Pastor as Catalyst: Four Transformational Postures for Pastoral Leadership, Part 2 of 11

The Old Paradigm

The reality is that we live in a culture that is confused about the identity and calling of the Church. In a culture that is confused about the Church’s very purpose, and confusion that permeates the Church itself, it stands to reason that those who are raised up to lead in the Church would be confused as well, not only because the confusion permeates our cultural air and water, but also because the confusion permeates our pastoral training. So to further expand on the classroom illustration above, no doubt we were all convinced that in some way we could help the young Muslim woman. But the reality was that there were at least two paradigms operative in that room in the midst of the discussion. One understood itself to be a dispenser of “spiritual presence,” something that in the end is functionally indistinguishable from something that could be provided by a social worker, doctor, or nurse. The other paradigm was interested in catalyzing perception, or if you will, a transposition of story. The story that was operative in the case study in that hospital room was the story of death, loss, grief, sorrow, and sadness. The story of the faith that we serve affirms that story because all of these things are very real. But the second story says in the midst of that death and sorrow, “Yes. But see that shadow that surrounds this death and sorrow? There’s a story, a more powerful story that frames this moment and this life.”

Pastor Rick Barger explains that from the earliest moments of the church, the church understood itself to be a contrast society.[1] To be sure the manifestation of this sense was not monolithic, and the reality is that there were many groups who sought to remove themselves from the world altogether. But most early Christians lived as citizens of the empire in lives and vocations that called them to engage the larger culture around them.[2] Early on this relationship in and among was as a religious minority. When you are a minority, it is easy to live in contrast to the world around you. There is simply a great deal to help you differentiate yourself. This all changed however in 313 CE with the (assumed) Christian conversion of Emperor Constantine. The Roman Empire effectively became Christian overnight and the church’s position moved from that of a minority contrast society to that of the state-sanctioned religion of empire. Monumental shifts in Christian identity ensued.[3] Barger writes,

…the Christianization of the Empire under Constantine meant a reinvention of the church’s identity and calling. This reinvention would ultimately prove to be disastrous for the integrity and spiritual power of Christianity. The hostile boundary between the church and the culture disappeared. The church became a partner in the culture. This new partnership meant that the sacred narrative of the church merged with the narrative of Empire. There was no longer “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all” (Ephesians 4:5-6) that defined a church in tension with the culture. There was now one empire and one story. The stories were so intertwined with one another that emperors and political leaders would take a full role in the development of the church, and church leaders could often engage in political and military leadership.[4]

This merging of stories has shaped the nature and expression of the church for nearly two millennia. At the time of Martin Luther, almost 1200 years after the Constantinianization of the church, to be a citizen of the empire was to be synonymously a baptized member of the church.

As many of our USAmerican forebears fled their native homelands and the theocratically-enmeshed governments that held them, they brought their own, albeit new, versions of theocratic governments across the Atlantic. In fact, many of the earliest colonies played with these governmental forms. Though the United States government that followed provided for separation of church and state, the reality is that Constantine’s grip still held sway and even today “In God We Trust” is inscribed on our currency, the United States Congress still funds a full time chaplain who begins their opening sessions with prayer, and the church still enjoys fiscal privileges and some level of deference in our society.

Today in our hyper-consumeristic culture people “church shop,” seeking communities to meet their spiritual needs. This of course goes to the point. The culture believes that the church exists to dispense spiritual goods and services. The point: the old paradigm of Christian ministry and the pastor’s role in it locate the pastor’s vocation as that of spiritual cultural prop. Houston, we have a problem!

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[1] Rick Barger, A New and Right Spirit: Creating and Authentic Church in a Consumer Culture (Herndon, VA: Alban, 2005), 7.

[2] Ibid., 7.

[3] Ibid., 8.

[4] Ibid., 9.