Perhaps it doesn't have to be 'and/or', but I certainly found a lot in this that resonated. That many go into pastoring to be spiritual practitioners but what they seem to be required to do is to be spiritual entrepreneurs [or administrators, even]. Perhaps the same is true for teacher in the UK over the last decade or so, and maybe also for GP's ...?
Anyway here's what Darryl at Dying Church said:
"Another model has come into being. Instead of being a spiritual practitioner, pastors are church entrepreneurs. In this model, pastors read business books, attend leadership conferences, develop and execute a vision, and grow the church. In this model, pastor = entrepreneur.
Pastors as spiritual practitioners
Prayer
Bible
Equipping
Spiritual direction
Soul
Pastors as entrepreneurs
Vision
Leadership
Church growth and health
Institution "
As he says there should be a staw man alert on this but it certainly speaks to me.
08 August 2004
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2 comments:
While serving in mega-churches, I quickly found myself repulsed by the plethora of slick, church-growth oriented methodologies and pursuits. Although some of your listed characteristics may be true of "apostles" within the body (esp. vision-casting), the characterization as "entrepeneur" can often be an indictment.
Good stuff to think about. Thanks!
"Entrepreneur" is a bit of a buzz word -heck, I'm doing a course on entrepreneurship at the moment so that I know roughly what to do to set up my own bizness. And since Paul the apostle was wont to raid secular vocab to render theological meaning I'm happy to see the word here; though I do worry about the overtones it has of 'slickness' and growing the 'bizness' at the expense of the work of spiritual formation and care of the people. I agree with the functions attributed and somehow have to recognise that a lot of it isn't my calling at least within a traditional institutional setting ... that's what I'm wrestling with at the moment. II'm wondering whether we need also to learn from the work of social entrepreneurs?
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