March 7, 2006

Pastor of Conference Attendance?

Thanks to Rudy at Urban Onramps for pointing me in the direction of a revealing blopost over at Radical Congruency, asking whether churches should start appointing people to the role of Pastor of Conference Attendance. Nice bit of cutting satire to point out the fact that many upmarket “pastoral conferences” (like the Carribean cruise to […]

Nice bit of cutting satire to point out the fact that many upmarket “pastoral conferences” (like the Carribean cruise to learn about proper preaching techniques) are little more than junkets. It is about time more folks started to point out that “conferences” like these (and the back slapping cultures that promote them) are really the emperor’s new clothes.

[tags] Ministry, Junket, Solipsism [/tags]

Tagged Education, Theology, Trends

Toni 18 years ago

I wish the churches that use the term ‘pastor’ to mean manager would stop pretending.

I also wish that we wouldn’t call people that are not pastoral in their ministry and gifting ‘pastor’.

Actually, there are many thing I wish that was done differently about ‘ministry’ and leadership in churches.

Fernando Gros 18 years ago

The idea of replacing some “pastor/ministers” with “managers” has often crossed my mind. Some church structures, especially bigger programatic ones really do need manager-types and conventional theological college training does not really give the best skill set for that.

Not a small number of ministers I have known aspire to senior pastor roles for what are often managerial motivations. Hopefully debunking the conference/junket game and the language game around titles would make those false motivaions a little clearer to see.

Mind you, the idea of ‘minstry’ as a career isn’t new. European nobility used to train the first son as heir and estate manager, while the second son was trained for the church. There has been a long history (albeit shameful) of this kind of thing.

However it also begs the question – should those in full-time Christian work automatically be poor? Is a life of financial hardship not merely expected, but an essential part of heading up a church? I wonder if we can have double standards sometimes?

I used to be part of a New Frontiers church in SE London where we prided ourselves on paying the full-time guy the national average wage. He certainly earned the money, and didn’t lord it over the people, even though he received more than many of us. It seemed a just reward for a greater degree of committment and energy than the average Chief Executive of a company of between 100 and 200 people might invest for a considerably higher income.

Despite this I find it hard to accept chaffuer driven ‘rollers’.

Pastor of Conference Attendance?

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