I. Motivation.

Volumes abound concerning ministry techniques, practices, and styles. In the past century and a half, seminaries (both evangelical and liberal) developed more as academies. This took place as experienced pastors were replaced by professors in the seminaries.

Some schools of divinity focused almost exclusively on academics related to more current topics with some training in pastoral functions. Other seminaries aimed their student’s attention to practical pastoral practice and to classical Christian academic study. A rare handful not only did not divide the head and the hand, but also included training in the heart of ministry. Praise God, we do see more schools of divinity and seminaries including the spiritual life of the minister in their training.

Christian ministry is far more than well prepared hands and feet for the functions of ministry. It is far more than sharpened Christian minds able to address today’s world with God’s Word from our historic Christian faith. Christian ministry is first and foremost a spiritual journey. Christian ministry for both clergy and laity is a journey continually calling us to the Lord of the work. From a growing spirituality in Jesus, we are both called and empowered for the work of the Lord.

No one enters the Lord’s work with 100% pure motives. God uses our churches to work on us as well as through us. Each of us must sincerely ask God to show us our motives. What is driving the engine? Eventually whatever drives the engine of your heart will become obvious to all.

Churches without a passionate spirituality also have a weak prayer life. My friend and colleague Rev. Dr. Brewer wrote a very bleak description of such unhealthy congregations out of his own pastoral experience of building a new church in the Florida Conference.

When God’s healing is not a living reality through prayer, the church can become a back ward of chronically ill people waiting to die. This form of spiritual illness is subtle but deadly. People bring crippling fear and enormous control needs into the life of the church. In such a situation, the church may become more of a leper colony than a hospital. Without the power of God through prayer, ministry to the sick and dying may become little more than compassionate commiseration with their suffering. Instead of making the sick well, churches that do not pray condemn themselves to catching the illnesses they are commissioned to heal. (13)

Also, when the volume of activity becomes the measure of ministry, matters of interior transformation often go unnoticed and neglected. As Peterson states in his book, Working the Angels: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity, “Busyness is an illness of the spirit, a rush from one thing to another because there is no ballast of vocational integrity and no confidence in the primacy of grace. (132-133)” (13)

Being clear and biblical about what drives us and sets our sense of value places both clergy and laity in a better position to lead churches. This happens when pastors and leaders find their own sense of identity, significance, and security in who they are in Christ and not in what they do. Those who desire to lead a group or congregation to the next level must first ask what needs to change in them first. So they examine what drives or motivates them. They ask themselves why do they want to please God. Also, do they want to please God or do they want God to please them by doing it their way. Is their daily walk with God based on works or on grace?

These questions may appear enough to examine one’s motives. However, one more question remains. Is God’s love and approval of you enough? A young seminary professor went to teach in the very seminary where is well known father and uncle taught. At first, he felt intimidated around other faculty. He got into a comparison and competition mode with people other than himself. One day in prayer, he perceived God saying to himself, “Is my love and approval of you enough? Or must you constantly seek the love and approval of others?” How about you?

    A. Unhealthy Motives.

1. Some people are Need Driven. They need to be needed. The heart of the co-dependent person is hungry, angry, lonely and tired. Often they feel a need to atone for either real of illusionary guilt. Their screaming need to calm their hearts is to be in the center with control, significance, status, and security. Sometimes such anxious motives express themselves in the direct domination of others. Other times, it is seen in getting everyone to love them.

Clergy are in a yes mode by training. This makes it difficult for pastors to set boundaries for the sake of themselves, their families,and their ministry. Current studies reveal two unexpected contrasts among clergy. Unlike the previous generation of pastors as a whole, current pastors generally speaking are more concerned with ministry within healthy boundaries instead of sacrificing everything on the altar of the church and ministry. Although it may not appear obvious, but ministry without boundaries is a form or laziness. Also, as a whole, female pastors are better at setting and living within boundaries for ministry than many male pastors are.

For too many pastors a down Sunday =s a depressed Monday.  Or one critique and we loose our self-worth because the one negative =s the whole.  Then one’s family becomes second and it comes to hate the hate the church.

