The Gnostic Pastor

At just about every seminary, emphasis is placed upon the holistic development of the student, not only intellectually, but also spiritually. Some would refer to this as the maturity of both head and heart. The concept of holistic development is a very good thing. However, if often excludes one area that is very important – the physicality of human beings. We do a terrific job of furthering growth in the academic realm and also in our spiritual journeys. Nevertheless, our flesh is ignored.

Gnostics believe in the Platonic dualism that spirit is good and matter or flesh is bad. Thus, they sought to unite with the spiritual realm and leave the human realm behind. We may be going down a similar path with pastors. In all the seminary catalogs that I scoured while contemplating seminary, I did not find one that offered a course on health or nutrition. You may be objecting thinking that seminary is not the place for such classes to take place. But, if we truly are seeking to develop holistic pastors, we must acknowledge the physical side of pastors. Sadly, very few people follow the food pyramid, myself included. Pastors also have a tendency to eat out often with parishioners. Eating out is not necessarily bad, but healthy choices must be made. Essentially, we need to re-educate pastors how to eat healthy and to take care of their bodies physically. Stress and some other emotions are tied to the foods that we eat (desserts being an example). Also, sadly, many pastors suffer heart attacks. I say we need to be preemptive in combating future health problems by teaching pastors how to care for their bodies. If anything is neglected in seminary, it is not the head or heart, but rather the body. And to be blunt, if the body stops working, it really doesn’t matter how developed the head or heart have become.

I would like to see classes in seminary on health and nutrition. We must learn how to take care of our bodies through healthy eating and exercise. I think it’s vital to long-term sustainability for pastors. If we seek to be holistic, not only in word, the physical aspect of people must be addressed.

The Introverted Pastor

Here at seminary, one of the first requirements they have for you is to take a personality tests of sorts. The one I took is called the Birkman Method, and instead of evaluating the person through psychological analysis, they do on the basis of sociology. The results were returned this past week and my spiritual formation group discussed all our results. I guess there was nothing that surprised me very much. But here are the two things I am going to share with you which you may already know about me. First, I like being by myself. I am very independent and if I don’t have time to myself then I tend to get impatient. Second, I scored very low in persuasion. This equates to me being a poor salesperson. I strongly dislike trying to argue with somebody just so they will see things the way I do. Moreover, I strongly dislike when people shove their viewpoint down my throat. Persuasion carries such negative connotations for me.

This all brings me to say that I will not be a typical pastor. No, I am not extroverted in the least and no, I will not incessantly badger somebody for not coming to church or agreeing with theology. I’m going to be a strange pastor. Sometimes, when you are around a bunch of pastors, it’s hard for them to be quiet and listen. I don’t think I will have that problem. However, because I tend to remain reserved, I will have a problem when people expect me to speak and I don’t. Or when people will expect me to be at every group gathering of the church. To be honest, that’s draining. When I preach and then talk to everybody at the back of the sanctuary after the service, I’m exhausted. I usually go home those days and take a nap. I find social gatherings very draining and yet, as a pastor, those are the places I find myself. I must engage in small talk. I must go to this child’s music concert or the social hour after the service. Or I must meet new people with connections with the church. This is a struggle for me . . . I would much rather keep to myself. I guess this is my cross to bear. And it’s something I’m working on. Constantly. I hope someday it gets easier for me. Until then, please ignore the awkward silences that come with my personality. And through this all, may God be shown through my weakness.

Revitalizing Church

I’m in the midst of, essentially, a church revitalization project. My mind is often thinking about the current church and church structure as we know it and the future of the church. The question that I often receive from others is “Why?” Typically, they want to know why I just don’t start from scratch or just wait until the current congregation dies off (harsh, yes, but true). One friend even told me that I need to exterminate the current congregation and start anew (a bit harsher still). So here is some organization to those thoughts.

1) The current church structure as we know it wants to get younger (in average age) but may not be willing to make necessary changes in order to do that.

2) For new people coming to Denver, especially people my age, this church is not a way to get connected with people their age. For grandfather and grandmother figures yes, but for a friend to go out on a Friday night, no.

3) Maybe an intermediate community should be started. This community would be distinct from the current church, worship in a different manner, and reach out to younger people. This could be a very intentional community with the goal of embodying the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I use the term intermediate because I would hope that some would join the current church for worship on Sunday mornings and get acquainted with them in that way. But I also realize that it makes some people very uncomfortable. If anything, the hope would be that this intermediate community would form the basis for the future ministry of the church.

4) How can young and old congregations grow and learn together without being integrated? Can two congregations in the same church still have healthy interactions with one another and still remain two separate worshiping communities? In this motif, the young is still able to learn from the old, and the old is still able to learn from the young. Maybe we gather for monthly potlucks together. Or we share a social hour together.

5) At what point do we just need to allow churches to die?