I think when someone asks “who is the pastor” of a church, what they are really asking is “who is in charge.”

I might be presumptuous in saying that, but if you really thought about it, this is what many would be asking, especially if they were visiting this church for the first time. The same thing happens over time, especially in a church plant. Over time people look at the person “in charge” and label them pastor, and then put a lot of expectations on them. I may fear expectations, but the expectations that are generally placed on a person are not that fair, from my experience.

I have been thinking as well, whether it would be worth writing down the expectations people should have or not have on a church leader or pastor, in order to help others understand where their role (congregation) is and what the leader (pastor) is responsible for. The idea would then allow the leader freedom in their role. In fact a friend of mine asked me to look at a document like this, called a covenant, in order to give some of my own insight into such a thing. The problem is the document may start as a public document, but over time it gets hidden, forgotten, misinterpreted and then out of date. The idea is wonderful, but the truth is, unless there is a change in the culture in the church (and probably all churches) the stereotypical pastor role will not change despite any covenants we design or sign or post on our church walls.

I appreciate my friend who is working on this document, mainly because it really is the best idea we have right now. But for me, I need to think this through fully and not just create a document. In our situation a document will not free me up in my ministry… only freedom in Christ will.

Since there is so much transition in churches these days (a call of the times), there will always be people joining you coming from another church culture. It is almost as if churches need to be cross cultural in terms of their own sub-culture… pretty confusing I know.

So (optimistically) perhaps we can begin a change in culture. It might start with our small community of Jesus followers, but being part of the change is also the best place to be.

In the emulation of twitter, I want to post some “140 character or less” thoughts on this topic.

its easy to talk about a salary-less church when you don’t get your salary from the church.

giving to our church has gone up as I have taken less.

In the last 1.5 months I haven’t taught at toh… and we’ve grown.

i’m pretty sure the Brethren are the authority on this, but i think what i am thinking about is a little different.

James Surowiecki – social media TED talk is very helpful on this topic. I like the term a volunteer co-operative program.

does having no paid staff mean that there are no leaders? i’ve seen the opposite.

I used to think a church would always need a paid leader. not sure anymore.

salary-less could mean community-more?

I have no idea what a salary-less church looks like… i mean didn’t Paul even get paid?

an excessive reliance on incentives (salary) demoralizes professional activity by people losing morale and activity losing morality. B.Swartz

We assume money will keep the train rolling… not necessarily. It may keep rolling, but in what direction?

less money to leaders.. less stress?

Feel free to leave some comments… here or follow me on twitter.

My friend James posted a link to an old post of mine that as I sit here in Victoria had me thinking.

I wonder how much further I have truly thought about these thoughts on creating community.

One of the things that i struggle with is reviewing the past. Whether it’s reading a book I have read once before or opening some old journals to see where I have come from. This is something that I have been poor at for most of my life. Everything seems to be centred around “new” or forward for me. Even as I look at my resolution from last year (to read 4 books a month, of which I believe I am only at 22/48) I can see my desire to keep moving forward to achieve, versus reflecting and learning from my experiences.

Our church has been through 3 months of transition. One of my goals for this holiday is to think through these past 3 months and learn from it. I am having a trouble reflecting, and I am wanting to try something new and forward.

I believe my desire to always move forward if harnessed well can be effective in visioning the future, but without an understanding of the past we will continue to make the same mistakes and never truly move forward. Our forward progress will always be met with resistance and probably 3 steps back for every 2 steps forward… and yes as a former engineer that is movement backwards, not forward.

I was thinking about Jeremy Williams on the Maple Leafs today and how he has scored 5 goals in 7 games since being called up from the minors and how in the past he has been called up 2 other times and has scored in the first game of each of the those call ups, and yet the Leafs continue to send him back to the farm team despite this fact.

I wonder how important the past is to him…

3 times up to the Leafs, 3 goals in 3 first games after each call up, and possibly 3 times sent back to the minors.

Or perhaps he lives in the moment. His understanding of the past is not that he keeps getting bad breaks, but instead he remembers how awesome it was to score a NHL goal of which thousands upon thousands of players never experience.

I wonder if I was to review the past I would feel a sense of bad breaks and failure. I wonder if I looked over an old journal post I would realize all I said I would do and haven’t.

I wonder if I read that book again I would remember some greats thoughts that would have come in handy a month ago and feel like a bad leader.

I wonder…

Perhaps that’s the problem.

My assumptions are killing me.

I had the privilege to take some time today and drive to West Vancouver and have lunch with my wife who works out there. On my way through downtown, and more specifically Stanley Park I was merging into the right hand lane going over the Lions Gate Bridge when a brightly painted pink monster came rapidly toward me. At first I couldn’t make out what it was, then as I slowly adjusted my vision and grabbed a hold of the wheel I realized that it was a West Vancouver Soccer Mom wearing an all pink outfit, while riding her all pink scooter in the left hand lane toward me. Sure my initial reaction was a bit much, but my first thought was “isn’t it better just to fit in?” Why does she need all that pink, why does she need to stand out, and why does she need to be seen?

The woman in the pink outfit characterizes recent models of leadership for me. Who ever is the loudest, charismatic, good looking (of course I don’t put the pink in that category), and has the most gimmicks is going to attract the most people. Notice I never said that they are the most capable leaders, but they sure might attract a crowd.

Don’t get me wrong I may be very Canadian when I say that I am thinking a new way of leading will be the unsung, quiet, reserved type of leader, and sometimes I think that is all we have in Canada! But there is something about the other cars, bikes and so forth that were driving on the same road as this lady that has challenged my thinking. For some reason we tend to set leaders apart, and put them in places of esteem that many can’t and/or shouldn’t handle. If you have a chance to read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell he makes mention of these types of leaders (the ones that are picked because they stand out and some of the dangers that come with that).

For too long the open house has been running on Kristin and my leadership alone and I think many of the errors that have come are due to our lack of a group of road dwellers to talk through ideas with. We are these pink troupers with all systems go, telling others what we think might be best when perhaps we should realize we are on the same road (and in fact sometimes I think I am taking the back road while they are really on the road I should be on), and they may see some things that I am totally missing. We have tried community forums and they have proven helpful, but there needs to be a buffer. There needs to be a middle ground between the traffic/bike/pedestrian controlled area in East Van to the #1 Hwy East on a Friday afternoon.

So all that to say that toh has asked a few friends to become that pack for us; and not just for Kristin and I, but for the entire toh crew. I know it seems like a huge commitment, but it’s life for me, for Cato and for the open house. I really hope they all accept.

I need more fellow travelers and less Pink Coverall Wearing Soccer Moms on Scooters!