I witnessed a pastor with such an unhealthy motive as a teenager. Our youth group leaders took us to events like a movie about an ex gang leader named Nicky Cruz, a crusade by Mr. Cruz, and a Billy Graham crusade. God changed many of our lives through these experiences. Some were more radically transformed than others. Sad to say but not every parent rejoiced. Their children’s excitement about Jesus, prayer and God’s Word confronted their parent’s alcoholism, addiction to tranquilizers, affairs, and dead faith. Those who were elders and deacons in the church push pressure on the pastor to work in the best interest of this large, downtown, prestigious church. In turn, the pastor closed down the youth group and got rid of the youth minister. He so wanted to keep the prominent leaders happy and the ‘important’ people loving him that he ignored their sins. His unhealthy motivations shaped his sick understanding of ministry. This led him to practice ministry by spiritually and emotionally abusing some very young Christians and their adult youth group workers. Today, most of them are still active practicing Christians in other churches of different denominations.

Others and sometime we can see the symptoms of such need driven motives. It is seen in the following ways: we can’t delegate; we need to about everything in the church; we fish or bate others for compliments. It also manifests itself when we try to get everybody to love us; we are perfectionists; we participate in addictive behaviors (of all kinds); we either run from confrontation or are always confronting; and we chase after people who are mad. It is also seen in working excessive hours, making compulsive calls, giving exaggerated commitments, never saying no, and being offended when we don’t get credit.

In order for our motivations to be healthy, we need to know ourselves, understand our own screaming needs, and allow Jesus to transform us.

2. Some are FEAR DRIVEN. They constantly think of coming undone or flying apart. To them life is not good. They often believe that God is not going to be good to them.

The symptoms include:  fear of failure, anxiety, procrastination, fear of success so you shoot yourself in the foot, no risk taking, paranoid—they are out to get me, not spontaneous, isolation from people (not solitude with God), verbal abuse, abuse of authority, insulate ourselves from the Holy Spirit, not trusting, competition, very critical of others,

Your trust in and commitment to God is the key to peace and joy over the long haul of ministry. You are not responsible for others actions and attitudes.  You are only responsible for your own actions and attitudes.  Never surrender to negative feelings, events or people or you will be defeated. As God’s free grace increases you from the fear of people, you can give people permission not to have to like you.

3. Some are DEMAND DRIVEN. They selfishly enter the pastorate as anxious people pleasers who are driven by the latest demand. Too many pastors are doing visitation that is more selfishly than spiritually beneficial. These pastors lust after people’s approval.

A friend and retired Presbyterian pastor recently told me a story. He shared his experience of following a demand driven pastor. He told me that every week, this man got his orders from certain people in the church. He stayed there a very long time. My friend went there, but he did not go to certain people for his weekly orders. In visiting a member who was sick, the church member asked David a question. He said, “Pastor who told you to visit me?” Stunned, David asked the reason for such a question. The man replied, “Because in this church you only minister as a certain group tells you to minister.” The man thanked him for coming, but warned him about possibly moving. Sure enough, the session brought up some trumped up or exaggerated complaints before the presbytery and my friend was gone.

4. Some are GRANDIOUS DRIVEN. Those who want to make a name or seek to establish their worth to the world, excel at the criteria of “success” that the institutional Church gives. People can be in either the ministry of the clergy or the laity and not be serving God.  Those caught up in this drive must learn the difference between being in control to being in charge as well between power and leadership as stated below,

Leadership is power governed by principle, directed toward raising people to their highest levels of personal motive and social morality. Power is different. Power manipulates people as they are: leadership, as they could be. Power manages; leadership engages. Power tends to corrupt; leadership to create. Great leadership require great followership. Leaders mobilize the best in their followers, who in turn demand more from their leaders. (James MacGregor Burns, New York Times, Quoted from NET RESULTS, December 1993.)

5. Some are CARREER DRIVEN. They are greedy for  $, job security or advancement. Each opportunity for ministry is but a stepping stone for increasing the four ‘Ps’. —stepping stones on the four “Ps”. The four “Ps” include the size of the paycheck; the quality of the parsonage; the prestige of the pulpit; and the security of the pension.

