[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fwhich-hat-to-wear":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fwhich-hat-to-wear-surround":91},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":10,"columnName":73,"date":74,"description":5,"extension":75,"image":76,"meta":77,"minRead":78,"navigation":79,"path":80,"postType":81,"publication":82,"publicationUrl":76,"seo":83,"stem":84,"topics":85,"__hash__":90},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fwhich-hat-to-wear.md","Which Hat to Wear?",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9],"",{"type":11,"value":12,"toc":70},"minimark",[13,16,19,22,25,28,31,34,37,40,48,51,58,61,64,67],[14,15,5],"p",{},[14,17,18],{},"Publication: The Lookout",[14,20,21],{},"Date: August 31, 2003",[14,23,24],{},"Column: First Look",[14,26,27],{},"Category: Ministry; Leadership; Identity; Stress; Burnout",[14,29,30],{},"Church leaders wear many hats, and some of the hats fit better than others. How do you see your preacher? Is he a Bible scholar who can answer tough questions about God's Word? A shock-absorber on 24-hour call in times of crisis? A direction setter who casts a compelling vision for the future? A burden-bearer who visits the sick and offers wise counsel? An evangelist who relates to people outside the church? A diplomat who resolves interpersonal conflicts in the church? A prophetic speaker who boldly challenges the status quo? A likeable friend who's everyone's pal? A role model of spiritual maturity and wisdom? All of the above? Many churches implicitly add \"business manager\" to their minister's job description as well.",[14,32,33],{},"As a result, there may be an identity crisis brewing in your minister's heart. Did God call him to be a preacher who proclaims the Word, or a CEO who cracks the whip and runs the business? Is he primarily a faith-builder or a fundraiser, a shepherd or a supervisor, a gentle care-giver or a forceful leader? Is he an evangelist who searches for lost sheep, or a chaplain who cares for those already in the flock? Even if his Bible college or seminary prepared him well, he still may struggle to navigate the complexities of contemporary culture with its broken families and moral confusion, the contemporary church with its high-stakes budgets, multiple staffs, and diverse expectations.",[14,35,36],{},"A Time Bomb",[14,38,39],{},"Some overworked ministers wear a stressed-out lifestyle like a badge of honor that validates their self-worth. We quietly gut it out with a martyr's smile, accepting the pressure as a sacred duty. Others put away their ordination certificates and move on to a different line of work. A Focus on the Family survey of 5,000 church leaders revealed that 40 percent of them had considered leaving the ministry during the last three months.",[14,41,42,43,47],{},"Daniel Spaite, M.D., directs the emergency department of a university trauma center. \"Many times I care for multiple people with major trauma all at once,\" he says in his book, ",[44,45,46],"em",{},"Time Bomb in the Church: Defusing Pastoral Burnout"," (Beacon Hill Press, 1999). The work of modern ministers \"seems strangely similar to what I do,\" Dr. Spaite observes. \"They must learn to manage one emergency after another. They finish caring for one person in crisis just in time for the next one to appear.\" The unrelenting stress of the ministry is a ticking time bomb, he insists, which threatens leaders and the churches they serve.",[14,49,50],{},"Corporate Model or Biblical Model?",[14,52,53,54,57],{},"The problem is, \"We have moved both pastors and churches from a community model to a corporation model,\" argues E. Glenn Wagner in his book, ",[44,55,56],{},"Escape from Church, Inc",". (Zondervan, 1999). And it's not only the leaders who feel the pain.",[14,59,60],{},"\"Certainly, pastors are burning out left and right,\" Wagner points out. \"But the case could be made just as strongly that far more congregational members are burning out. They get plugged into the programs, they power the machinery, they come out on the other side . . . and they've had enough. . . . It just doesn't feel right. Something is missing. The church feels cold, detached.\" This is because people \"feel used by corporations, not nurtured by them.\"",[14,62,63],{},"The New Testament presents a healthier model: a church that acts like a family of families. It's well-organized and efficient, but it's more a body than a business. In that body, spiritual matters are not divorced from business matters because everything comes under the lordship of Christ. People matter more than policies. The prevailing corporate values are faith, hope, and love. The bottom line means souls saved, not money saved.",[14,65,66],{},"When churches follow biblical principles of stewardship and all the members use their spiritual gifts, there will be no lack of resources or workers. Then we won't have so many unbalanced leaders trying to do too many things, or mismatched workers who spend the majority of their time doing things that do not fit their gifts, calling, and passion. Ministers called to preach and teach need to quit neglecting prayer and the ministry of the Word. Elders called to shepherd the flock need to get out of the board room and into the lives of their members. Members called to serve need to get off the pew and into the action.",[14,68,69],{},"Churches should follow sound business practices, but we'd better not forget what business we're in. And before we uncritically put on the hat of a secular business model, we'd better remember that Jesus' symbol of leadership wasn't a hat at all, but a towel.",{"title":9,"searchDepth":71,"depth":71,"links":72},2,[],"First Look","2003-08-31","md",null,{},4,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fwhich-hat-to-wear","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":5},"articles\u002Fwhich-hat-to-wear",[86,87,88,89],"Church Leadership","Biblical Theology","Spiritual Formation","Discipleship","eLFb2iyS4JRB2OfQiiSCd3YoXY_jQPET_dMYE7UvRx4",[92,97],{"title":93,"path":94,"stem":95,"description":96,"children":-1},"Wherever We Go","\u002Farticles\u002Fwherever-we-go","articles\u002Fwherever-we-go","God's people have always been on the go, and sometimes the going has been rough.",{"title":98,"path":99,"stem":100,"description":101,"children":-1},"Which Way Is Up?","\u002Farticles\u002Fwhich-way-is-up","articles\u002Fwhich-way-is-up","Poor Thomas. His name has become synonymous with wavering, questioning faith. We label him Doubting Thomas despite the fact that it’s reasonable to ask for evidence before believing, and despite the fact that the rest of the disciples had their doubts too. Thomas wasn’t alone in his skepticism. The other apostles also considered the initial reports of Jesus’ resurrection nonsense until they saw the risen Lord with their own eyes (Luke 24:11)."]