Ministry Models: Pastoral Ministry

This is the second of three posts describing some of the "ministry models" we have in view for the combined Grace-Crossroads church.

The colored bar, with Andrew leading as Senior Pastor, is meant to show that there is a collection of pastors, elders and interns serving together as a team, with each person focusing particularly on the needs at a given site, but several instances where someone is also responsible for a church-wide ministry, such as singles, or Kingdom Groups, or married couples. This team concept is an important benefit of the merger, which is noted below. The rest of this post is a description of the Pastoral Ministry model from Andrew:

One of the most frequent questions that I hear as we continue looking into the feasibility of this merger has to do with the issue of pastoral care. The question comes in several variations, but let me list the most common of them:

1. Can Andrew/Mark take on additional responsibilities?
2. Will people be properly shepherded?
3. Who will be my pastor?

These are just three versions of a broad set of related questions, and they are all good and get at a basic need that we all have, which is to be pastored. While I will give some answers below, keep in mind that everything is dynamic and some things will become clearer as we move into an actual merged state. That said …

1. Can Andrew/Mark take on additional responsibilities?

The answer to the above question is no, we really can’t. Our plates are pretty full right now as it is. Which is one of the reasons the proposed pastoral ministry model is appealing to us. In the proposed model, the ministry team is expanded to include not only Mark and Andrew, but also Dan Song, Brad Mathews part/time, a slot for a part time person on the Olivette side, along with a slate of interns. Each of those people would have a fairly specific job description. Mine (Andrew’s) would include things like preaching/teaching, shepherding the officers, moderating the session, providing leadership for the ministry, and being involved in pastoral care as needed. Mark would coordinate pastoral care for the Maplewood congregation, facilitate a couple of as yet undetermined ministry teams, be involved in the community, and preach and teach as needed. Dan would mirror that on the Olivette side. With part-timers picking off specific responsibilities (ex. Brad Matthews – KG’s).

When looked at this way it is less unspecified and the question becomes “can Andrew, Mark, Dan, etc… do their job description?” We believe the answer to that is yes.

2. Will people be properly shepherded?

This is a great question. And it reflects a high value for people, as well as the leadership of both Grace and Crossroads. Again, looking at the pastoral ministry model, we see coverage for all categories of people. Andrew will be spending a lot of time with leaders nurturing them and filling them so they in turn can do ministry. Mark and Dan will be working with their ministry teams as well as at-large needs at the respective sites, Brad will work with KG leaders, etc… It is our hope that this model, with both general care, and focused care on leaders give us good coverage. Of course, as we invest in leaders, that flows out in elders' increased ability to shepherd; similarly for deacons, KG leaders, etc…

From a pure numbers standpoint we would have three full time pastors, two part time pastors, plus a number of interns. This gives us the equivalent of 4+ full time pastors for a congregation that should number somewhere around 350. The experts say that you should have 1 pastor for every 100 people; thus, our model puts us well within that range.

3. Who will be my pastor?

In some ways this has already been answered. If you are involved in a ministry you will have natural relationships with the one leading that ministry. At a particular site one can look to Dan or Mark. In overarching ways Andrew will be your pastor. You will also have Elders and KG leaders who will be shepherding you. And there is the ministry of the saints that we do one for another.

Instead of looking for a pastor singular, it might be beneficial to see the model being proposed as a true team model. Frankly, this is one of the things that gets those in the pastoral ministry excited. We have more resources to draw on to give the best care possible. As camaraderie and fellowship are practiced among us, we are refreshed and encouraged and less prone to burn-out.

In closing we know that this is an important question. I hope these answers have been somewhat helpful. Please be assured that this question is as important to those in leadership as it is to you.