though I saw myself as having done great things in ministry, I was not maturing in Christ or being Christlike in my approach. I, being an expert in my own eyes, was brought to a place in life and ministry that I had to repent of being so ungodly in ministry. Here’s the kicker–most churches wanted someone like that instead of someone like Jesus. We wonder why the church is in the bad state it is in today.

It’s time for churches and pastors alike to rethink what has become of the pastoral office. It’s time for us to get back to Jesus’s basic instruction for His disciples. We are helper’s, not heads.

As a final plea to you, brothers and sisters, I offer more of Jesus’s teaching on the subject:

Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men. But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. But the greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

Jesus is the only head. Pastor, lift up the people. Don’t stand on their backs. If you are paid, you are paid to be a foundation, not a father.

---