The Holy Man Myth

I wanted to chat a bit about the so-called “Holy Man” of Christian ministry. Here’s the notion: that the calling from God into ministry is reserved, and only ought to be recognized, for the holiest Christians. That is, a pastor-minister-elder ought to, first of all, be a “Holy Man.”

I have heard this notion frequently throughout the years but never had to seriously confront it until I became a full-time pastor several years back. It came home to me when my sister, God Bless her, joked: “Now we have a Holy Man in the family!” Sigh. Nope, still not true. Anyway …

The concept of the Christian pastor as a holy man has many sources and is more of an expectation in certain cultural realms than others. The Roman church has contributed to the notion by making the call to full-time ministry a “Holy Order.” That is, that the life a priest is to be – by design and intent – different, special, and focused. Roman priests are to be unmarried, celibate, and disengaged (in differing degrees) from the normal way of life – and let’s not forget that a Roman priest is granted the power to perform the miracle of Transubstantiation. That’s pretty heady stuff! The Orthodox church, while allowing married priests, have a similar distinction between the sacred and secular in their full-time workers. Things get messier (of course) with the Protestants. Mainline Protestants give recognition to the special calling to full-time service but recognize little that is special about the person. Protestants look for calling, character, and competence.

Many of the cultural backgrounds that insist on the “Holy Man” model of ministry come from the east where Buddhist monks and priests live lives of great disengagement from the affairs of the world and are even reputed to have supernatural abilities.

But in the west and in Protestantism, the nature of ministry is more broadly understood. First, the nature of God’s “calling.” For us, God first calls us to reconciliation and allegiance to himself and his kingdom. This is why Protestants say that one must accept Jesus as Savior and Lord (Rom. 10:9). God calls all men to himself (1Tm 2:4) – we are all subject to this first calling.

The second calling is to ministry and service. Not only are we saved by grace, through faith, but we have been saved for the purpose of good works (Eph 2:8-10). All believers are use our talents, gifts, and treasures to practically love God and our neighbor (Matt 22:36-40). Those are our “vocations.” The word vocation means “calling.”

Only after these two callings are active and healthy, are we then to be sensitive to the possibility of another, focused calling to be in ministry full-time as employment. Even that is not precise: all believers are to minister “full-time,” whatever their job might be. And while there is no barrier to the first two callings, this third calling may have several legitimate barriers: lack of agreement by your spouse, lack of clear understanding of well-interpreted scripture, lack of provision, lack of recognition by the local community of believers, and several others. All people are called by God; all Christians are called to serve. Not all Christians are called to “full-time ministry” as a job.

Let’s look at the word, “holy.” It originally meant that something was special, set apart for a particular purpose. You have ‘holy’ dishes that you bring out only when guests come by. You have another piece of porcelain in your bathroom that has a very specific, special, and set-apart function. Even your toilet is ‘holy,’ in that sense of the word. Of course, “holy” usually refers to something set apart of special and admirable character. Though, to be fair, I have a lot of respect for a well-functioning toilet. In modern usage, “holy” means special, set apart, admirable, and elevated – quantitatively different from the others around it. There is Greatness, Spiritualness, beauty, and (especially) disengagement from the assumed normal things of life. Basically, we put Holy Things on a pedestal and venerate them.

But nowhere – in Protestantism, at least – is there any expectation that a full-time minister is more “holy” than the people he may serve. One, because our theology tells us we are all desperately needy sinners. Scripture gives some qualifications for Elders-Overseers that are both character and experience based. Extrovert is not in the list, by the way. Either is sinlessness. In fact, I am most impacted by those pastors who cling to the gospel precisely because of the grave sin in their past. If it weren’t for Jesus – we know we’d go to Hell! In that sense (Matt 9:10-13), a good pastor is one who recognizes their utter lack of holiness.

When someone suggests that I, as a pastor, is just a much better person than the rest – part of me dies inside. First, because the person saying it clearly doesn’t understand the gospel of salvation through Jesus.

Second, Protestant pastors are encouraged to live Jesus-People lives fully engaged in the world in which they live. That’s holiness at work! What demands more spiritual discipline? Engage in a retreat of silence for a few hours, or spend a few hours in a mini-van with junior high kids going to the park? No, being disengaged or disinterested in the life of the world is not being more holy. Why? Because that’s where people actually live. Should we be ‘disengaged’ from the world? Maybe, because Jesus said there was a distinction between being “in” the world and being “of” the world. That gets at what real worldly disengagement is about. Yes, your pastor has to pay bills, mortgage or rent, make their breakfast, do their laundry, raise kids, love their spouse, deal with traffic, use technology wisely, and so forth. In those ways, they aren’t that special (holy) at all.

