Mennonite Weekly Review

With an emphasis on becoming more mission-focused, Mennonites are moving away from a distinct separation between the roles of pastors and church members. We are rediscovering mutual ministry as modeled by the early church.

Yutzy

I saw this concept in print at Lindale Mennonite Church in Linville, Va. Most congregations list their contact information, pastors and often elders and deacons on the back of the bulletin. Lindale had a similar format, with one addition. Before listing all the individual offices, they inserted, “Ministers … All Lindale Members.”

But even as we make these moves toward mutual ministry, language such as “being called to ministry” and our learned expectations of pastors can carry us right back to an assumption that the pastor will do the ministry of the church. That’s what he or she gets paid for, right?

And because we want to grow, we not only expect the pastor to care for us through nurture and pastoral care but also to bring in people from the community.

It is not uncommon for a congregation to call a pastor to give leadership to outreach and evangelism and then become dissatisfied with the pastor. Nurture and pastoral care are not the focus they used to be, and the new people may seem to be more important than those who have been there a long time.

The tragedy is that when dissatisfaction isn’t voiced or isn’t heard, the congregation may choose to wait to deal with the frustrations until the pastor can be voted out.

So how can a congregation hold together a focus on both nurture and outreach in a healthy manner?

One of the best ways to do that is to develop or make better use of a pastor-congregation relations committee. Many congregations have a PCRC, but that does not mean it is functioning well — or even functioning at all.

To function well, a PCRC has to at least meet. That may sound funny, but I have seen cases where these meetings don’t take place because things are going just fine.

Choosing to not meet is like driving your car 50,000 miles without seeing any need for an oil change. Things may be humming along, but unseen friction may be building that won’t be visible until the engine falls apart in one last attempt to get your attention. The result is often a congregation broken down by the roadside, wondering how this could happen to them.