“The pastoral role in
the discipleship model is a function of leadership, not chaplaincy.
One of the
great tragedies of the chaplaincy model is that it sets pastors up for failure.
No matter how committed pastors may be, there is simply no way they can always
be present in times of need. Times of crisis come when the family or individual
least expects them.
Pastors are often not immediately available or may be so
exhausted or so pressed for time that,
even when they are available, they are
not entirely there”.
Michael W. Foss
“What is needed in
today’s context are not pastors who ‘do’ ministry but pastors who,
from the
wellspring of their own spirituality, ‘lead’ others in the doing of ministry.”
Michael W. Foss
“When they found Him,
they told Him, ‘Everyone’s looking for You!’
He replied, ‘Let’s head in the
other direction, to the nearby villages, so that I can preach there too. That’s
why I’ve come.”
Mark 1:37-38 (Common English Bible)
Pay close
attention to what is happening in Mark’s Gospel. The previous day, Jesus
exhausted Himself providing pastoral care to increasingly large numbers of
people. Isn’t it true that when you are handing out what people want, they seem
to show-up in large numbers? Well, Jesus finally had to call a day a day. He was
depleted. Jesus went to bed. Early the next morning, the crowds returned for
more. The disciples went looking for Jesus who rose early for prayer. When they
found Him, they told Jesus, “Everyone’s looking for You!” That was the short way
of saying, “Come back and continue giving away the good stuff that You were
handing-out yesterday. Everyone loves You for it!”
Trouble is, Jesus didn’t feel He had to meet people’s expectations of Him. Jesus never lost
focus of His primary purpose – to expand the God movement that was underway in
the world. Yes, He performed miracles, healing and administered pastoral care
the previous day. Yet, all of that was simply to provide a glimpse of the power
of the God movement – not its purpose. The people tried to harness the power of
the movement for themselves, to take care of their wants and needs. Jesus saw
that and refused to go back. “Let’s head in the other direction,” Jesus said to
the disciples. Essentially, Jesus was saying that His purpose was evangelism,
not caring for the flock already gathered.
The Bible
teaches that the church is charged – or commissioned – to continue the ministry
of Jesus. That means the church continues with the same guiding purpose that
directed Jesus, the expansion of the God movement. And the book of Ephesians
teaches that pastors of local churches are to lead the movement with their own
congregations. The practical dimension of this is that pastors are not to be
chaplains. Chaplains go back to the gathering large crowds. Jesus did not.
Naturally,
people need prayer, pastoral care and encouragement. Life’s journey sometimes
becomes difficult. But what scripture teaches in Exodus 18, Acts 6 and
Ephesians 4, along with so many other places, is that pastoral care is to come
primarily from the people of God to the people of God. Pastors are to lead;
people are to care for one another.
This notion
may not find favor among some people. It simply doesn’t fit their idea of what
a pastor should be and do. Jesus was placed on a cross because of the same
thing; people expected something different from a Messiah. As someone once said
to me, “Some people will not allow the Bible to interfere with what they
believe the pastor should do.” Pastors that capitulate to the people’s desire
will find that they have become chaplains to dying churches. God simply will
not bless any design for ministry that is not God’s own.
Make no
mistake, Jesus did some pastoral care. And it is reasonable that any pastor
will provide some pastoral care as well. But the pastor will do so within a
larger system or network of people. Additionally, larger churches such as First
Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach are fortunate to have the financial
resources to have additional pastors who direct the pastoral care of the church. Even then, however, it is unfaithful to the scriptures for any associate pastor
to assume all the care responsibilities. Faithful leadership by these associate
pastors is to “equip” church members for an expansive program of care. Stephen Ministry
Joy,
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