{"id":29703,"date":"2012-06-27T00:10:55","date_gmt":"2012-06-27T05:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/06\/27\/the-pastor-and-pragmatism\/"},"modified":"2012-06-25T19:46:32","modified_gmt":"2012-06-26T00:46:32","slug":"the-pastor-and-pragmatism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/06\/27\/the-pastor-and-pragmatism\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pastor and Pragmatism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>It is sometimes said the world operates with secular standards but the church has spiritual standards, and this can lead to a neat division of the secular and the sacred. But nearly every pastor, within the first week, realizes pastoring involves pragmatics, and more often than not the pragmatics bear striking resemblance to how things work in the \u201cworld.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those same pastors also face another issue: how to create a church that is not just pragmatics. The temptation to do things in a way that \u201cworks\u201d is a constant.<\/p>\n

Where do you see pragmatism in the church? in ministry? Where does it concern you? What do you see that has helped the church?<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Graham Buxton, in his book Dancing in the Dark<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, takes his many years of experience in the business world and explores those leadership pragmatics through a theological grid. I\u2019m sure anyone interested in church leadership will find this chp \u2014 and book \u2014 stimulating.<\/p>\n

If we are all made in God\u2019s image, and if God\u2019s Spirit is always at work in people, it follows that common grace (or something like it) can be seen in the pragmatics of enterprises and businesses \u2014 in other words, since the church corresponds in some ways with an \u201corganization,\u201d some similar pragmatics are at work. Buxton\u2019s theory is \u201cspoil the Egyptians.\u201d<\/p>\n

He examines the Church Growth Movement (ICG) with McGavran and Wagner, seeing both their pragmatics and the value of their work \u2014 but he wonders if elements of church ministry are neglected in their approach. The entire movement, and not just these two, led to pastors to be \u201csuccess-oriented and growth-conscious, and a pragmatic \u2018what-works\u2019 mentality began its subtle invasion of the pastoral ministry of the church\u201d (244). Thus, we have to face up to the \u201cseduction of pragmatic methodology\u201d (245).<\/p>\n

I want to explore one element of pragmatics and preaching, something not discussed in Buxton. How do you get your sermons? Is it pragmatics? Ideas: some \u201cuse\u201d the sermons of others, sometimes plagiarizing and sometimes barely giving credit; some want the sermon to hang from the ah-ha moments \u2014 that is, they want stories to hold the thing up and to give it value; some rely on the cute and the clever and the never-heard-of-that idea. Others, and here we turn our backs on pragmatism, and say that the best sermons are found on the anvil of prayer, meditation, Scripture study, theological reading over time, and attentiveness to context and congregation.<\/p>\n

Back to Buxton: There is a difference between relying upon and plundering. The former assumes pragmatics are right; the latter lays pragmatics into a gospel bed. The focus needs to be Christ; the aim is to participate in what God is doing.<\/p>\n

Graham Buxton is a fan of Ray Anderson\u2019s \u201cfuturum\u201d vs. \u201cadventus\u201d approach:<\/p>\n

1. Some see the past and the present and find a method to get them to their future.
\n2. Others know the past and the present and are prepared for adventus \u2014 the arrival of God\u2019s work in the present in light of where God is taking us.<\/p>\n

The first is management and pragmatics; the second is charismatic form of leadership and attentiveness.<\/p>\n

Finally, Graham Buxton is keen on learning to keep the \u201cpeople\u201d factor central in ministry: people aren\u2019t tools (more along Peter Drucker\u2019s theory) but people in whom God is at work and we are called to participate in what God is doing. (He likes the story of Ricardo Semler.) This means three elements rise to the surface:<\/p>\n

1. Trust.
\n2. Teamwork.
\n3. Size: he\u2019s sensitive to this issue but does not disparage the larger church.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, we ask if the method serves the eschatological new creation work of God in our midst. Not if it works.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is sometimes said the world operates with secular standards but the church has spiritual standards, and this can lead to a neat division of the secular and the sacred. But nearly every pastor, within the first week, realizes pastoring involves pragmatics, and more often than not the pragmatics bear striking resemblance to how things […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1731],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastoring-and-leading"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Pastor and Pragmatism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It is sometimes said the world operates with secular standards but the church has spiritual standards, and this can lead to a neat division of the secular\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/06\/27\/the-pastor-and-pragmatism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Pastor and Pragmatism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It is sometimes said the world operates with secular standards but the church has spiritual standards, and this can lead to a neat division of the secular\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/06\/27\/the-pastor-and-pragmatism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-27T05:10:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-06-26T00:46:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/files\/2012\/06\/Screen-shot-2012-06-25-at-7.41.41-PM.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/06\/27\/the-pastor-and-pragmatism\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/06\/27\/the-pastor-and-pragmatism\/\",\"name\":\"The Pastor and Pragmatism\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-27T05:10:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-06-26T00:46:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"It is sometimes said the world operates with secular standards but the church has spiritual standards, and this can lead to a neat division of the secular\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/06\/27\/the-pastor-and-pragmatism\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/06\/27\/the-pastor-and-pragmatism\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/06\/27\/the-pastor-and-pragmatism\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Pastor and Pragmatism\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. 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