pastor as protector in the organic church
Since the issues of the role of pastor in protecting and teaching have been weighing heavily on my psyche lately, I thought it might be good to take some time and think those issues through, particularly in regard to the organic church milieu.
I know what "protecting the flock" looked like in my past. It involved separating out those who didn't toe the doctrinal line, regardless of how secondary or tertiary the issue was. It generally involved shooting the wounded. It was about drawing in and out, lines and boxes...
In this new emerging church context, where we are attempting to do church organically, what does that look like?
I know for us, as we have progressed as a community, we have tried to see things (particularly the community itself) less as a bounded set (you are either in or out) and more as a centered set (you are either moving closer to the center, which is Christ, or you are moving farther and farther away).
We have attempted to define little doctrinally other than the essentials of the faith- creedal Christian orthodoxy is important to us. Your stand on the end times is not.Having an opinion on secondary and tertiary matters where there is a wide range of Christian thought is fine. Insisting that everyone else share it is not.
We have made room for people to ask questions and process issues without being handed prepackaged answers. We have tried to recognize that asking another question in return, helping someone to take the next step towards discovering the answer on their own may, in the long run, end up being more valuable than simply handing them the answer.
So, what place "protecting the flock?" With all this room for dissent and doubt, where does Paul's admonition (there's a great church word!) to "...beware! Be sure that you feed and shepherd God's flock--his church, purchased with his blood--over whom the Holy Spirit has appointed you as elders," come in? He says further, "I know full well that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock."
A few observations...
i think multiple metaphors are allowed. I like the biblical metaphor of shepherd. One I've been playing with in my mind a bit is pastor as gardener (e.g. 1 Cor 3:5-9)
If the church is an organic garden, if we do our job well, things will grow. The growth is not dependent on us as pastor/gardener, but rather, through our actions we either help or hurt. The growth comes from God.
The organic nature of it is that we realize the best way to let things grow is to let them take the shape they will take and grow at the rate they will grow. We recognize that the introduction of foreign elements (in the form of programs nurtured and developed in settings wildly different than our own) may not be the most helpful thing for us in the long run. We resist the temptation to (artificially) accelerate growth or control it. We plant, we water... we wait.
But what about weeds? What about pests?
It seems as though one of the principles of organic gardening is that doing too much is just as bad as doing too little. When pests arise, you do something... but you resist measures which may hurt as much as they help (pesticides, for example). The plant is useless if, though pest-free, it becomes poison.
I've seen some churches that become ruthlessly concerned about "pests" and become very poison in the process...
Add to this Jesus' words in Matthew 13: "Here is another story Jesus told: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. But that night as everyone slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat. When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew. The farmer's servants came and told him, `Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds!'
" `An enemy has done it!' the farmer exclaimed.
" `Shall we pull out the weeds?' they asked.
"He replied, `No, you'll hurt the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds and burn them and to put the wheat in the barn.' "
Jesus went on to give an eschatological meaning to this parable, so we don't want to take it too far...
But I guess I am beginning to synthesize all this in this way:
As one of those entrusted with tending this particular garden, I want to
1. be aware of and be constantly assessing the health of the garden. Does it need more water? More sun? What is out of balance that needs to be adjusted? And is there a healthy, organic way to accomplish that balance?
2. I want to avoid overly harsh measures which may seem to help in the short run, but in the long run damage the health of the whole system.
3. There's a difference between weeds and wolves.
gotta do more work on sermon/hit a couple of meetings right now. Anyone want to comment on the difference between weeds and wolves? :)
Am I getting totally off base here?
I know what "protecting the flock" looked like in my past. It involved separating out those who didn't toe the doctrinal line, regardless of how secondary or tertiary the issue was. It generally involved shooting the wounded. It was about drawing in and out, lines and boxes...
In this new emerging church context, where we are attempting to do church organically, what does that look like?
I know for us, as we have progressed as a community, we have tried to see things (particularly the community itself) less as a bounded set (you are either in or out) and more as a centered set (you are either moving closer to the center, which is Christ, or you are moving farther and farther away).
We have attempted to define little doctrinally other than the essentials of the faith- creedal Christian orthodoxy is important to us. Your stand on the end times is not.Having an opinion on secondary and tertiary matters where there is a wide range of Christian thought is fine. Insisting that everyone else share it is not.
We have made room for people to ask questions and process issues without being handed prepackaged answers. We have tried to recognize that asking another question in return, helping someone to take the next step towards discovering the answer on their own may, in the long run, end up being more valuable than simply handing them the answer.
