teaching<\/em>, and talk about the pros and cons of the sola and the plura approaches.<\/p>\nIn many churches, in no task is the pastor more alone than in teaching, at least as it pertains to the central gatherings. \u00a0In my experience, most pastors choose their topics alone, prepare their messages alone, stand alone to give them, and do all this for 80% of the Sunday services, week after week and year after year, in addition to whatever other teaching they do in other services or classes. (Tip of my hand: all of those can be done in teams!)<\/p>\n
So let\u2019s talk about this, starting with reasons to support this practice.\u00a0 What are the reasons you\u2019ve heard to have one person do the vast bulk of the teaching, week in and week out?<\/strong> Church unity?\u00a0 Doctrinal consistency? Skill\/Education? Church growth?\u00a0 Tradition\/Inertia? Pastoral loyalty for planting pastors? \u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s hear the best arguments you\u2019ve heard, even if you don\u2019t buy them.<\/strong><\/p>\nBy way of contrast, two of my favorite reasons for pursuing plura pastora are, IMO, (i) that many teachers tend to present a better, richer and more accurate picture of God<\/em> and (ii) multiplying teachers for this and later generations is a central part of our mission.<\/p>\nRegarding accuracy, many pastors today have a practice of preaching (primarily or exclusively) line by line, verse by verse through whole books of the bible.\u00a0 The reason for this tactic is to prevent pastors from teaching only on pet doctrines or verses, while avoiding others.\u00a0 The goal, as I understand it, is to present the most accurate picture of God we can, based on all the scriptures.\u00a0 I think this is a noble goal and not a bad means to pursue it.<\/p>\n
But there is a thought I can\u2019t shake: The tactic adopted by the early church to accomplish that same goal and a few others seems to be (instead), deploying (and multiplying) several different yet unified witnesses\/teachers within each community of faith who are accountable and submissive to (and respectful of) each other<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jerusalem had many teachers (more than 12!).\u00a0 Antioch had many teachers.\u00a0 Corinth had enough to argue about favorites.\u00a0 And I\u2019m thinking of the example of scripture itself.\u00a0 Paul, in his letters, paints a very accurate picture of Christ.\u00a0 So does John, though in very different style and terms.\u00a0 So does James, who is different yet consistent as well.\u00a0 All the New Testament witnesses and teachers \u00a0are accurate and yet very different from each other in style, imagery, even content.\u00a0 And even today, I think we can acknowledge that the picture of God that is presented by two different, yet orthodox teachers, can be very, very different depending on the personality, theological and experiential lenses, etc.<\/p>\nRather than deny the reality that different teachers can speak very differently about the same things and still both be highly accurate, the NT seems to embrace it, even ordain<\/em> it as a way to strengthen the church in its task to be a faithful witness of Christ, via body ministry and mutual submission and love.\u00a0 What do you think?\u00a0 Which will produce a more accurate picture of Jesus \u2013 sola or plura pastora<\/em>?<\/p>\nRegarding multiplication and mission, one of the saddest outcomes of the sola pastora approach, IMO, is in (the lack of) multiplication of workers for the sake of the mission that it tends to produce.\u00a0 Jesus looked out at the masses and was sad for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd\u2014even though he was right there in the flesh!\u00a0 Even Jesus, as a sola, was insufficient to the sheer scope of the pastoral mission<\/em>.\u00a0 We need to meditate on that fact. His response was to pray for more workers for this harvest, and tell the disciples to do the same.\u00a0 Then he summoned the twelve to be with him, so they could become<\/em> those working shepherds that were needed.\u00a0 Multiplication was necessary for mission.<\/p>\nIn the same way, Paul\u2019s letter to Timothy contains the command to pass these truths on to capable people who can, in turn, pass them on to others.\u00a0 Whether we look at Jesus or the pastoral epistles, the mission required teachers to multiply<\/em>.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been in many churches who verbally affirmed the desire to train others up for ministry, in the teaching work and everything else.\u00a0 But very little multiplication that creates peers in the work<\/em> actually occurs.<\/p>\nFinally, even if we only look at the perspective of training up future generations of pastor-teachers who are young now, multiplication leads to multiplication: a given young congregant who feels some call to teach and\/or pastor is less likely to believe that they themselves can actually teach<\/em> if they primarily see only one person, with one personality and style which may be very different than their own, doing teaching in their church.\u00a0 However, if that same young person sees multiple<\/em> people teaching, each with their unique personality and style, I would argue that such a person is more likely to be encouraged in their calling, more likely to believe that they can do that work they\u2019ve seen several others do, and more likely to be themselves as they faithfully pursue the work.<\/p>\nWhat about you?\u00a0 How necessary do you see multiplication of pastors and\/or teachers to Christian<\/strong> mission? Is multiplication of teachers part of the teaching task itself?\u00a0 Is multiplying teachers (even those who can teach on Sundays) to be church work?\u00a0 Should pastors plan and intend on creating peers who are capable of doing everything pastors do?\u00a0 Should they plan or even intend on sharing the pulpit on Sundays?\u00a0 Should they plan or even hope to give it away entirely and plant again and\/or send new pastor-teachers out to plant new churches?<\/strong><\/p>\nThe last questions we need to ask are practical.\u00a0 Where are some places you\u2019ve seen plura pastora implemented well in teaching?\u00a0 How did they do it?\u00a0 What are mistakes to avoid?\u00a0 One book I just started reading that is as practical as they come is Developing Leadership Teams in the Bivocational Church<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Despite the title, it would be a useful resource for even full time pastors who want somewhere practical to start.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"T posts again on this Multiple or Solo pastor question. Sola Plura Pastora \u2013 2: Teaching Today I\u2019d like to single out one pastoral task that almost everyone would put high on their job description for a head pastor, namely, teaching, and talk about the pros and cons of the sola and the plura approaches. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>Today I\u2019d like to single out one pastoral task that almost everyone would put high on their job description for a head pastor, namely, teaching<\/em>, and talk about the pros and cons of the sola and the plura approaches.<\/p>\n