Comments on: Titles, Authority and Respect…REALLY?

By: Kate

Kate — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:27:10 +0000

Interesting topic…Church hierarchy was my senior thesis topic (how the modern church structure domesticated Jesus)

1. I’m not quite sure it’s healthy for anyone to have the title of pastor. I don’t think Jesus came to create clergy and laity, the ministers and the ministered (after all, sheep don’t grow into shepherds). It kind of turns the body of christ from a body to one big mouth with tons of teeny little ears. Each person is to share their gifts and insights.
2. We are not to be people of honorific title and status. “You are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher and you are all brothers. And call no one your ‘father’ on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Mt 23:10).”
3. Why don’t we spend more time honoring the woman who came out of prostitution or the guy who turned from drugs instead of honoring the man who got a MDiv (after all, isn’t that, to some extent, sociopolitically determined)? Jesus honored the shamed and shamed the honored, perhaps we should follow in those footsteps (“On the contrary, those members that seem to be weaker are essential, and those members we consider less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our unpresentable members are clothed with dignity, but our presentable members do not need this.”) Our PhD’s and MDivs don’t need titles.
4. Jesus desacralized worship (Jn 4:31-24). The whole world is holy ground, not merely church property. Sacraments lose their edge when covered in sacerdotalism and ritualism. Jesus died to tear the curtain…we don’t need a mediator anymore, we need community.
5. I’m pretty sure the title of pastor is somewhat unhealthy to the pastor figure as well. One person, or even a few, were not made to have that much power and that much responsibility. It’s efficient, yes, but that does not make it orthodox.
6. However, I do believe certain people are obviously gifted in leadership, and through their lives of service, they earn the authority to speak to others. This is a relational title, however, not one earned through educational and charismatic requirements. We need pastors and elders (relationally) to disciple and mentor younger believers, not to run our church business.

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:17:25 +0000

Stoops really knows what he’s talking about!!! THE MAN!!

By: Stoops

Stoops — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 23:05:54 +0000

Goodness…sometimes it really bothers me that we are raising a new generation of church leaders who feel entitled to respect. Just because we can play dress-up like princesses and wizards doesn’t mean that anyone should treat us as princesses and wizards. Here are a few of my additional issues with the article.
1) The church was a very different place in 1960, where pastors would wear there collars everywhere (except, maybe on the baseball field). Even as the author references a school or military environment, we should recognize that these environments are culturally determined. What was “respect” in one environment, might not be “respect” in another.
2) I don’t see Paul ever saying “Silas and Timothy, call me pastor!” He doesn’t even do that to the Corinthians who gave him major headaches. Now, Paul did want respect in order to teach them and minister to them, but he believed that his authority came from the divine origin of his message and his call, and his unwavering response, even leading him to the chains of imprisonment.
3) The author attempts, unsuccessfully in my opinion, to link the title of “pastor” with respect, utilizing the examples of the school and military. So if someone calls me Michael and not Pastor Michael do they automatically not respect me? I’ve heard many a disrespectful comment made about the “Pastor” or about “Father so-and-so.” Titles don’t equal respect.
4) Church is “a holy place.” Where this line was coming from made me want to rend my garments. It comes from this defunct and deficient reasoning that separates the sacred and the common. If we declare that Jesus is Lord over all things, all people, all nations, then we cannot continue to box him into only living in the church. All this encourages is hypocrisy, because Christians won’t do certain things in a sanctuary, but the moment they are outside, their behavior is indistinguishable from the world.
5) “Our pastor demanded it, and he deserved it.” A pastor should demand respect; there is no disagreement on that point. Hebrews 13:7 (I’m using those pesky Scriptures again; something our author doesn’t do, by the way) speaks to us of respecting our leaders in the faith, why? Because of “the outcome of their way of life,” and for this they should be “imitated” just as Paul exhorts new Christians to follow his lead in the faith. Pastors should be far more concerned about the “outcome of their way of life” than a title!