So, what place "protecting the flock?" With all this room for dissent and doubt, where does Paul's admonition (there's a great church word!) to "...beware! Be sure that you feed and shepherd God's flock--his church, purchased with his blood--over whom the Holy Spirit has appointed you as elders," come in? He says further, "I know full well that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock."
A few observations...
i think multiple metaphors are allowed. I like the biblical metaphor of shepherd. One I've been playing with in my mind a bit is pastor as gardener (e.g. 1 Cor 3:5-9)
If the church is an organic garden, if we do our job well, things will grow. The growth is not dependent on us as pastor/gardener, but rather, through our actions we either help or hurt. The growth comes from God.
The organic nature of it is that we realize the best way to let things grow is to let them take the shape they will take and grow at the rate they will grow. We recognize that the introduction of foreign elements (in the form of programs nurtured and developed in settings wildly different than our own) may not be the most helpful thing for us in the long run. We resist the temptation to (artificially) accelerate growth or control it. We plant, we water... we wait.
But what about weeds? What about pests?
It seems as though one of the principles of organic gardening is that doing too much is just as bad as doing too little. When pests arise, you do something... but you resist measures which may hurt as much as they help (pesticides, for example). The plant is useless if, though pest-free, it becomes poison.
I've seen some churches that become ruthlessly concerned about "pests" and become very poison in the process...
Add to this Jesus' words in Matthew 13: "Here is another story Jesus told: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. But that night as everyone slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat. When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew. The farmer's servants came and told him, `Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds!'
" `An enemy has done it!' the farmer exclaimed.
" `Shall we pull out the weeds?' they asked.
"He replied, `No, you'll hurt the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds and burn them and to put the wheat in the barn.' "
Jesus went on to give an eschatological meaning to this parable, so we don't want to take it too far...
But I guess I am beginning to synthesize all this in this way:
As one of those entrusted with tending this particular garden, I want to
1. be aware of and be constantly assessing the health of the garden. Does it need more water? More sun? What is out of balance that needs to be adjusted? And is there a healthy, organic way to accomplish that balance?
2. I want to avoid overly harsh measures which may seem to help in the short run, but in the long run damage the health of the whole system.
3. There's a difference between weeds and wolves.
gotta do more work on sermon/hit a couple of meetings right now. Anyone want to comment on the difference between weeds and wolves? :)
Am I getting totally off base here?
7 Comments:
i use to think that either a person was a weed OR a stalk of wheat... but all of us consist of BOTH... weed and wheat... weeds can actually be conducive to growth (interesting article: http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/weeds/Weeds6.html)... i think it's also interesting that in the farming world pre-planting, pre-emergence, and post-emergence weeds are dealt with differently... to me, it seems weeds are an annoying but necessary part of growing... wolves on the other hand are just hungry and will devour and end all growth... i don't know... i'm not sure i'm making any sense... but those are just some simple thoughts...
On wolf vs weed, I think there's a time factor involved. With weeds there's a longer time to ponder and think up the best way. With wolves, you must act quickly--with pre-pondered actions--or some sheep will be harmed. Unfortunately, it is not so easy to tell them apart, for the persons of whom these are metaphors have neither fur nor phytochemicals to clue us in. Maybe some looks in history will give us some identification clues?
very cool insights. thanks!
Anyone else- I'll have to get back to this tomorrow morning... elders tonight!
sorry, it's taking me awhile to get this html code down... here's the link (hope this works) to the article i mentioned previously... http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/weeds/Weeds6.html
Weeds vs wolves: I tend to disagree with weeds as "all of us consist(ing) of BOTH weed and wheat" because of how the Jesus talks about them in the parable. It's clear that they are in line with the sheep and goats metaphor also unsed in eschatological parables.
As far as a difference, I think you're grabbing at straws a little- trying to make the parable fit where it doesn't. BUT, your conversation does bring up something to look at all the same:
At times, protecting the flock means correction- someone falls into sin and we need to lovingly surround them and walk them through some healing. At other times, protection means riddance- people who have no desire to see God's kingdom come and are there to cause trouble. This is all in theory as I'm about to start planting a church, so take it as such. I don't think this totally falls with weeds vs wolves, but this came to mind.
I hear ya' drew...
I guess the reason I brought that Jesus story up was to get at that point you made- that we have different responses to different challenges within the community.
I think you summarized it well...
Maybe you could email me about some specific (not people-specific, but situation-spec) wolves and weeds you're dealing with. I'd be curious to know what has been invading, if you're OK with that.
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