Superman, Jesus, & You
The other day I took a look at the details of my job description and was intimidated. I started to wonder if I could actually ever accomplish all the conditions set out for me—then I began to think about the other 13 District Supervisors who are called to the same job in my denomination, and I wondered if any of them could really pull it off, either!
Maybe you’ve felt that way before.
Many of you who read this blog are pastors, and a pastor’s job expectations are as challenging—perhaps more challenging—than a Supervisor’s.
In fact, surfing the Internet for some pastoral job descriptions, I pieced together the following expectations from a handful of websites. Read this and see if you measure up:
The Ideal Pastor
The ideal pastor should be 45 years old, possess an earned doctorate, and have 30 years of experience. He should be tall and handsome, but not overpowering. He is neither too thin, nor too heavyset. He usually preaches exactly twenty minutes and always follows it with an invitation with which everyone is convicted but no one is offended. He has a burning desire to work with young people, and spends much of his time with senior citizens. He smiles constantly with a straight face because he has a sense of humor that keeps him seriously at his work. He invests 20 hours a week in sermon preparation, 10 hours in pastoral counseling, 10 hours in meetings, 5 hours in emergencies, 15 hours in visitation and evangelism, 5 hours in funerals and weddings, 14 hours in prayer, 15 hours in administration, and 10 hours in creative thinking; and he should be available in his office whenever needed. He has perfect kids and his spouse is either musical or is called to lead children’s ministry (preferably both). He is talented, gifted, scholarly, practical, popular, powerful, compassionate, understanding, patient, level-headed, dependable, loving, caring, neat, organized, cheerful, and above all, humble.
Ok, so that’s a humorous way of making a point. In reality, nobody, not even Paul (not even Jesus!) could meet those expectations. But even if your church isn’t looking for superman to pastor them, the requirements to lead your particular congregation are probably still too much for you to carry alone.
And that’s great news, because the body of Christ was never meant to be about any one human being besides Jesus—and He was also God. Every one of us is wired by God to need one another; as Christians this is part of our Biblical understanding. Passages like 1 Corinthians 12-14, Ephesians 4 and Romans 12 make it clear that Church was never intended to be like an individual performance, but more like a team sport.
Though someone on the team does have to provide leadership, imagine the absurdity of a football coach who had to call all the plays, throw and catch the ball, block the line, referee the game, sell the concessions, count the money, clean the stadium and mow the lawn. While it’s an imperfect analogy, the point is that none of us is gifted enough (or omnipresent enough) to get it all done. So, as the primary leader in the church, what is the best way to cover your weaknesses?
Actually, I think that’s the wrong question. Though I’ve heard people teach about how leaders should surround themselves with staff who can cover their deficiencies, I believe that a good leader doesn’t just look to compensate for their own weaknesses, but builds a team based on how everyone’s strengths can contribute to the unique call of God for their church.
The difference may seem subtle, but it’s important: If you seek to build a team around your own weaknesses, it’s still all about you, but if you build according to everyone’s strengths, your team will be powerful. And while everybody is going to need help leveling-out what they lack, the goal is to leverage a high capacity crew who will together passionately and effectively lead the church to accomplish everything the Lord has asked it to do.