A commonly asked question: Why five?
A commonly asked question: Why five?
This fall at the church I help lead, Mill City Church in Northeast Minneapolis, we have commissioned our fifth pastor.
A question I’m often asked is, “why would a church of only 400 people (100 under 11 years old) have five pastors?”
The reason we have a team of pastors is very intentional.
Leading as a team is core to our theology and our strategy for living out God’s mission as a church.
The text from the Bible that is the core to our covenant as a church is Ephesians 4. Within that text Paul explains that there are specific gifts given to those in the church that are designed to “build up the church”.
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13
We don’t think that these 5 gifts should be added in with other lists of gifts in the Bible. They are distinctly designed by God for the specific purpose of equipping the people of the church to live out God’s mission in the world.
Everyone has these gifts! Not just pastors or paid staff!
The role of someone who leads as a pastor is three-fold:
- to call these gifts out in the people of God
- to equip people to use their gifts to join in with what God is doing around them
- to help people over come barriers they may have to participating with God
To lead people effectively who have these different gifts, it takes leaders with all the different gifts! (see gifts of our team below)
Notice – the role of the pastor is not to DO mission for the church, but to EQUIP the church to live out God’s mission!
- Without a team – all 5 gifts won’t be fully present.
- Without a team – we won’t have the capacity to equip those with different gifts who are a part of our community.
- Without a team – pastors would feel more pressure to try to live out gifts that aren’t as natural to them.
(Many leaders I know feel as though they have to single handedly be highly skilled in all 5 of the gifts listed in Ephesians at all times. This is not possible!)
In order for Mill City Church to have five pastors who have all five of the different gifts, it means we do some things differently:
First of all, we have two pastors in the more traditional “lead role”. Both myself and the other lead pastor Michael sit on the Leadership Team (board) of our church.
The two of us as lead pastors and the Leadership Team, lead the rest of the church as a team! We each have a voice and a role in listening to God together.
There is no single leader with final authority on the Leadership Team.
The next distinction is that our team is all bi-vocational and do not work for the church full time, with the exception of our Family Life Pastor, Anne. This is the only way a smaller church like ours can afford to have a team of five pastors.
This is challenging because equipping-based leadership could take a full time effort from all five pastors!
However, finding other sources of income in order to live out this Ephesians-based ministry philosophy has been a commitment our team has made intentionally.
Equipping is not something that can merely be done from a stage or a microphone, but through smaller groups and more intentional environments. This is not possible for one or two leaders to do this effectively with 400+ people.
In fact, it is not possible for five leaders to do well with 400+ people!
The role of each pastor is also to train other leaders within the church to disciple and equip others to participate with God and to over come any barriers they may have.
This is the reality in our community. Many of the leaders in our church are committed to being discipled as well as discipling others.
Finally, when someone asks why we have five pastors, we would say this:
God has called the five of us to lead this church this way at this time.
We have a listening and discernment based culture at our church. We try to make all decisions by looking for what God is doing, listening to God together and responding.
We believe the five of us came together because God brought us to each other and to this church. It’s our response to what God is doing!
It is not merely a strategic plan, a trendy leadership theory or a perfect model that can be replicated.
It’s far from perfect! It’s messy, difficult, highly intentional and takes God’s continued leadership to do effectively.
There are five pastors, but Jesus is the leader of our church. The five of us are just doing our best to follow that leadership!
CLICK TO READ MORE ABOUT EACH OF THE FIVE GIFTS
CLICK HERE TO TAKE A SURVEY THAT HELPS YOU IDENTIFY YOUR GIFTS
A commonly asked question: Why five?
This fall at the church I help lead, Mill City Church in Northeast Minneapolis, we have commissioned our fifth pastor.
A question I’m often asked is, “why would a church of only 400 people (100 under 11 years old) have five pastors?”
The reason we have a team of pastors is very intentional.
Leading as a team is core to our theology and our strategy for living out God’s mission as a church.
The text from the Bible that is the core to our covenant as a church is Ephesians 4. Within that text Paul explains that there are specific gifts given to those in the church that are designed to “build up the church”.
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13
We don’t think that these 5 gifts should be added in with other lists of gifts in the Bible. They are distinctly designed by God for the specific purpose of equipping the people of the church to live out God’s mission in the world.
Everyone has these gifts! Not just pastors or paid staff!
The role of someone who leads as a pastor is three-fold:
- to call these gifts out in the people of God
- to equip people to use their gifts to join in with what God is doing around them
- to help people over come barriers they may have to participating with God
To lead people effectively who have these different gifts, it takes leaders with all the different gifts! (see gifts of our team below)
Notice – the role of the pastor is not to DO mission for the church, but to EQUIP the church to live out God’s mission!
- Without a team – all 5 gifts won’t be fully present.
- Without a team – we won’t have the capacity to equip those with different gifts who are a part of our community.
- Without a team – pastors would feel more pressure to try to live out gifts that aren’t as natural to them.
(Many leaders I know feel as though they have to single handedly be highly skilled in all 5 of the gifts listed in Ephesians at all times. This is not possible!)
In order for Mill City Church to have five pastors who have all five of the different gifts, it means we do some things differently:
First of all, we have two pastors in the more traditional “lead role”. Both myself and the other lead pastor Michael sit on the Leadership Team (board) of our church.
The two of us as lead pastors and the Leadership Team, lead the rest of the church as a team! We each have a voice and a role in listening to God together.
There is no single leader with final authority on the Leadership Team.
The next distinction is that our team is all bi-vocational and do not work for the church full time, with the exception of our Family Life Pastor, Anne. This is the only way a smaller church like ours can afford to have a team of five pastors.
This is challenging because equipping-based leadership could take a full time effort from all five pastors!
However, finding other sources of income in order to live out this Ephesians-based ministry philosophy has been a commitment our team has made intentionally.
Equipping is not something that can merely be done from a stage or a microphone, but through smaller groups and more intentional environments. This is not possible for one or two leaders to do this effectively with 400+ people.
In fact, it is not possible for five leaders to do well with 400+ people!
The role of each pastor is also to train other leaders within the church to disciple and equip others to participate with God and to over come any barriers they may have.
This is the reality in our community. Many of the leaders in our church are committed to being discipled as well as discipling others.
Finally, when someone asks why we have five pastors, we would say this:
God has called the five of us to lead this church this way at this time.
We have a listening and discernment based culture at our church. We try to make all decisions by looking for what God is doing, listening to God together and responding.
We believe the five of us came together because God brought us to each other and to this church. It’s our response to what God is doing!
It is not merely a strategic plan, a trendy leadership theory or a perfect model that can be replicated.
It’s far from perfect! It’s messy, difficult, highly intentional and takes God’s continued leadership to do effectively.
There are five pastors, but Jesus is the leader of our church. The five of us are just doing our best to follow that leadership!
CLICK TO READ MORE ABOUT EACH OF THE FIVE GIFTS
CLICK HERE TO TAKE A SURVEY THAT HELPS YOU IDENTIFY YOUR GIFTS
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