Helensvale Baptist Church

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A pastor's career path??

Filed Under:  Matt's Blog   —   8th Apr, 2011

I have regularly heard over the years of churches that regularly see themselves as “sending bases”: they raise up youth and young adults to follow the Lord Jesus and serve him in ministries in the church. Some of these young adults then sense God’s touch to go to Bible College and prepare for vocational ministry. Upon completion, or during study, they leave their home church to serve at another church somewhere. It is celebrated as a “sending out”, and in one sense it certainly is. However, as it seems more the 'norm' of church practise of leadership development than the exception, perhaps one of the unsaid reasons for this is also that the finance is not there for the home church to support the new vocational worker.

Now there is nothing wrong with sending people out into gospel ministry – not only do needy churches and areas of the world need vocational workers, but the Bible clearly speaks and describes the church, among other things, as a sending agency (Matt 28:18-20, Acts 13:1-4). However, there is another issue besides the struggle of finance: our structures of vocational ministry, and local church based ministry in particular, point people to one predominant expression of vocational ministry: the traditional pastor. I remember at College being told, or getting the implied message, about the “pastoral career path”, which went something like youth pastor – associate pastor – solo pastor in the country – solo pastor in the suburbs – senior pastor of a small team in a suburban church – senior pastor of a big team in a big suburban church (then the top of the pile - denominational leadership). Some may follow this path and it may be God's way for them. However, when this is the ONLY development path for pastors it can raise more difficulties than it resolves. Not only does this sort of implied, systemic career path for pastors promote the human centred pride I wrote about of in previous blogs in this series, it also is a narrow expression of vocational ministry. It can force those who sense God’s hand toward vocational pastoral ministry into ministry positions that have them like square pegs in round holes.

A multi-site church can go some way to go against this the following ways;

As I outlined in earlier blogs in this series, the multi-site church structure can promote a humble Christ-centred framework for ministry development. If this is reflected in relationships and ministry, this heart will encourage people to trust the Lord Jesus more, and have an attitude to serve others first. This can enhance both a greater diversity in pastoral teams and yet also a unified impact.

Secondly, the multi-site structure, by providing a greater variety of potential places in which men and women can serve in vocational ministry, releases people from within the church to serve the church and the wider community rather than always presuming the only way ahead is to be sent off to a different church or place: it provides an appropriate development pathway for pastors from within. This “specialisation” of pastoral work has been growing in recent decades as team ministry has increased in priority and practise in churches, but the multi-site structure enlarges the possibility of it even further.

Related to this, is the different pastoral roles the multi-site church can provide for people. Providing alternatives to the traditional career path for pastors, alongside the spread of leadership responsibility across a wider church base, means there are a greater variety of options for pastoral focus. For example, a campus pastor role fits people who preach well, have a pastoral heart, but have no desire to initiate the provision of visionary or directional leadership, or the structures and processes required to promote such things. Other potential positions could involve coaches for small group leaders, pastoral visitation team leaders and community oriented pastoral positions. More pulpits provides both more opportunities for more preachers, and yet also the scope for not promoting the pressure that comes from one preaching spot which can make it hard to provide opportunities for early or developing preachers or those who aren’t “top shelf” preachers but who should still preach at times.

The multi-site structure also provides a greater financial base to support this widened potential for vocational ministry. Through sharing resources and finance, more campuses can support the growing pastors who the Lord can release to serve them in varying capacities. Further, by stopping the duplication of some activities such as administrative support and structures of financial transparency and accountability, excess funds can be released into supporting vocational pastors all the more.

And finally, the multi-site church puts team ministry on the agenda at an even deeper level which supports a variety of people to serve in their unique capacities and gifts. When team is practised in a humble, Christ-honouring and other people oriented way, people can feel better supported, coached and therefore be prepared to take the risks required for God-centred missional ministry leadership. But I am getting ahead of myself …