The case for part time pastors
I think churches need think about moving away from the "full-time pastor" model and moving towards a collaborative venture of several part-time pastors or leaders who jointly lead.
Pastoring as a “career”
I don’t think pastoring should be seen as a “career”. In a career we work to be promoted and to achieve pay rises or bonuses. This mind set is entirely inappropriate in a church.
Of course pastoring can be made into a career, I have seen it done.
The senior pastor has the priority KPI (Key Performance Indicator) of achieving numbers at services. When the numbers are achieved a pay rise may be justified.
“Bums on seats” are an easy marker for success in a church, easily counted, easily put into a spreadsheet and easy to point to as visible evidence.
I visited a church and friend told me (in all seriousness) that although the numbers had only increased slightly they were now getting a “better class” of person.
The better class were tithing more, members were more middle to upper class and the poor had gone elsewhere. Finances in the church were doing better.
The pressure is on
When pastoring is a career, with KPI’s relating to numbers or finances there is huge pressure for the pastor to meet these KPI’s. The church runs the risk of being driven by these goals, which in turn can conflict with the goals of spiritual growth in individuals or meeting community needs.
A career motivation encourages us to start seeing people that give regularly as more desirable, more useful and more the “right type” of person, in direct contradiction to Jesus teaching in James chapter 2 where he talks of a rich man being given a good seat and a poor one a poor seat.
Quality not quantity
Numbers are easily measurable, the quantity of people in a church and the quantity of money is easy to see.
But i think the true measure of a churches value is in the quality of its interactions.
When it ministers to the community, do those community members feel Jesus love?
When a church shares the gospel, do the receivers get a sense of the greatness of Gods mercy and love or just feel judged?
Is the teaching transforming lives?
None of these things are easily measureable, and could easily lead to a career pastor feeling discouraged by the quantity measures, even while excelling in quality aspects.
When a pastor applies quantitative measures of success to a church often the caring for people aspect suffers.
But a part time pastor with a part time career outside of the church would have a chance to meet quantitative measures in a productive way.
Benefits
Pastors would benefit through;
Interacting in a non-churched workplace on a daily basis, ensuring they keep up with social norms and understand what non-churched people look like (rather than the idea in their heads which often does not match reality)
Having out of church opportunities to achieve success, meet goals and fill the emotional needs that work often meets rather than depending solely on church
Being less financially dependent on the church and less emotionally involved with the church finances
Church would benefit through;
Having several different pastors/leaders giftings and talents at work.
Having different points of view and leaders working together with different strengths and focuses rather than a sole leadership position.
Holidays and breaks having less impact as several pastors could cover each other
Maybe I am being naïve and idealistic, but I think there is a case for part time pastors. What do you think?
KG
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