{"id":29840,"date":"2012-07-02T00:07:26","date_gmt":"2012-07-02T05:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?p=29840"},"modified":"2012-06-28T06:32:56","modified_gmt":"2012-06-28T11:32:56","slug":"megachurch-pastor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/07\/02\/megachurch-pastor\/","title":{"rendered":"Megachurch “Pastor”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A Singapore pastor has been arrested for swiping to the tune of 23 million dollars. Others are implicated. This set off a round of internet comment, including one that made the uncharitably audacious and (sadly) outrageous claim that all megachurch pastors are manipulative and deceptive. A friend of mine then posted a comment<\/a><\/strong> worth examining. Here is his comment:<\/p>\n

Here is where I find some agreement with Jim, \u00a0\u201cSuch Pastors (Mega-Church Pastors) aren\u2019t truly pastors \u2013 they are merely functionaries, public speakers.\u00a0 Pastors know their flock just as shepherds know their sheep.\u00a0 It is no accident at all that the early Church seized on the analogy of the Pastor as shepherd. For that reason a church which is so big that the Pastor can\u2019t or doesn\u2019t know those who come is no longer a Church as such but a group, an \u2018audience\u2019, nothing more.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0Although I would not\u00a0word\u00a0it so strongly, and I certainly wouldn\u2019t say all Mega-Church pastors aren\u2019t truly pastors, I do have problems with the term \u201cMega-Church\u00a0pastor.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0In my mind a minister cannot pastor more people than those he knows personally.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Being a pastor is a personal profession. When someone uses the term mega-church pastor for me my vocation and calling is cheapened. It is kind of like saying a person who prepares\u00a0McDonald\u2019s\u00a0burgers is a chef. Don\u2019t we think that a real Chef who has spent years studying and training for their vocation might be a little miffed at being compared to someone who slaps sauce and a patty on a bun? If we are going to call ourselves pastors then we must take seriously Scripture\u2019s call for us to be Shepherds. True Shepherds know their sheep. True Shepherds are involved and actively participate in the lives of all of those in their congregation. In my opinion the sheer size of a large church hampers the vation. I wouldn\u2019t go so far as to say it can\u2019t be done, I just think it is far more difficult in a Mega-Church (We mus\u2019t become dogmatic about these things). But hey, maybe I am simply jealous!?!?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I happen to attend a megachurch. So the original blogger in the original post has also accused me of not knowing any biblical theology (hey, he was on a roll of accusation) \u2026 but I do have an observation to make that might calm the waters a bit.<\/p>\n

First, the model being used by both of these bloggers is the one church, one pastor model. If knowing everyone in the church is required, then a church can only get so big. I would have a hard time disagreeing that you can\u2019t pastor those whom you don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

But, second, who says there is only one pastor for every church? Why can\u2019t churches have multiple pastors? In fact, I know of some megachurches that have hundreds of \u201cpastors\u201d or \u201cunder pastors\u201d or folks who genuinely do pastor those in their small groups. While those pastors don\u2019t preach on Sundays (another assumption worth reconsidering) they do shepherd their flock.<\/p>\n

So we get to this question: What is a pastor? Someone who spiritual overlooks\/guides and mentors or someone who preaches on Sunday, who \u201cruns\u201d the place, who is paid, who is ordained?<\/p>\n

I wonder if either of these bloggers would consider the multiple pastor model as speaking into this situation.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Singapore pastor has been arrested for swiping to the tune of 23 million dollars. Others are implicated. This set off a round of internet comment, including one that made the uncharitably audacious and (sadly) outrageous claim that all megachurch pastors are manipulative and deceptive. A friend of mine then posted a comment worth examining. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1731,1740],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastoring-and-leading","category-pastoring-and-preaching"],"yoast_head":"\nMegachurch "Pastor"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Singapore pastor has been arrested for swiping to the tune of 23 million dollars. Others are implicated. 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