Pastor's Blog

Pastor Bob,

I attend Trinity Assembly of God in PA. I have a Christian Blog topsite found at http://christianblog.colossians2.com if you would like to be listed.

Mark Strohm

Hmmm... As usual, I am a "Yes, but" on this one. I agree in large measure with many of the things he wrote, but to some degree I think he was slogging away at a straw man. "Pastor as CEO" is such an easy target, but how many pastors in any church think of themselves in these terms? Most would be thrilled with more participation from their congregations.

Honestly, my experience with pastors (before becoming one) was primarily pastors who saw themselves as CEO (or benevolent dictator) and appeared to like it that way. I do think that trend is changing, but I don't think it's fair to call it a straw man.

BTW, Fitch approvingly cites the "fivefold ministry" paradigm (Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers). Favorably comparing it to the "Pastor as CEO" model neatly evades the real exegetical questions having to do with what Apostles, Prophets, and Evangelists really are, whether any or all of them are present-day giftings/ministries/roles, and whether "Pastor and Teacher" refer to two separate functions or one.

True, he doesn't go into detail on the APEPT model although he does reference the Frost & Hirsch book, which I assume goes into more detail. I'd be interested to see how they handle the difficulties you've mentioned. A review of the book on Amazon.com says they outline it like this:

entrepreneur/innovator - the apostle
questioner - the prophet
recruiter - the evangelist
humanizer - the pastor
systematizer - the teacher

Interesting. Seems reasonable, but we don't really have much (or any, really) information from scripture on the definitions of these offices so it's all guesswork anyway.

It's probably fair to view megachurch pastors by the CEO model, but only a tiny percentage of pastors are megachurch pastors. It's also probably fair to say that most pastors like the preaching role and view themselves as the exclusive preacher of the congregation, and more or less responsible for decision-making and the general direction of the church. If that's what you and Fitch mean by CEO, well, okay.

When I called it a "straw man" argument, what I meant was the kind of argument I often see in emerging/missional writing: railing against a caricature of the traditional church. Stuff like, "We don't want to be a place where people just get their once-a-week spiritual fix." Well, what pastor or church wants to be that?

My other problem with his argument is the fact that just because his model seems to work within his fledgling church he sees it as not only successful but as overturning how everyone else does it. And how much is the model actually working? They have four pastors, but Fitch preaches half the time? In what sense isn't he the senior pastor? The whole thing, frankly, reminds me of the original five guys who started the shepherding movement. It was all about mutual submission and accountability, right? Nice idea; bad results.

Finally, I just wish people could make a positive argument for their own position rather than listing off ten reasons why everyone else's position is bogus. I'm sick and tired of the "everybody else is doing it wrong" mentality.