Behind the Curtain

The Open Church by James H. Rutz was published in 1992. Rutz and contributing writer Gene Edwards encourage pastors in “closed churches” to begin the process of opening up their services to the laity. I’ve read other books written in this same time period that also encourage institutional churches to do the same or add cell groups. Unfortunately it never caught on and doesn’t seem to work. The book does have some great historical content and I enjoyed the excerpt below written by Gene Edwards.

The modern concept of the pastor grew out of Wittenberg, Germany, and was but an adaptation of the pastoral duties of a priest! If you aren’t shocked, you sure ought to be.

From that day on, people have written literally millions of books on every theological issue conceivable to the mind of man, yet almost no one has closely questioned the Biblical basis for the all-in-one pastor, a superior being who operates as the heart and soul of the church. He is just there. I repeat, he was not born as a result of profound scriptural study. He just grew like Topsy out of the swirl of events in Wittenberg from 1525 to 1540. Before that he never existed, nor was he ever dreamed of.

In all of the millions of debates in church history, there has not been so much as one day of controversy over his scriptural right to exist! Yet there is not one verse of Scripture in the New Testament that describes such a creature, and only one verse that even uses the term “pastors” (Ephesians 4:11). Nonetheless, he is the center of the practice of Protestant Christianity.

One of the most fascinating things about the modern day practice of the CEO/pastor is that ministers seem to know-or sense-that their job is non-scriptural. As a pastor, then later as an evangelist, and until this very hour, I have brought up this question to scores of fellow ministers: “Where is the practice of a pastor in Scripture? I cannot find it.” The most reaction I have ever received was either agreement or a resigned shrug! No honest pastor will defend the role of today’s pastorate in light of the New Testament.

Today’s version of Protestantism rests on the concept and practice of the pastor, but he exists nowhere in New Testament Scripture. Yet ironically, he’s the fellow we hire and put in the pulpit to call us all to be faithful to the Bible! O Consistency, where are thy children?

I’m throwing in this extra little section at no additional charge. Call it “the confessions of a minister who hated being a pastor”!

Please do not look upon these examples as indicative of any lingering pique remaining from my years in the pastorate. Whatever traumas I may have suffered as a pastor have long since been faced, forgiven, and nearly forgotten. Besides, I gave up grumbling for lent!

The snapshots below are only to show you how the theoretical problems of an unscriptural pastorate have real-life consequences…

1-“Ladies and gentlemen, this evening we are gathered together to see the hockey team from Montreal get out here and murder the hockey team from Seattle. They’re going to beat one another senseless with clubs and sticks and knock one another over and hit each other. Also there will be riots in the stands. But just before that happens, we’re going to have the pastor of the First Baptist Church come and lead us in prayer.”

(Have you ever tried to think up a prayer for two groups of men who are about to kill one another over a hockey puck?)

2-The local businessmen’s club is about to start…amid chaos, noise, dirty jokes, swearing, bragging, and cocktails. Then the announcement: “Will Reverend Edwards please lead us in prayer?” And 1.001 seconds after the prayer, the carousing resumes.

But that pales in the presence of number three:

3-“Hello, pastor. Uncle Kurt died this morning. I’d like you to do his funeral Tuesday.” (“Who is Uncle Kurt?” I wanted to ask!) My reply: “Why, of course, sister. What time will it be?” (I have to say that. I’m a pastor. We alone bury the dead. I know: It’s not in Scripture; it’s a Catholic practice brought over from heathenism. Nonetheless, we Protestant preachers bury the dead. We dare not do otherwise!)

The reply I wanted to give: “I’m sorry, that just wouldn’t be right. I never did know him very well, and for the life of me, I can’t think of a single kind word to say about the old hypocrite. Let someone in your family do it. Let a neighbor do it. Preaching over the corpse of a man who may well be on his way down, not up, is something I refuse to do. Plus, funeral services are a holdover from Old Testament and pagan customs, anyway. Christians didn’t even have funerals in New Testament times.” (Burials and mourning, yes; funerals, no.)

Why didn’t I say that? Because that reply would have won me first place in the unemployment line within 24 hours.

4-“The Democratic Party this evening is gathered to hear the Honorable Sam Squeak speak, and now will Reverend Edwards lead us in prayer?” Maybe Reverend Edwards is a Republican, but he still has to pray. Why? Because he is a pastor. That’s what pastors do.

But even worse is number five:

5-The telephone rings, and a devout Sunday morning attendee says, “Pastor, my daughter wants to talk to Santa Claus. Be Santa Claus for my daughter. Here she is.”

A little bitty voice asks, “Is this Santa Claus?” And for five minutes I play Santa Claus on the telephone. My salary of $55 a week and a parsonage depend on it!

How would you like to have to do things like this? And wear a suit at all times except in the shower or in bed?…See your wife and kids subjected to constant, town-wide scrutiny?…Never be allowed to be angry, depressed, short-tempered?…Be required to talk piously all day long and do and say some of the most stupid things imaginable? It’s all part of the job description. But it is not in the Scriptures.

There is not an honest man alive today in the ministry that has not wished to unload and drop this whole masquerade and be an ordinary human being. None of this has anything to do with the Christian faith. In fact, the Christian faith stood against this kind of thing for the first few centuries.

But number six is the darkest snapshot of all!…

6-A conversation that is a blend of many true incidents: The telephone rings. “Hi, Pastor, this is Benedict. Pastor, my wife and I just want you to know that we love you so much.”

“Thanks so much, Benedict. You’re a fine person to say so. God love you, brother, for so thoughtful a nature.”

“Pastor, we’re going on vacation to the French Alps for the next month, and we have a country retreat house out on the lake. Lulu and I just wanted you to know that it’s yours every week while we’re gone. You can take your family out there, and rest and pray and enjoy it.”

“Why, Benedict, that’s the most gracious and Christian thing a person could do. God bless you, dear brother. My wife and I think so highly of you.”

They both hang up. Each has-knowingly-“scratched the other’s back.”

Benedict feels all warm inside, knowing God must love him because the pastor does. The pastor hangs up knowing he has gotten something out of another layman with the scepter of religious blessing. It feels so good, and the rich seem to need it more than the poor do. (Maybe they have a guilt complex about being rich?)

This kind of co-dependent relationship sometimes grows up between pastors and laymen (even poor ones) to the point it almost becomes a science. I, the pastor, bless you, the layman; that means God loves you. You, the layman, bless me (and buy God’s favor) by giving me gifts, special attention, special meals-and sometimes a weekend retreat house. You, the layman, become a sycophant, treating me as someone special. And I, the pastor, use my sacred call from God for ego gratification or material gain. While this sort of thing goes on, reality lives in some other part of the world-and heaven weeps while hell chuckles.

Symbiotic relationships will continue as long as we have a rigid division between clergy and laity. Psychologically, in fact, this just might be the main reason we have a hired servant of God and an endowing laity: so that laymen can shirt tail into God’s favor without doing all the heavy work!

If open church life is ever to be widely known on earth, the whole mentality that spawned the modern CEO/pastor/priest role must go. It demeans the layman and exalts the pastor-at the expense of God.