So, pastors really do mean It when they say then aren’t any different – in the so-called “holiness” arena – than the rest of their flock. So, why respect your pastor? Fair question.

Protestants vary (surprise!) in the level of respect they give to those who have been called and recognized in full-time service. Most give honor by minor deference and titles, some completely ignore that anything is special about the pastor, and others positively work to keep their ministers humble, powerless, and poor (these tend to buy into the Holy Man model).

The legitimate reasons for pastoral respect are varied and nuanced. Usually, there is a much higher level of training, understanding, and appreciation for the Bible and theology. There is a higher commitment to live by “faith” in economic and other practical provisions. There is a more focused lens to see the world through a godly worldview. And lastly, there was a huge movement in their soul to leave other potential occupations aside and devote their lives as professional ministers. Which really is kind of special. But, again, it is not because the minister is more “holy” than others.

So, let’s reject this notion that your pastor is “holy.” Let’s do what the Bible says. Let’s give our pastors love and respect as they follow Christ and help us to do the same. OK?

Gifts To The Church

Ephesians 4:11-12 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; ...

In the past, I had considered the gifs spoken of in Ephesians 4 to be spiritual gifts like the lists in Rom. 12 and 1Cor. 12. But my opinion has shifted a bit. I think the meaning is that these are people. That is, God has given us gifted people who are gifts to the church: gifted people who God gave the church to fill the roles of apostles, gifted people who God gave the church to be evangelists, and so forth.

This challenges my thinking about the leaders in church. We frequently hear the idea that our pastors, teachers, evangelists are just plain folk who aren’t any different from the rest of us. Even more so that the “calling” to ministry isn’t anything different or special from the calling to be a godly computer repair guy or Jesus-loving health insurance agent.

Something bugs me about that. I get it – of course the idea is to 1) prevent pride and arrogance from destroying our leaders, and 2) to affirm those that don’t have the ‘call to ministry' that God delights in them and their work, as well.

But when I look at scripture, I do not see leaders who are ordinary guys and gals. I see very high-capacity, usually well-trained, and high-functioning people. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, David, Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Jesus, Matthew, Luke, Paul, John – all of these were not ‘just plain folk.’ And when I look at the pastors who I’ve been shepherded by: Ron S., Paul C., John M., Dan B., Ben B., Jack L., , Dave G., (a string of Bible names there!) Rob A., and Keith K. – these guys have uniformly been very bright, could’ve succeeded and prospered in any field they would’ve entered, and worked hard at their roles. The same goes for most missionaries I know and the few evangelists I know about (I admit to not knowing any folks with the titles of “prophet” or “apostle”).

What is impressive to me is that God captured these folks lives, shaped them, and then gave them as gifts to the churches they served. God gave gifts of specific people to fill those roles. That's how I now understand this passage.

Looking for Ministry

So I’m looking for a ministry position. This is an interesting process and very different than industry.

First, let’s get all the negatives out of the way. Most church (small to medium sized) hiring practices are very poor. Churches are terrible communicators with their pastoral candidates. There are situations where the elders – some of whom may have never gone to college – are expecting to hire somebody with a graduate degree. Additionally, the elders may not have much experience hiring people or, if they do, it’s manual or semi-skilled labor. The search committee may, if the candidate is fortunate, meet once a week. The candidate is expected to give, up front, a ton of difficult information. Much of the information expected is extremely personal. Some liken the process to a “spiritual colonoscopy.” And then, some churches are looking for candidates who must fit a Very Narrow band of beliefs and practices: not just Calvinistic or Arminian – are they Reform seven pointers or only five pointers? Not just amillenial or millennial, but are they non-dispensational pre-trib rapture pre-millennialists? Again, a group of elders who may not have been to Bible college, much less have seminary level training, assume that they know Biblical doctrine better than the guy who they’re interviewing.

When I looked for work in industry, I hit the want ads, sent resumes, only if the hiring people thought I had good qualifications was I then contacted by phone, then went to interview, and then I'd fill in an application. During the interview they didn’t ask me if I was in the Yourdon or McCracken school of program structure; they asked if I could do it, was I qualified, and assumed that if I were competent that they didn’t have to tell me how to do the job. They asked if I could get along with people, was a good worker, and didn't ask about my marrital relationship.

This process is pretty goofy.

But, there is something rather noble in the midst of all the chaos and incompetent practices. There is the realization that God is sovereign. There is the mix of tough and tender that this process imposes on those who enter it. On one hand, a candidate must have the emotional stuff to say, “Yes, I really think that God can use me in this church to do great things.” On the other hand, the candidate is constantly evaluating and checking their motives, the clarity of their hearing for the One voice that matters, attempting to wade through well-meaning advice, and being encouraging, gracious, and polite in the face of some thoughtlessly rude behavior.

