Help Wanted
(read: Can you keep us awake while you are talking?)
(read: Are you up to date on the latest trends, or one of those scholar-types?)
(read: Do we need to work around your prison's weekend release program to have you candidate?)
In some pastor candidating processes, this would be an exhaustive interview. (I was once offered a pastoring position over the phone, having never met a person from the church, nor conducting any kind of interview. I was simply told it was mine for the taking, or they would start calling other names on their list...almost like those vacation packages you get calls about and have to decide right then and there.)
But a pastoral search should be a much more intensive process. Whether searching for a senior pastor or an associate position for a church, this article is a must read.
posted by danny2 @ 1:20 PM
15 Comments:
At 2:12 PM,
Anonymous said…
Is it really possible to discern whether or not a pastoral candidate meets the Biblical qualifications through the course of an interview? even several detailed interviews?
It seems to me that in the biblical pattern, leaders were always chosen from among members of the churches, men whose lives the people would have had extended opportunity to observe and evaluate.
How can we possibly square the churches' present practices with the examples and the clear teaching of Scripture on these matters? How far have we come from the biblical pattern when stories like the telephone interview have become relatively commonplace?
I think it's time that churches begin to take a much closer look at the biblical teaching on this issue. There are few more things more important to the life of a church than her leadership, and few things in the modern church that are handled more clumsily.
At 2:43 PM,
jason said…
Are we hiring someone that I wasn't told about? Am I being replaced?
At 3:01 PM,
danny2 said…
don't forget though brad, the Scriptures do have instances where Paul tells a church to receive a man as their pastor.
timothy was not from ephesus.
i do agree though, the current candidating process is terribly flawed. i talked to a pastor the other day who was called as a reference for another pastor. frankly, he did not give the man a favorable review, yet the church's response was "thank you" and that they look forward to extending a call to this man!
now what was the point of that reference check?
i think this is an area where churches can cooperate together. you shouldn't (nor can't) hire a man out of a vacuum, so we should lean on other churches to be honest with us and share the credibility of his character.
the article was not intended to be all sufficient for hiring, but i think it at least would get churches farther along where they need to be during an interview process.
(but i would love to hire and send out pastors from within our fellowship)
At 3:02 PM,
danny2 said…
jason,
no way! i think our church is very pleased with our orange and spotty pastors!
At 9:07 PM,
danny2 said…
(by within our fellowship i meant our local congregation...i probably should have been clearer about that)
At 9:22 PM,
Anonymous said…
Yeah, Timothy is something of a puzzle to me. I guess I've always understood him as more of an apostolic representative (establishing churches and appointing elders)than as the pastor of the Ephesians. Even so, I think I would receive an unknown man as a pastor who had an apostolic endorsement.
Actually, a lot of the issues in this subject seem to be related to one's view of pastors and elders. I have yet to see a satisfactory biblical basis for a distinction between the two, at least a distinction that would warrant one being chosen from among the people and the other being hired like a new CEO.
At 8:39 PM,
danny2 said…
i don't know that there is any indication that paul's sending men to pastor churches (he does it through out) and apollos appears to have come to ephesus and then ministered in corinth without any commissioning from an apostle.
therefore, i don't think it's safe to say having a man shepherd a fellowship outside of the church he grew up is an anomoly.
timothy actually seems to be the norm.
At 9:13 PM,
danny2 said…
typed too fast and didn't make sense. first line should say:
i don't know timothy was rare, for there is indication that paul sent men to pastor churches (he does it through out).
yet i wouldn't say that is simply an apostolic thing, for apollos...
(sorry, was in a rush to type because i was excited about jonah)
At 9:50 PM,
Anonymous said…
I guess I'm not entirely convinced that either Timothy or Apollos were what we in modern Christendom would style "pastors".
Any thoughts on the pastor/elder distinction?
Yes, Jonah, and the insightful connection you've noted, are pretty exciting.
At 10:42 PM,
Anonymous said…
Some thoughts regarding Timothy, Apollos, Titus, etc. not being the same as "pastors." I may be assuming too much by lumping these three together, but bear with me.
Titus had the authority to appoint elders in multiple cities.
Timothy is specifically identified by Paul as being "an evangelist" an office that Paul distinguishes from that of pastor/teacher.
Apollos appears to be more of an itinerant preacher, not connected to any particular congregation.
I'm not entirely sure of the full significance of these facts, but they seem to suggest something much different than the pattern to which we are accustomed. A peculiarity of the apostolic age, perhaps? If so, how might the New Testament pattern translate into the present period?
At 1:33 PM,
Gary Underwood said…
Can't believe Shannon Brown fell to 25. Go Cavs!
At 1:50 PM,
danny2 said…
timothy is called to do the "work of an evangelist" but is many more times called to do the work of a shepherd throughout the books...thus the designation "pastoral epistles."
history also seems to show that even back at the time of augustine (after apostolic era, but certainly not influenced by western thought to the level we are) that men typically shepherded flocks other than the one they were raised.
i'd love to raise up shepherds from within out Body that serve our Body, and i do see that is preferable...but i can find nothing to suggest the other way is wrong or harmful in any way.
At 4:30 PM,
Anonymous said…
I suppose I've been overstating my case somewhat for the sake of argument. I don't really mean to say that there's anything inherently wrong with electing a pastor from outside a congregation. And if you're gong to cite Augustine, I guess I'll just have to concede your point. Can I be bishop?
At 6:48 PM,
Anonymous said…
Of course I meant "going" to cite Augustine
At 10:02 AM,
Gary Underwood said…
test post
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