Are there other images of the role of pastor in the emerging church. I played with this in my blog a while ago. I explored the ideas of pastor as CEO, Baseball Manager, or Football QB (as you can see I am a sports fan). It brought about some interesting ideas for me to think about and models to play with concerning church leadership.

I appreciate your willingness to engage in conversation with this community, and hope that we can sharpen each other, expand each other’s thinking where we can, and respect/love each other where we can’t.

Since the original thrust of this thread was about pastoral analogies, I’m kind of glad Brian McLaren came up. I see him (and many emergent pastors) fitting nicely into the “Fosterer of Imagination” role. I find the questions and ideas he raises to be helpful in exploring my own faith, but I certainly don’t think he is “putting the truth of the Holy Scriptures at risk.” In fact, I’m not sure it’s possible to do that.

God and God’s Word are not in danger. Just some of our institutions and entrenched ways of thinking about God (i.e. “doctrine”). I think we often tend to worship the doctrine as much or more than God — and that’s something worth deconstruction.

I believe that Brian has only began to de-construct God’s word. I know many that have read his work, and have been left feeling very confused about their faith. I believe that Brian’s work is very irresponsible. Wow, there’s much to say, but it’s difficult to do in this way. I’m not a mean-spirited “fundy”. I’m a follower of Jesus that believes that Brian, as a teachers, is putting the truth of the Holy Scriptures at risk. I think he’s a wonderful guy – articulate and intelligent. I just believe he is wrong with regard to many of his doctrinal beliefs.

By Anthony J. Arens “Tony” (Minneapolis):

“This book absolutely broke my heart. I think about all the young seekers out there looking for a morsel of truth, looking toward an Emerging Church Leader like Mr. McLaren for teaching, and then being let down once again. I talked with non-believer friend of mine who read the book – he absolutely loved it – he remarked that this book was a sigh of relief in that he is confident that he is saved, no matter what he believes. This book is leading people astray and that is really a painful thing to see. If you are not a mature Christian that can discern between God’s Truth and Satan’s ingenious and subtle deception, I would be very cautious of this book. It is packed with half-truths – one can almost hear Satan tempting Eve in the garden and Jesus in the dessert as you read through this absolute philosophical dribble. Mature Christians should read this book so they can be aware of what they’ll be coming up against as they spread the Good New of Jesus Christ.”

Care to comment on any of this? I think some of us here are pretty big fans of the book in question, and its author…

I think that our resonsibility as shepherd requires us to guide our flock to engage the word beyond simply hearing it.

Sure, we need to be careful that we don’t permit people to tell lies and call it truth. On the other hand, we need to be careful from appearing that WE, as pastors, are the be all and end all.

Rebuking, reproving, exhorting, is so much better done by a group of people (and Paul, I might add, rarely ministered alone), than by a pastor on his or her own!

I don’t really see how we can truely be the body of Christ without conversation. “With patience” seems to imply, at the very least, room for give and take.

I’m not saying we turn the sermon into a “well, what do you think the text says?” session. We should not only faciliate the conversation, but we should be a part of it! Furthermore, I think the text should have the loudest, most priveledged voice in the conversation–even beyond ours.

“Conversation sermons,” therefore, are at their best when the preacher is held accountable for his or her fidelity to the text, engagement with the text, and application of the text by the congregation, and vis versa (and congregant to congregant as well!)

If Paul and Timothy ever facilitated a conversation, I am pretty certain that reproved, rebuked, exhorted, with great patience and instruction – they didn’t let someone go home without hearing the truth…

Our responsibility as Shepherd is huge. We cannot ever lead even one of our sheep astray. Shepherds know this, and use shepherding skills that are tried and true so that a sheep is not lost and a wolf is not allowed to enter the area.

If we are going to use experiential and leading edge “stuff”, or experiment with radical practices, we need to be really careful. So much is at stake!

Educators often end up the CEOs of thier classrooms. They open people up to ideas that help them dream. they ask tough questions, and care for thier students, even as they continue to learn and be cared for.

Yeah. I think educator, although a pretty old-school title, works pretty well for what we are called to do.