Additionally, there is the testing of calling. How clear is the candidate's vision to this extremely important role? This rather annoying process can shake the candidate to the core: this isn't just a job, it is a "calling."

This is a weird line of work.

Why I Went To Seminary

Finals week has come and gone. This next semester, however, marks a milestone. The past semesters in seminary have been mostly about just enjoying the ride, so to speak. This next semester will be about finishing well and finding a ministry position.

That got me thinking about what caused me to pursue vocational ministry. The correct theological answer would be that it was the decree of God in eternity past. On the level we usually live, that’s not very helpful for most people. But it is a reality: God knew what the nature of his people and the church would be like in the opening decades of what we call the 21st century, allowed me to be born, experience certain things, and develop into the man I am today – with all the quirks and failings, as well as all the strengths and capacities, that I have. I am a man, created by God, for this time.

But from my perspective, it sure looks a lot messier. I came to faith in a stuttering sort of way. The opportunity came when, as a sophomore in high school, I was finally presented with a clear Gospel message: the reality of my sin, the substitutionary atonement of Jesus, and my ability to appropriate that grace by faith. I didn’t know all those terms then, but I have a clear memory that all those concepts were there. I prayed to God to forgive my sins because of what Jesus had done. That was in 1971.

For the next 30 years, my life as a believer was characterized by several streams. The first was intellectual. I have always been a bit clever with words and ideas and took very quickly to understanding Bible and theology. The second stream was related: communication. I have enjoyed, and been fairly successful at, communicating difficult ideas to people for their benefit. This is the core of teaching. The third stream was service. I learned that service and ministry was my primary mode of spirituality. The fourth stream was leadership. I found myself (frequently in spite of myself!) consistently rising to levels of leadership and influence.

But even back in my early days as a believer, I knew that vocational ministry was a significant “calling.” Sweet old church ladies would say, “Eric, you’re such a nice young Christian man. Do you want to be a pastor when you get older?” Even then, I understood that there was something special about being a pastor and whatever that ‘calling’ was; I didn’t have it – yet.

And that was the state of affairs for decades until about 2000. Things were happening in my own life and the life of the church I was attending. They came together in a kind of spiritual crisis for me. It was pretty undefined at the time but I began to sense that I had to step up even more. This led to a very intense sense of spiritual unease in the beginning of 2003. At that time, several mentors suggested I engage in a ‘Focusing’ process to help me gain clarity as to what God seemed to be trying to tell me. I did that and came away with a rather surprising ‘call’ to “help hurting churches back to health…”

Well, then the question became; how do I do *that?* After several more twists and turns – especially in the job situation – I found myself positioned to enter seminary with the goal of entering full-time vocational ministry. I had the encouragement and support of my family and friends, I had the financial means, and I had a clear call to pursue what seminary would do to prepare me for ministry. I applied for, was accepted, and entered Western Seminary in January of 2006.

As I anticipate graduation in 2008, I am now looking for a full-time vocational ministry position.

Sinful Church and Leaders Who Don't

I was chatting with an old friend who, like me, has been a believer from our high school days back when we were wearing long hair and called Jesus Freaks. Now as the Freaks have become “Evangelicals” (that is sooooo weird), we wonder what’s happened to the faith once for all delivered. Specifically, we were commiserating about the stupid, goofy, and occasionally sinful things we’ve seen in church contexts.

Yes! I frequently make the joke that I love Jesus, I love the church, but actual Christians are really disgusting – imagine what God thinks of us! (There’s a reason that I’m glad God has blessed me with parenthood: back when they were really little, my gorgeous children could be rather disgusting, but I still loved them dearly) Anyway, that's one reason that my calling is to dysfunctional churches. There is much that I've seen in the church that is good and right, and a lot that is stupid, ignorant, and rebellious. My desire is to facilitate God’s working in those churches; partly for no more noble reason than for them to stop giving Jesus such a bad name.

My friend and I were also talking about the many people we’ve seen wounded and scarred by church ministry. I also wonder at why so many guys end up leaving pastoral roles. I think something is systemically wrong. I highly suspect that our 'recruitment' process is messed up - there are a lot more that are "called" to ministry than really should go. We esteem leadership too low and allow people to lead who probably have no business doing so. Out of our egalitarian philosophy rather than Bible, we really believe that Christian leadership is something everyone should do. We should probably have fewer Elders and more Deacons. We should re-think what being "Elder Qualified" really means. And I could go on and on - but I can't because I really need to get my Greek homework done this morning. :-) Pray for me, we are beginning participles.

Yes, the church can and has been a place of rampant anti-Jesus stuff. Let’s change that! It is NOT easy to do, but God calls us to it anyway. It will not be comfortable and grate against most of our preferences, but God says he’ll be with us as we move to being better Jesus people.