Your well being can’t be dependent on the institution that you serve. Neither your local church, the conference or the denomination is your mother.  Symptoms of dependency include:  competition, comparison, insecurity, measurable performance =s self worth. It is a myth to think that if I get to one level of church, salary, etc. that I will have it made. Biblical success is offering your best to God, and not being in competition with others. 

The person surrendered to God can be comfortable, and feel good about himself or herself, and can be themselves.  The comparison game is sin.  If you don't love yourself, your neighbor is in trouble.  If the pastor does not love himself or herself, the congregation is in trouble.  The worst thing of the world is to work with an insecure senior pastor.  All pastors, and particularly senior pastors need to have a sense of peace and joy in Christ.  Selfishness and self love are opposites.

If you get caught in the doing mode, you fall into the comparison trap. In the doing mode, you will never find peace. Biblically speaking you more than your functional position as a pastor.  Where is your source of value and worth? Is your answer, “I am what I do” or is it “My value and worth comes from who I am in Christ.” Living from the foundation of God’s grace instead of our works is tough in our performance culture.

6. Some are DRIVEN BY EMOTIONAL ILLNESS OR PERSONALITY DISORDERS. Of the factors that damage our motives for ministry, personal developmental or personality damage is perhaps the most common, the most often ignored or more accurately denied. Such denial is found not only in seminaries, boards of ordination, but also in the selection of local church leaders. We must use the tools available to us to both discern and offer transforming help to such EGN persons. The lives of these extra grace needed people are out of order. They may hide behind various religious masks as Wayne Oates and Marvin Pate describe in their books on this subject. Churches and/or denominations who adopt a corporate model for growth and ministry tend to glorify some and exploit others with various disorders. Such problems do sometimes exist in either clergy or laity given how broken people are today.

Dr. Conrad Weiser is a practicing Christian psychologist and author of Healers: Harmed & Harmful. He wonders if the declining quality of those entering seminaries for full time ministry in mainline churches is also related to the decline in the status of pastors in society.

We continue as we have to see people entering full time ministry who are narcissists, depressed/dependents or compulsive persons. However, Conrad and others expects an increase in high functioning borderline personalities seeking to enter full time mainline ministry through seminary. This is an alarming comment in light of the irrational rage, seductiveness of people and total lack of empathy of untreated persons with this sickness. Does this provide you with any insights concerning the recent abuse problems within the Roman Catholic Church?

    B. Healthy Motives.

Healthy motives for ministry develops purposeful, enthusiastic, inwardly directed, authentic persons who are not driven by some personal chaos. Such motives include a healthy fear of the Lord arising from a growing knowledge of Christ’s love, grace, and holiness.

Jesus’ earthly ministry displayed the motive of playing to the audience of God the Father. He spoke what the Father spoke. He did the Father’s deeds. He sought the Father’s praise instead of the praise of people. He trusted his life into the Father’s hands instead of other persons for Jesus knew the human condition. Thus, Jesus was never suspicious, never bitter, never in despair about anyone for he put his trust in the Father first. He trusted absolutely in what God’s grace could do for any person. The ministry of the apostle Paul displayed many of the same motives for ministry. The whole Bible gives us examples and descriptions of persons as well as groups with healthy or unhealthy motives in serving God.

II. Meaning.

Many are taking the path of least resistance.  They seek to acquire the professional self-image of one who could satisfy the people instead of struggling with their call. Thus, pastors are abandoning their calling for a focus on how to keep the customers happy. No wonder clergy morale is low. Some pastors don’t know any other way to pastor nor do they see any other possible meaning for doing ministry. Seeking to please people and not God leads to bondage as stated below,

Pastors will regularly face the temptation to please people. You will often have to deal with displeased people because they hold unrealistic expectations about your role, or simply because they do not like the way you’re ministering. Yet living to please people makes you a slave to everyone, and makes it difficult to follow the direction of the Master lays out. Part of the price pastors pay will be dealing with unhappy people.  (“The Price of Pastoral Leadership” by Rich Nathan. Leadership, Summer 1997 Vol. 18, No. 3)

Many mainline churches exist in an inflexible survival mode. Such systems are wide open for spiritual/emotional terrorist attacks by a clique in control or seeking to be in control. This group holds the rest of the congregation like a hostage until they get what they want. Such demanding persons count on others passively going along for the sake of being nice instead of applying biblical church discipline of such persons. No wonder laity morale is low. Some members and church officers don’t know any other way to function in a church.

