Over-Functioning, Under-Delivering.

“I see too many pastors over-functioning for their people. They make way too many decisions for them.” I haven’t been able to stop thinking about these words that a professor of mine spoke over two months ago.

Add that to the following passage from Mark Batterson’s latest, Wild Goose Chase:

“I’m afraid we’ve turned church into a spectator sport. Too many of us are content with letting a spiritual leader seek God for us. Like the Israelites, we want Moses to climb the mountain for us. After all, it is much easier to let someone else pray for us or study for us. So the church unintentionally fosters a subtle form of spiritual codependency.”

Wow. How refreshing that some of the leaders in the church are willing to come out and name the elephant in the room. People in the church, myself included, depend entirely too much on their leaders to spoon feed them morsels of spiritual truth. The office of the pastor and preacher, to my conviction, is much less “spoon-feeder” and much more “spoon-teacher” – as in, “teach you how to hold the spoon!”

I try to always stress to my leaders that I am “no better and no different” than they are. I happen to be in a place of leadership, yes, but they have an equal part to play in what God is doing through our ministry. I do not want to be exalted as a “spiritual guru,” nor do I think it would be good for my spiritual health. (Trust me, I am that weak!)

I wonder if the problem we’re seeing with leaders in the church is the same problem we’re seeing in the schools? Parents depending on teachers to not only teach them but to also raise them, teaching them everything from morals to mathematics. I wonder if it’s the same problem we’re seeing in our homes, depending on our televisions to watch our children as a more convenient (and less expensive) babysitter.

Are you seeing any of this? If you’re a church-goer, do you feel like your congregation depends too much on your leaders?