{"id":2358,"date":"2013-10-03T10:34:06","date_gmt":"2013-10-03T16:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/?p=2358"},"modified":"2013-10-03T10:34:06","modified_gmt":"2013-10-03T16:34:06","slug":"eugene-peterson-on-what-it-means-to-be-a-pastor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2013\/10\/eugene-peterson-on-what-it-means-to-be-a-pastor.html","title":{"rendered":"Eugene Peterson on What It Means to be a Pastor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019ve spent a significant portion of the past year working on a manuscript for Zondervan called Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church Growth Culture<\/em>. It\u2019s in editing right now and is supposed to come out in 2014. I\u2019m so hopeful that this book can make a difference for pastors of small churches all over the place. As I\u2019ve been working on this project, I have realized at several points along the way just how important Eugene Peterson has become to my understanding of what it means to be a pastor.<\/p>\n

I have always been highly invested in archetypes. My first was Rich Mullins. I tried to emulate everything about him, and his influence on my life is still strong. When Rich died I was left without a living archetype to follow. Peterson has begun to fill part of that role for me, especially in my role as pastor, and in the way I\u2019m trying to write spanning the world of academic theology, and rubber-meets-road ministry.<\/p>\n

Honestly I have not read all of Peterson\u2019s work. However, his book The Contemplative Pastor<\/em><\/a>, and his memoir Pastor<\/em><\/a>, have both been very influential in my life. Jonathan Merritt\u2019s recent interview<\/a> with the pastor is vintage Peterson. Merritt asked Peterson what advice he might give people who are preparing for ministry. I think Peterson\u2019s response is perfect:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d tell them that pastoring is not a very glamorous job. It\u2019s a very taking-out-the-laundry and changing-the-diapers kind of job. And I think I would try to disabuse them of any romantic ideas of what it is. As a pastor, you\u2019ve got to be willing to take people as they are. And live with them where they are. And not impose your will on them. Because God has different ways of being with people, and you don\u2019t always know what they are.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Man, I hope I\u2019m learning how to do this \u2013 take people where they are, and live with them where they are, and especially keep from attempting to impose my will on them. I think that every wise person I\u2019ve ever encountered has encouraged this in some form or another. The reason we have to take people as they are is that \u201cGod his different ways of being with people.\u201d God is present with different people in different ways. We cannot prescribe one way as normative and track all people in that direction. It\u2019s not healthy, and it\u2019s not realistic. Peterson continues,<\/p>\n

The one thing I think is at the root of a lot of pastors\u2019 restlessness and dissatisfaction is impatience. They think if they get the right system, the right programs, the right place, the right location, the right demographics, it\u2019ll be a snap. And for some people it is: if you\u2019re a good actor, if you have a big smile, if you are an extrovert. In some ways, a religious crowd is the easiest crowd to gather in the world. Our country\u2019s full of examples of that.\u00a0But for most, pastoring is a very ordinary way to live. And it is difficult in many ways because your time is not your own, for the most part, and the whole culture is against you. This consumer culture, people grow up determining what they want to do by what they can consume. And the Christian gospel is just quite the opposite of that. And people don\u2019t know that. And pastors don\u2019t know that when they start out. We\u2019ve got a whole culture that is programmed to please people, telling them what they want.\u00a0 And if you do that, you might end up with a\u00a0big church<\/em>, but you won\u2019t be a pastor.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One of the hardest lessons I\u2019ve ever had to learn in my life is patience, and I\u2019m still learning it. I\u2019m pretty sure that I\u2019ll never stop having to learn it, over and over. One of the most essential components of learning patience for a pastor is letting go of outcomes. We can keep \u00a0telling people what they want to hear all day long, and if we do we might end up with a big church, but that\u2019s not pastoring. You know when you become a pastor? The moment you realize that you are always going to be the annoying person in the room telling people what they don\u2019t really want to hear, but need to hear anyway. Telling yourself, too.<\/p>\n

His advice for younger Christians:<\/p>\n

\u201cGo to the nearest smallest church and commit yourself to being there for 6 months. If it doesn\u2019t work out, find somewhere else. But don\u2019t look for programs, don\u2019t look for entertainment, and don\u2019t look for a great preacher. A Christian congregation is not a glamorous place, not a romantic place. That\u2019s what I always told people. If people were leaving my congregation to go to another place of work, I\u2019d say, \u201cThe smallest church, the closest church, and stay there for 6 months.\u201d Sometimes it doesn\u2019t work. Some pastors are just incompetent. And some are flat out bad. So I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the answer to everything, but it\u2019s a better place to start than going to the one with all the programs, the glitz, all that stuff.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve spent a significant portion of the past year working on a manuscript for Zondervan called Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church Growth Culture. It\u2019s in editing right now and is supposed to come out in 2014. I\u2019m so hopeful that this book can make a difference for pastors of small churches all over the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[148,18,615],"class_list":["post-2358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-eugene-peterson","tag-rich-mullins","tag-shrink"],"yoast_head":"\nEugene Peterson on What It Means to be a Pastor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I've spent a significant portion of the past year working on a manuscript for Zondervan called Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church Growth Culture. 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