      Story of real leadership

One day a man was confronted with evidence, concrete, hard, undeniable evidence of his misbehavior with some women in the church’s singles ministry and young girls in the church. What shocked them the most was not that this man denied anything. He did not deny a single thing that they had concrete evidence that he had done. What he did deny was that any of that was abuse. They told him, “There are all sorts of ways you can get help. We want to offer you all of these, but we can’t have this continue.” “Well, what if I just showed up again?” asked the guy. They replied, “We will have to make a very brief but honest report about your situation, our offer of help and your refusal of it. People will have to use this information to make the wisest decisions possible.”

The next Sunday, the guy is there. Somebody makes an announcement. Before the choir director could even get to the microphone, this fellow flies up, grabs the mike, and made his own announcement which is followed by four elders coming forward, apprehending him, and gently but firmly taking him out of the building, calling the police and having him restrained from their property.

The next week, the church phone rang off the hook. The basic summary of all the calls went something like this one, “We’ve been visiting your church for awhile and wondered about joining here. After what we saw on Sunday, we think this is the church for us and we thank you for what you did. We’ve never felt so safe at a church. We’ve never been a part of a church where wrong doers are actually dealt with—a place where the young vulnerable are actually protected, where people whose lives are out of order are held accountable.”

Today, more than ever, we need a carefully thought out theology of ministry as clergy and laity. Either the path of least resistance or the path of faithfulness has pain. The first leads to burnout or anger and the other to redemptive pain.

Our motivation for ministry shapes our understanding of the meaning of ministry. Both our motivation and our view of ministry molds our practice of ministry. A congregation’s motivation and understanding of ministry is often a reflection of their pastoral leadership over the years. As Dr. Maxie Dunham is found of saying, “As the seminaries go, so go the pastors. As the pastors go, so go the local churches.

        A.  Biblical Understanding of Ministry

1. It is rooted in Scripture. “What have you read in the last five years that made you think biblically about ministry?” (Oden, Pastoral Theology.)

2. A solid understanding of ministry must be informed by tradition.

However, paupers neglect tradition and Puppets are a slave to tradition Today’s traditionalists are like the Christian Jews of Acts 15.

3.  A solid understanding of ministry is adapted to the context of ministry-incarnation of ministry is suited to one’s giftedness.
Authentic ministry begins with a person’s theology of ministry in light of their gifts and graces. We are called to come to Christ and abide in Christ before we are called to go for Christ. Out biggest temptation is wanting to do something for God each day before spending time with God. Oswald Chambers stresses the primacy of relationship over ministry. Our relationship with God is the main thing, not the work we do.

        B.  Jesus’ Ministry as a Model for Understanding the Meaning of Ministry”

We are not the principle actor in our ministry for we baptize too much self as being our ministry. Actually we participate in Jesus' ministry through us as clergy and laity. The key is not asking Jesus to bless our ministry, but finding out what Jesus is blessing and doing that ministry. Ministry does not belong to us or to the church, but to Jesus.

     Implications

Pray less, “Lord help me in my ministry activities.”  Pray more “Lord help yourself to me so that I am not in your way or mess your thing up.”

Remember, You don't have to make it happen for the battle is the Lord's. Christ is to make it happen--not me.  Burnout in ministry comes from not seeing this.

This changes our approach to preparation from focus on self to God. When we prepare for or do ministry seeking to please someone other than God., we are seeking to meet some pride issue of self-acceptance.

2.  The major movements in Jesus' life and ministry are to be in our ministry also.

a. Incarnation. Advent. God affirms his creation and demonstrates his love for it.

b. Crucifixion  Lent. Word of Judgment on sin.

c. Resurrection  Easter and Pentecost.  Word of recreation.

Much of our pastoral work is in the incarnational love and affirmation toward others and receiving their getting to know you.
We do II in actively calling their lives into question. Following II as we proclaim God's Word--some repent and III come into new life. Others will not repent in light of II and they will turn against us to crucify us. The cross tells me we hate God so much that we would kill him if we could.

