By Bob Zomermaand

(First appeared in the October 9, 2006 issue of the Christian Courier.)

I have been known to tease my artist wife that since we are going to some gallery or theatrical performance, we are getting cultured. We non-artists tell ourselves that since we don’t have that artistic bent, culture is not for us. But, in actuality, the word culture refers to a very simple concept.  Culture means how we do things together. In that sense, the concept is very important to all of us. Getting cultured by going to a gallery is engaging an artist’s reflections on how we do things together. In fact, culture is a concept that is central to the understanding of ourselves as followers of Jesus. 

Disciples of Jesus have certain ways of doing things together. The Bible itself challenges the ways culture and faith intersect. For instance, the Fifth Commandment says, ‘Honor your father and your mother ….”  In Mark 7: 11-12 Jesus remarks, “But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: `Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.” Jesus challenges the pious culture of his day when he corrects those who, in devotion to God, are unable to honor their parents with financial support. He declares that their religious cultural tradition contradicts the clear instruction of God.

Let me ask you, “What is your church’s religious culture with respect to excellence in your pastor’s life?”  When we install a pastor in a church of my particular tradition, we make a point of reminding the congregation that this person is a gift of God to us all.  What can we do to nurture spiritual growth and pastoral skill development in those whom God gives us as gifts? 

Two key cultural assumptions I have observed in churches are: (1) We assume that if someone has graduated from a seminary, he or she is gifted and skilled in every area of ministry and (2) we assume this person will function well for decades to come with no further training, equipping, or nurture.  We then are bewildered when the pastor finds preaching has become a burden, pastoral care is difficult, or the training of office-bearers just does not seem to come naturally. Culturally, we in the congregation are hesitant to give the pastor time or funds to develop the gifts that are present or to acquire new skills that his/her seminary training did not impart. I asked a very successful businessman how he had kept his business going so well for over 40 years. He replied, “I find people who love what they are doing—customer service, repair, or sales—and then I send them to several weeks of training every year to keep them sharp!”  But in the church culture of North America, we tend to squeeze all the living water we can out of the pastor’s reservoir without assuring that the springs of living water are also flowing into the pastor. When we have both, pastoral excellence will flow forth from God who gives it!

I am convinced that we need to develop a church culture that will enhance the capabilities of pastors. In my denomination, there is an office dedicated to the idea that we need to sustain pastoral excellence. This office encourages us pastors to find unique and refreshing ways to build and sustain excellence in our lives. In our churches there is a need to understand that pastors are human beings who are gifted for many things, but who are neither gifted nor skilled in everything. 

I had a long conversation with a friend of mine named Bill who has pastored in several churches around Canada. In that conversation the following ideas emerged.

• Although we had been in ministry for a combined total of almost 60 years, Bill and I were hard pressed to articulate a simple definition of pastoral excellence.  The definition seems to reside in the mind of the speaker. Our agreed on definition is: “Pastoral excellence is achieved when a pastor uses his/her giftedness in the best possible way for the glory of God to benefit all of God’s people”.

• Sharing the pastoral leadership role with others is something few of us are free to pursue. Bill had the idea of taking a team approach to pastoral burdens as they arise by forming a cohesive group of churches and pastors in a given geographical area. This would require us to rethink our cultural insistence on solo pastorates. Sharing the various skills of pastors among a group of churches would be far more cost effective than trying to staff a single church with all the different skills necessary for a local church to flourish. However, pastors and councils are often hesitant to share pastoral gifts since they fear loss of a congregation’s identity with that pastor.

• A church culture of pastoral excellence includes making sure that our pastors are nurtured spiritually. We need to implore God with our prayers for his living water to flow into the heart of each pastor.  What if, in our churches, a few persons (or one person, if of the same gender as the pastor) were given the task of praying with the pastor once each week.  What a ministry this would be!  These people wouldn’t be expected to be involved in any other ministry of the church, including the church council. (Relieving them of any other duty would show that how important this ministry of prayer is to us.)

• We have to drop the old cultural line: That’s not how we do it here!  In its place we should look for some deeply biblical ways of sharing the ministry of the church.  God gives gifts to all the people of a church, not just to the pastor. According to Ephesians 4: 11 and 12, “It was [the Lord] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”  Evidently, then, the Lord wants a church culture in which the pastor equips the whole congregation to do ministry.  It’s a sign of pastoral excellence!

•  My friend Bill says, “One of the key cultural issues in a church is the answer to a simple question: Do we trust one another?”  A church cannot be a place of joyful service if the trust factor between pastor and church has run low or gone out.  Trust builds a solid relationship in the hearts of the pastor and church which results in excellence. Only when a pastor is given the trust-filled room to flourish will that pastor actually do so. Until that trust is built and/or after it has vanished, pastors will more often be afraid of what may come than doing their best to excel in their work.

In conclusion I would encourage all of you to ponder the culture of our churches—not just in our local churches but across the boundaries that we draw which, I believe, sadden the Lord.  How can we adjust our cultural ways so that we can be more in line with the revealed will of God for his church? There is always room for improvement. What might that mean in your church’s culture?