The Pastor vs. “The Pastor”

Understanding and interacting with the office of the pastor is an important issue in the life of a congregation. Most congregations are centered, in the minds of the parishioners, even if not in the official theology of the denomination, around the pastor.

It is crucial to understand the distinction between “the office of the pastor” and “the person of the pastor” — the organizational role and the individual human who has been entrusted with that role.

We make a similar distinction in secular politics: It was not office of the President which committed an indiscretion when Bill Clinton engaged in an affair with Monica Lewinsky, or when Richard Nixon destroyed certain tape recordings, but rather it was the person who trespassed.

There is, then, a certain tension between the person of the pastor and the office of the pastor; in a normal case, this tension is slight, and does not greatly hinder the work of the congregation. In severe cases, however, it presents a great challenge to the congregation, as the people must carefully and repeatedly sort out the differences.

In individual decisions, it can come to this: that one must decide to side with the office of the pastor against the person of the pastor, if things have become so extreme that the two are in conflict. This requires some very careful thinking on the part of the congregation. In order to support, and show respect for, the office of the pastor, it may require that we oppose the person of the pastor.

How Should a Congregation be Governed?

The question of how a congregation should be governed — not ruled — is a complex and troublesome one. One commentator has noted that theological truth does not necessitate one particular form of governance, but rather that there is a certain freedom to choose different types of structures within the umbrella of truth. In any case, this is not an easy question to answer. It is perhaps easier to say how a congregation should not be governed:

A Christian congregation is not a democracy - although it uses the democratic method of voting and parliamentary procedures. It is not a democracy, because if it were, than the consent of 51% would justify anything. Instead, the text of the Scripture stands above any vote.

A Christian congregation is also not an authoritarian structure. It is not governed by a pyramid-shaped, top-down hierarchy. Instead, we embrace the “priesthood of all believers” (Exodus 19:6, I Peter 2:9, Matthew 20:25, Mark 10:42, Luke 22:25).

The following three concepts might be presented as foundational for any notion of how to govern a Christian congregation: truth, stewardship, and love.

Truth is a governing principle, inasmuch as the text of the Scripture, and those same truths as reflected in the confessional documents of the church, are constant, invariable, and non-negotiable. The congregation must begin with the understanding that it is gathered around Jesus as the Living Word, and the text of the Scripture as the Written Word, and thus the idea of doctrine is an organizational cornerstone.

Stewardship is a governing principle, inasmuch as the congregation possesses its fellowship, not as property, but as a loan from God, and will be responsible to Him for how that fellowship is maintained.

Finally, love is a governing principle, inasmuch as all that is done must be done with an eye toward the benefit of others, and not the benefit of self - whether that self be an individual or collective.

There is much left unanswered here, and I do not claim to know all that is proper to governing a congregation. But perhaps I have discovered at least a little here.