We need a balance of I, II, and III instead of just a majority of only one. In all of these major movements of ministry, we surrender not only our gifts and selves to God, but also are pains and our struggles in Christ’s ministry.

Jesus spent most of His time with the three, the twelve, the seventy, and then the crowds. So should we.

The reality of the local church shocks us so that clergy and laity sometimes only want to maintain the status quo. When this happens, we replace passion for change to pursue a career, position, status, influence, and power. Such persons place their trust in an unwritten contract “If I do what the institutional church wants, I will be rewarded.”

Ministry not only means feeding sheep, but also taking up the cross. This can happen when you stand for the truth, the pain of growing pains or pastoring a church like Moses with a grumbling people. The cross of ministry sometimes involves $ sacrifices.

Our attitude toward the cross of ministry should be beyond the grin and bear it to glorify God. The place of suffering in service and passion in ministry needs to be taught more today. The cross of ministry may involve death to pride, material comfort, or popularity.  I Thes. 5:24.

III. Ministry.

            A. The Need for A Second Reformation

Transactional Leadership or the Standard Model of Ministry came to America with the cultural baggage of the Great Reformation in Europe. The American Church today is experiencing a Second Reformation. The first one raised up the biblical teaching about the priesthood or all believers. However, it did not thoroughly apply it concerning the ministry of all Christians.

Since the 1970’s various editions of The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church have emphasized more and more the ministry of all Christians. Four years ago, I wrote a resolution to General Conference. It said that while I rejoiced in more clearly defining the ministry of all Christians, our current model of pastoral ministry was contrary. I asked them to review pastor’s various roles within three major categories: Leadership, Ministry, and Management. My resolution was sent to the Board of Elders and Local Pastors for further reflection in preparation for General Conference in 2004. I pray that they come up with a list that truly moves us away from the standard model of ministry to the second reformation which sets all Christians free for ministry.

            B.  The Standard Model of Ministry.

This model tends to build program based churches. This standard working model of the last millennium placed the pastor in the middle of the wheel. This co-dependent hub model is an equation for death. Why? Because it leads people to believe the pastor is here to meet my needs.  This attitude sets up a very selfish center of personal needs.  This is a parent-child model with self at the center. Thus, the pastor has very little time given to study and preparation. Also, the dependency of co-dependency leads pastors to act and look like abused spouses who thinks if they do more they will not get abused again.

Too often . in program based churches, the pastor leads as the unspiritual CEO who tries to control everything. Such congregations and their pastors too often operate from a Pelagian view of salvation. Such a view focuses far more on human free will than on God’s free grace in Christ. This leads many church to choose and execute the latest prepackaged church renewal, stewardship, evangelism, mission, or growth program without any prayer or biblical/theological discernment of themselves, and God’s will.

These types of churches tend to function solely from a secular business model by crunching numbers about attendance, giving units, numerical growth, and programs. Therefore, the doctrinal formation of the congregation’s spirituality, attitudes, behavior, thinking, and relationships is ignored for the sake of keeping the machine running. Number crunching leads to people crushing as Dwight Carlson points out in his book: “When we focus on these external things, all too often we neglect and inadvertently hurt the wounded among us” (117).

We inherited the program-based church model from the Reformation. It once fit the European cultures in which everyone lived in or near villages, in which people experienced the intimate and supportive life. This form, understandably featured "a church building, a pastor, at a flock gathered from the parish area."

The inherited program based design way of doing church no longer satisfies either the people inside the church nor the people outside the church.  Only 1/8 of the people who do the work to make program based churches  function.  Some of those people work long and hard at tasks, routines, traditions, an endless programs; they believe they are doing the work of the Lord, so they do not understand when they  "burn out."  (Some other people within the 1/8 merely fill positions, and experience even less fulfillment).  The other 7/8 merely attend worship, programs, and meetings (or they stay away). 

The program based design church assembles peoples in large groups-- which prohibits people from experiencing any deep community or sense of belonging.  Such a church confines most of the church activities to the church building, rather than encouraging the church penetration into the community.  The program based design does consume much time and energy, making it improbable that the pastoral staff or active members will befriend and win many  "gold plated, certified, Hell raising unbelievers. 

