Giving Ministry Away

Emerging For Ministry has linked a good interview with Len Sweet (the same site, Cool Churches has an interesting interview with Dee Hock. The interview with Sweet is not new, but there are some timely reminders of good ideas.

Responding to a question about the role of a pastor, Sweet says, “His or her main job is to give away the ministry.” Amen! The cult of leadership many churches has minister centralising control and power, rather than disbursing it. This week I’ve been reworking an old paper on theology of ministry whose main point is that ministers should not be central to a church, they should be intentionally peripheral. A minister’s role is to yield the centre and be working on the fringes, on the new projects, on the initiatives, on the creative cusp. However, too many focus instead on directing the established work. This might be good for a minister’s ego, CV and image as a “safe pair of hands,’ but it does a disservice to the church, making it “leader-dependent” and unsure when it comes to new ideas and missions.