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Scottish Presbyterians are remarkably anti-Roman Catholic. They avoid anything that even hints of Catholicism, so worship services tend to be incredibly minimalistic (so as not to be confused with Catholic liturgy). Even though some of the most conservative Presbyterians adhere vehemently to the Regulative Principle, the Lord’s Prayer is not recited in church, because written prayers are ‘Romish’.

Yet for all their anti-Catholic sentiments, Scottish Presbyterians, in general, are surprisingly Catholic when it comes to one important area: the Priesthood of All Believers. The Priesthood of All Believers is one of the central tenents of the Protestant Reformation. Whereas the Roman Catholic Church said (and still says) that ‘ordinary’ Christians need a priest to intercede between God and man, Luther, Calvin and their followers affirmed that Jesus Christ is the great High Priest through whom we have direct access to God. All who believe in Christ, therefore, are priests, since we are hidden in Christ. The pastor of a church, therefore, is not closer to God than the members of the congregation; he simply has a special role to play in the life of the church. Yet many Christians here have put ‘the minister’ on a pedestal, believing (at least in practice) that ‘the minister’ is better able to perform a number of functions which should truly be the responsibility of every Christian.

What is the point of all this, you ask? The point is that this is not merely an idiosyncracy common to a group of people in a country that most American Christians would have a hard time pointing out on a map. This is a problem that, I believe, is also infecting churches in the US. Sure, we would never say that pastors are better Christians than anyone else who believes in Jesus. Yet many pastors have become more than just pastors–they have become celeberties. If you need proof, just look at what happens when a well-known pastor leaves a church. Much of what attracts us to a church is not so much the ministry of the church itself, but the charismatic leader at the helm. When the pastor leaves, all chaos breaks out. Instead of waiting for the dust to settle, groups form and people decide to follow charismatic-leader-man wherever he lands next.

There are, of course, several problems with this. First, it indicates that we are not serious about the fellowship and community in our churches. Many of us have settled for a church with community in the name instead of having community in the church itself. But as members of the Body of Christ, we have a commitment to the local church. We are members of the church, not of the pastor’s fan club. Sure, we may have been attracted to a church because the pastor preached biblical sermons. But once we have joined a church we have a commitment to that church, come what may. If the pastor leaves we need to trust that the God who brought Bible-Preacher #1 will bring Bible-Preacher #2. But we can’t just bail on the rest of the Body of Christ because charismatic-leader-guy is moving.

Secondly, this problem puts too much attention on pastors as individuals. There are few celebrities who don’t know that they are celebrities, and there are few celebrities who don’t act like they are celebrities. When a pastor becomes a celebrity, he starts acting like one–he stops shepherding souls and starts booking speaking engagements and book-signings. He expects people to show up and listen to him. He begins to believe that he has something important to say and basis his own worth on the success of his message. John Piper, in his book Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, says ‘We pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry. . . professionalism has nothing to do with the essence and heart of the Christian ministry. The more professional we long to be, the more spiritual death we will leave in our wake. For there is no professional childlikeness, there is no professional tenderheartedness. There is no professional panting after God.’

I think about sums it up. I recently heard a very encouraging story about a pastor of a very large church. Every Sunday, as he is getting into the pulpit to preach to a couple thousand people, he says to the congregation, ‘you are not my righteousness’. Now he doesn’t say this so that everyone can hear him. But he does it to remind himself that preaching to thousands of people is not the goal towards which all pastors strive, and which a talented few attain. He does it to remind himself that even if he preaches the worst sermon of his life, he is righteous in the sight of God because of Jesus. This is the gospel message, and it is antithetical to the cult of celebrity. For both celebrities and those who follow them have missed the boat. We are the church, the people of God, and we exist because of the grace of Christ. In him there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither celebrity nor groupie.

This entry was posted by Bryce on Friday, April 29th, 2005 at 10:59 am. This entry was tagged with Theology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.