CREEDE HINSHAW: Pastors must manage church’s competing interests

The Wall Street Journal (Sept. 30, Page A9) carried a lengthy article by Francis X. Rocca with this headline: Pope Faces Test of Authority on Two Fronts. The main thrust of the report concerned the competing conservative and liberal side of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church.

There are dueling constituencies (though not equally balanced) when it comes to abortion, the inclusion of women in the priesthood, same-sex marriage and how to fix the church bureaucracy. Pope Francis is trying to keep these constituencies in harmony in a very careful dance. His every word, every pronouncement, probably every smile is carefully examined and interpreted for nuance. This dedicated leader will be criticized by somebody no matter what he says or does.

That same article could basically be written about the pastor of any church anywhere. I suppose a few churches are so doctrinally “pure” or politically and sociologically homogeneous that conflict is absent. But I suspect even the congregation that considers itself to be of one mind is — below the surface — full of competing interests and understandings. Where two or three are gathered there will be factions.

Almost every local church contains those who want to balance the budget and those who want to spend extravagantly as Jesus gave himself extravagantly. Some members demand the Bible be taught conservatively while others expect the Bible to be interpreted more expansively. There are liberals, conservatives, spendthrifts, misers. Some leaders are cautious while others are bold. Some will draw their defining line in one place, others in another, while a third group gets upset by those who draw lines. People of prayer want more spirituality, while people geared for action want more fruits of God’s love.

Every pastor must somehow balance these concerns. Even Jesus at times had to ride herd over a group of 12 not-always-unified disciples.

Last month I had an interesting conversation with a dogwalker in Berea, Ky., where my wife and I were staying overnight at the historic Boone Tavern Hotel. We often stop there on the way to visit children who live in Columbus, Ohio.

This friendly gentleman, a real ambassador for Berea, greeted us as we were coming out of the hotel. I learned that he had been – for eight years – the city manager of Berea. When I told him I understood what his biggest job was, he braced for my observation. But a huge smile crossed his face when I told him his biggest task was managing the competing interests of the people in the city. He said almost nobody appreciated that challenging aspect of the job.

I understood this to be his primary task because of my long experience as pastor in a local church. Preaching is important; so is teaching and training people. But none of these roles will long succeed if a pastor cannot manage him or herself and other people. One doesn’t have to be Pope Francis or a city manager to know every pastor must first please God and then help the church move in the same direction.