Pass on the Pastor

In my web-wanderings, I came across an absolutely fantastic article on Pastors. I've often wondered how the transition from the "upper-room" to "Saddleback Community Church" took place historically. What were the key points that took the church from being a relatively organic, messy, heretically-proned movement to the established Roman Catholic Church, to the "reformed" Protestant church? I knew that it obviously happened gradually, but seriously; If we stepped into a gathering of believers in mid-first century, how would it have been different - and would we have ever met "the Pastor" at the door as we left the building? Would he have been at the lox-n-bagel potluck afterward? Well, this artivle provides a very good overview of the journey that brought us from there to here, and has some extremely provoking points to make.

Some nuggets that were particularly interesting:

"The word 'Pastors' does appear in the NT: 'And he gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as PASTORS and teachers (Ephesians 4:11, NASB).' ... This is the only verse in the NT where the word “Pastor” is used.[3] One solitary verse is a mighty scanty piece of evidence on which to hang the entire Protestant faith! In this regard, there is more Biblical authority for snake handling than there is for the modern Pastor. (Mark 16:18 and Acts 28:3-6 both mention handling snakes. So snake handling wins out two verses to one verse.)"
...
"If the modern Pastor was absent from the early church, where did he come from? And how did he rise to such a prominent position in the Christian faith? It is a painful tale, the roots of which are tangled and complex. Those roots reach as far back as the fall of man. With the fall came an implicit desire in man to have a physical leader to bring him to God. For this reason, human societies throughout history have consistently created a special spiritual caste of religious icons. The medicine man, the shaman, the rhapsodist, the miracle worker, the witch-doctor, the soothsayer, the wise-man, and the priest have all been with us since Adam’s blunder."
...
"At the time of this writing, there are reportedly more than 500,000 Pastors serving churches in the U.S. Of this mass number, consider the following statistics that lay bare the lethal danger of the pastoral office:

* 94% feel pressured to have an ideal family.

* 90% work more than 46 hours a week.

* 81% say they have insufficient time with their spouses.

* 80% believe that pastoral ministry affects their family negatively.

* 70% do not have someone they consider a close friend.

* 70% have lower self-esteem than when they entered the ministry.

* 50% feel unable to meet the needs of the job.

* 80% are discouraged or deal with depression.

* 40%+ report that they are suffering from burnout, frantic schedules, and unrealistic expectations.

* 33% consider pastoral ministry an outright hazard to the family.

* 33% have seriously considered leaving their position in the past year.

* 40% of pastoral resignations are due to burnout.

* Roughly 30% to 40% of religious leaders eventually drop out of the ministry and about 75% go through a period of stress so great that they seriously consider quitting.

* Most Pastors are expected to juggle 16 major tasks at once. And most crumble under the pressure. For this reason, 1,600 ministers in all denominations across the U.S. are fired or forced to resign each month. Over the past 20 years, the average length of a pastorate has declined from seven years to just over two years!"
...

Incidentally, all of the statistics and historical references are cited extensively (I believe there are 249 endnotes). It's lengthy, and, I'll warn you in advance - it certainly levels quite a salvo against the prevailing perception of the "Pastor" model. Much of the information in the article I already knew, some I did not. But it is nice for all of it to be in one central place.

I'd be especially interested in comments on this one, for those that take the time to read it.

Blessings to you all!

Read the full article here, "The Pastor: Where Did He Come From?"