Pastoral "Calls"

BRADLEY BERGFALK has been ruminating on some of the problems that our colleagues in pastoral ministry are facing -- lots of conflict and misunderstanding with some congregations.

I suspect that many of these issues could be more easily solved with the realization that a pastor is not an employee of the congregation. He or she is not a hiree. The pastor is called by the congregation -- but the call is to work in the context of that congregation, not for the congregation.

For example, I am not an employee of Cornerstone Covenant Church -- even though I have been for the last 10 years (as of this month) the lead pastor of the congregation. I do not work for them. (Even the IRS recognizes this when they treat clergy as "self-employed" individuals.) I work among them and in the church's mission field -- but not for them (as commonly understood in the business environment of America).

This doesn't mean that the pastor operates without accountability. Pastors are accountable on many levels -- to the ministerium of which they are a part, to their bishop or superintendent, and to God. Associates and assistants will have additional direct accountability to the pastor under whom they serve. And indeed, in our system, a congregation can withdraw a call if they feel that their partnership with the pastor isn't working out.

Of course, a wise pastor quickly figures out that he or she has to work with the congregation and the leadership team of which he or she is a part. However, the pastor is not an employee of that congregation and as Brad put it, is not "beholden exclusively to their whims and wishes."

There is a level of prophetic independence that the church has historically worked hard to preserve. And while the pastor values the input of the congregation and other leaders, he or she doesn't allow them to set the pastor's schedule or micromange toward what they consider to be pastoral productivity or best pastoral practices.

The differences are often subtle but they need to be preserved.