Indeed, the typical program based design churches has virtually no contact with the unreached community.  The program-based concept does not build people. It only bills programs.  Its leaders assume that programs build people, but it doesn't achieve this goal.  The program based church does one thing well.  It produces wimpy, nominal, in active members!  It's inactive  typically number. 40 % to 50 % of the churches membership.  Of those, half may attend monthly, the other half don't come at all.

Worst of all the program based church does not provide the all-important fellowship, which is needed to created the kind of community in which people experience intimacy, love, and being "members of one another, in which people "build up one another."

"There is literally no time or place in a program based church for people to become close to one another.  The programs isolate members from each other.  When they meet, it's in the neutral setting of the church building.  Each encounter is carefully programmed: there's choir music to be rehearsed, a Bible lesson to be studied, a budget to be prepared.  Bonding together in love and commitment isn't possible.  There's no community in the PBD church structure.  Those who create it must do so in spite of the organization's schedule, and are subject to criticism for not being cooperative with the church program."  (p 51 Ralph Neighbor. Where Do We Go From Here?  (990).

            C. The Flowing Model of Ministry.

 In place of the hub model of standard, transactional leadership, we need the “flowing together in a common direction” model of transformational leadership. Thus, instead of doing a majority of the ministry, pastors and laity are discovering the NT call of equipping and being equipped for ministry. Such an approach calls for both healthy motivations and a NT understanding of the meaning of ministry. Pastors who equip people for ministry enjoy better pastor-parish relationships. Where ministry is shared, the church thrives. In these churches, the pastor not only delegates ministry responsibilities but also the authority to carry them out. They lead like John Ed at Fraser Memorial who said, “If the pastor knows everything going on in a church, there is not enough going on.”

When I was in seminary in the early 1980’s, the “Intro to Pastoral Ministry” course emphasized avoiding leading churches with canned programs. We were encouraged to lead churches according to biblical principles as outlined in Alvin Lingrend’s classic, Foundations for Purposeful Church Administration.

            D. The New Reformation in Practice.

Effective ministry in these post-modern times involves leaving our past European Cultural Roots of the First Reformation. It calls us to adopt the more biblical model of the Second Reformation which emerging already. The biblical ordering of a congregation’s life means majoring on bringing people to God more than on increasing attendance of programs. Thus, the major focus is on involving people in small groups instead of majoring on programs for people to attend.

Small groups address several needs. An important one is seeing the broken, bruised, inexperienced converts in church transformed into healthy, dedicated disciples. Then churches will have enough competent, qualified and willing leaders to begin and maintain needed ministries.

Contrary to the standard model for ministry, the flowing model the pastor time for to study and preparation. It emphasizes the pastor’s role more as a spiritual guide than as a C.E.O. Also, most of a pastor’s time can be spent according to one’s spiritual gifts and stewardship of time. Where a pastor is not gifted or the stewardship of time prohibits, others can be raised up with those spiritual gifts and available time. This is a new and shared responsibility for United Methodists between the PPRC and the Leadership Development Committee.

This also means that pastors don’t need to spend their life feeling guilty about those 6 things they can’t do well. Only God can do all things well. God with the flow of your strengths.  Delegate for a flowing leadership instead of hub leadership. You will have enough time for both ministry and a balanced life when you prioritize what really counts in light of your own gifts and graces.

The flowing, transformational model moves pastor’s to a view of equipping and leading others with a focus on personal Christian discipleship. This model calls pastors to lead PPRC’s in reviewing the meaning of ministry and evaluating ministry; leadership development committees in selecting, supporting and evaluating leaders; and Church Councils in planning ministry beyond just using Robert’s Rules of Order to a more biblical perspective. As this happens from church to church and from pastor to pastor, the unfinished work of the European Reformation will be completed.

For a detailed contrast of the standard model & the "flowing" model of pastoral leadership click here.

In Christ,
John M. Crowe
Goldsboro District Newsletter Editor

The content of this article comes from my dissertation: “PREACHING FOR A WHOLE PERSON RESPONSE IN DEVELOPING A HEALTHY CHURCH.” Diss. Asbury Theological Seminary, 2001. The contents are protected by copyright.

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