Lynn (fictional) wrote me a letter with complaints about her pastor.

Lynn,

It was good to hear from you. It sounds as if your new home and John’s new job are just right for your family. We all miss you, but this will be a good chapter in your life together. Hopefully, we’ll see you at homecoming this year.

It was sad to read your comments about your pastor. Finding the right church isn’t peripheral to this move. I know your family wants church to be a big part of your new life.

Still, I couldn’t help but think you were being very hard on your pastor. I hope you won’t mind me being honest with you when I say that your critical nature, which is part of your God-given personality and gifts, may be running in a higher gear than will prove to be helpful to you or your family. I’m not asking you to accept what is wrong or to ignore what is truly a problem, but I am asking you to be in more sympathetic listening mode at this point, and make your critical judgments more slowly, and on substantial issues.

For example, you mentioned that the sermons were much longer than your pastor back here, and that made it difficult for your children to pay attention. As true as your observation may be, it’s far from an issue of real substance, at least on it’s own. Generations of Baptists have been formed under such suffering.

You also mention that he stands behind a pulpit and you would prefer he move around in order to hold your children’s attention. I can sympathize with your concern, but the pulpit represents more than something to hide behind. In the more traditional churches, to stand behind the “sacred desk” is to recognize the authority of God’s work as different from your own.

Another criticism had to do with too many sermons from Paul’s letters, and I can understand that frustration as well. Perhaps there is some reason he wants to use these epistle texts right now. But if he consistently ignores texts from the Gospels, I would certainly feel it was appropriate to raise that issue, and perhaps offer him a good lectionary as a gift

Your final observation was comparing this pastor to Alan, and the differences are, certainly, many. Alan is almost 30 years younger and came right into the church from ministry with students. Your pastor now is more of a “seminary and denominational man,” who is less concerned with the opinions of the younger families than he is the health of the whole church. I can’t help but admire him for going against the grain in this era when every church seems to be an enclave of twenty-somethings.

Please don’t think I am devaluing your observations. I’m not, but I have to admit to you that I believe the “ordinary,” traditional pastor is an undervalued man these days. We’ve come to a time when we need to honestly admit some things. Buckle up:

1) We like our pastors young. There’s a lot of age prejudice in the pews right now.
2) We’re very influenced by the entertainment culture in which we live. Our favorite pastors are media savvy, work the stage like comedians, and know all the current pop culture buzzwords.
3) What our children like has become the ultimate measurement of most things in church. As important as children are, I can’t help but be afraid that this isn’t a good measurement of most things. Children shouldn’t be our instructors and judges. yA Second Look at the Ordinary Pastor | internetmonk.com Har Dreamwomanjav Lt Javascript:PopUp(7157) Dream Woman Javu j Dream Woman aA Second Look at the Ordinary Pastor | internetmonk.com Har Dreamwomanjav Lt Javascript:PopUp(7157) Dream Woman Javk z z Jav Dream