A nice little article on pastors who aren't pastoral, on pastors who are caught up with the wrong things in the ministry. Click to read it all.
Here are some highlights:
Hospital visits are considered a chore for some minion to do. Unless, of course, the dying happens to be someone of significance. Yes. You can read that as someone of material means.
Funerals? Everybody knows preachers don't have time for that. "Let the dead bury the dead" is their motto.
Wednesday night visitations? What era did you grow up in? These preachers don't have time to make house calls. And if you want to visit with them, you'd be better off heading down to the local coffee shop than to the church office.
Better yet, just Twitter them. Short conversations are best anyhow. Many of them are ADD and their listening skills haven't improved much since they were in first-grade.
They spend more time studying the latest in market trends and reading Malcolm Gladwell than they do reading Scriptures and the signs of the times.
Every single one of them is writing a book, though they can't explain the difference between an adjective and an adverb.
They don't know the names of the people who live four houses over from them, but twice a year they travel to Africa to minister to the hurting.
Because there isn't enough of them to go around, they are developing a video series that can be downloaded to your iPad or iPhone. This is considered the latest form of fellowship.
Are the days gone when pastors watched you grow up, married you off, watched your children grow up, buried your mama and daddy and then reminisced with you over a cup of coffee on the front porch after a dinner that included peach pie?
6 comments:
You didn't mention Pastors with blogs.
Excellent post.
Pastor Kevin Jud LCMS Ohio
Dear Pastor -
I think Pastor Alms was just quoting the article... I, for one, appreciate his blog postings.
On a separate note,
this seems like this is another reason to avoid the "mega-church" model.
- Tim
@Kevin ... ha, ha. Indeed, blogs can easily distract rather than add to what we are supposed to do. No doubt.
@Tim ... it was a quote. And the article is aimed I think at the mega church model.
The author of the article (Karen Spears Zacharias) a book entitled: Will Jesus Buy Me a Double-Wide?: ('Cause I Need More Room for My Plasma TV).
I will have to read that one!
I agree that the art of spiritual care/curing souls/'seelsorge' is not experiencing any kind of renaissance among many clergy today, even within our own circles (though I suspect we fare better than others because of the rigor of our seminary training). These technological marvels which are supposed to enhance our 'connectedness' have actually contributed to pastoral neglect.
Now, I don't mean to come off as being defensive or anything, because I agree with the overall premise the author makes, but I am one of these guys with a smartphone who updates twitter and talks on facebook with regularity. I text with the people I serve and check & respond to email on the go. My call is to a campus ministry, however, and I find these social media to be nearly indispensable tools in keeping up with the students I serve. I'd like to think I'd use them less if I were in a more traditional parish setting (though I do use them with the teenage youth group as well).
There must be a balance to this, but ultimately the Gospel we preach is more than a message (otherwise Twitter and Facebook and billboards and TV commercials would be the very best means of reaching the masses); the Gospel is a Man. Eventually, the connection must be made between humanity and the Man Jesus, and that ultimately happens in the Divine Service. I guess I would say I'm in support of utilizing these various means of artificial connectedness (isn't it sad that 'connectedness' doesn't even trip off the spellcheck anymore?) insofar as they serve to bring about the real connection of people with the Man through His ministry in the church. Outside of that, however, it's just vanity.
@ Pastor Bakker. I think the article was skewering an attitude not technology. Technology as you say has its place.
@Tim & @Paul.
Paul caught the attempt at humor. I always find it disturbing when pastors say they "don't do shut-in visits" or "I'm not good with the youth".
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