What is a church, anyway?
Can a church get by without a pastor?
According to Augsburg Confession article 5, God gave the preaching office (that is, provided the Gospel and sacraments) so that the Holy Spirit could work through the Word to bring people to faith. According to article 7, we recognize the church by her marks (the Gospel being preached and the sacraments being administered).
So churches need pastors. Of course, there will be times when a church goes without a pastor for a short time. Death takes away pastors. Occasionally a pastor will move to a different congregation. But overall, churches need pastors -- wouldn't you say?
So would it make sense for someone to advise that a church can survive financially only if they get rid of their pastor? How can a church survive without a pastor?
And maybe these ruminations had some effect on today's earlier ruminations regarding the history lessons about those Pilgrims who were running away from the Office of the Ministry (among other gifts ordained by God).
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A Church without a pastor is a Church where something essential is lacking. A Church with a hole right at its heart. For the Office that sustains the Church stands vacant.
ReplyDeleteThe constitution of our parish says it very clearly. The very first purpose of the congregation's existence is to "establish and maintain the office of the holy ministry in our midst for the salvation of our souls."
I was a member of a church that was vacant for several years. Even now, 2+ years after receiving a Pastor, it is still trying to emerge from the "surival mode" it had to move into in its vacancy. Vacancy is tough, its moves the time and energy of the members away from evangelism, new opportunities, etc.
ReplyDeleteRitewinger, I know what you mean about how being in a vacancy situation can slow down the activities of a congregation.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, what is even more important is what the members are receiving. When a congregation doesn't have a pastor, it's like children without a father; it's like children with a perpetual babysitter. Is the babysitter really in charge? Is he a stand-in? For whom is he standing in? How are things done around here? Who decides? Does the babysitter love the children like the father does? Children need fathers. Congregations need pastors.
I like what Pr Weedon wrote about their constitution. The whole point of Jesus' giving the office of the ministry is for our salvation. When an advisor suggests that the "only way a congregation could survive" is to quit spending so much money for a pastor, a person has to wonder what the point of having a congregation IS, if not to have a pastor. Why would a congregation want to have money if the only way to do that were to let go of her pastor? Why exist at all if we have to exist without a pastor? In other words, what is the point of church if the ministry of word & sacrament is considered optional there? If the ministry is something we can manage without, then why not just have the church become "Friends of the Library" or the Elks or a booster club for a sports team?