Introduction: Ministry in a Divided Society
Ruth Hutchinson

Comment: Conscientious Objector
Adam Turkington

From the Director
David Porter

Christian Perspectives on Reconciliation
Norman Taggart

Ministry in a divided society
1. Pastor John Dickinson
2. Priest Ken Clarke

The Laughing Minister
Graham Cheesman

Forgetting to Remember
Peter Stevenson

Ministry in a divided society
3. Prophet Derek Poole
4. Peacemaker David Porter

Review: A New Start
Heather Morris

< Past Issues Archive

MINISTRY IN A DIVIDED SOCIETY
Part 1: Ministry as Pastor
My wife greeted the news that I was dealing with the subject of Ministry as Pastor with great amusement. “What do you know about pastoral work?”, she asked teasingly. Her question is, however, a good place to start from because it underlines a common misconception as to the significance of the term ‘pastor’. For most people it is someone who makes house calls, and the quality of the ministry is determined by the quantity of the calls. Now whilst visiting people for whom we have a pastoral responsibility is part of the minister’s work, it is not an exhaustive definition of what it means to be a pastor. In fact, it is not too much to say that in the Bible ‘pastor’ or ‘shepherd’, for that is what it means, is the basic leadership model. Moses and David, two of the greatest leaders Israel ever had, were busy looking after sheep when the call of God came to them to lead his people. ‘I was neither a prophet nor a prophet's son,’ said Amos, ‘but I was a shepherd ... the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, “Go, prophesy to my people Israel”.’ Even the Lord Jesus styled himself as ’the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep’.

Certainly, the Bible abounds in leadership roles. The Reformers frequently went back to the three classic Old Testament titles of prophet, priest and king as formative in understanding the offices held by the Saviour and the nature of leadership within the Church. In the New Testament, the terms presbyter and bishop are the key ideas. But in each Testament those occupying these roles are also said to be shepherds or pastors. In Jeremiah 23, for example, the prophets are described by the Lord as 'the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture'. In 1 Peter 5 the apostle addresses himself to elder-bishops exhorting them to 'be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care'.

From all this we can see how important the idea of the shepherd or pastor is when considering biblical leadership. But we can also see that it was not another office within the structure of that leadership. The term refers to the attitude or approach of office-holders. Pastoring is not what we do so much as what we are!

This observation can mean only one thing! Hauerwas and Willimon emphasise this in their book Resident Aliens. The pastor’s role must be defined in the context of the congregation. Where there is no flock there can be no shepherd or pastor. Let me illustrate what I mean. For eighteen months of my life I was a shepherd. When I ministered in a rural parish, a farmer gave my daughter a pet lamb, Rosie Lee. The lamb, as lambs do, became a ewe and with it totally unmanageable. She particularly enjoyed several luscious garden shrubs and frustrated my every effort to fence her in. She had to go and when she did I ceased to be a shepherd.

The parable Jesus told about the shepherd who left the ninety-nine sheep safe in the fold to go and look for the one stray provides a powerful picture of the initiative-taking love of God. And the great celebrations that greeted the return of the stray carried on the shepherd’s shoulders to the safety of the fold have inspired many a stained-glass window. But there is also no doubt that the ninety-nine others and their needs defined the bulk of his time. If this is so, then, what does it mean for the Minister as Pastor?

The Pastor Cares

All manner of sayings and aphorisms become accepted by Christians as if they were gospel truth. Unfortunately, many of them are rubbish. A good example of this is the idea that it is possible to love people without liking them. I find this to be totally weird. My short time as a shepherd taught me that sheep can be stubborn, awkward and easily frightened animals but it is hard not to love them.

When Rosie Lee had reached adult proportions she presented an apprentice shepherd with many problems, not least among them being the search for safe pasture to graze. A large uncut verge outside the manse provided her needs for a time. But for safety’s sake she had to be tethered while she grazed. Her senseless pulling at the tether scourged her neck badly inducing in me anger at her stubborn way, then pity and finally panic as I puzzled over how I could help her. So day after day I applied Germolene and an old terry nappy, treating her like an injured child till the raw cuts healed. And then I understood what Matthew said about the Lord. ‘When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.’ (Matt. 9:36) The Pastor cares.

But caring means much more than sentiment. To underline this Jesus draws a distinction between the behaviour of a shepherd and that of a hired hand. ‘The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.’ (John 10:12,13) Care also means commitment in the face of adversity. It means not running away, even when you want to. The writings of Eugene Peterson on the work of the ministry emphasise the need to stay in the one place for an extended period of time. It is a message central to the idea of pastoring and in these ultra mobile days we do well to remember it.

Of course, care for sheep means something else as well. ‘I am the good shepherd,’ Jesus said. ‘The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.’ (John 10:11) It means sacrifice and the apostle Paul understood it well. ‘I have been crucified with Christ,’ he wrote, ‘and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.’ (Galatians 2:20). This means giving ourselves for the life of the flock. Most of us accept that. But it means something more for the married pastor, as Resident Aliens highlights so well. It means giving our families also. The notion that we can isolate our spouse and our children from the impact of this caring ministry is a fallacy. We may not have to surrender them to the care of a boarding school thousands of miles from our arms, as many foreign missionaries must do. But they must bear with us the ignominy of the gospel and for the pastor this is one of the toughest calls. However, it cannot be ducked because it is part of what caring means.

The Pastor Identifies

Caring in the agricultural realm can be a form of studied detachment. There is a financial incentive in caring for a flock. Well-tended sheep often fetch a better price at market and turn over a healthier profit. Similarly speaking, well-tended members can be the building of a reputation and the key to a better call next time round! Therefore, something more than a mechanical caring is required here.

Jesus touches on this theme when he says, ‘The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out . I know my sheep and my sheep know me.’ (John 10:2-3, 14) Here is an unexpected intimacy, for the farmer knows each one by name. Isn't it significant that when Jesus came to Jericho and stopped to speak to the chief tax collector for the region that he knew the man by name? An observant Jew could hardly be blamed for recalling that in the Old Testament Yahweh described himself as the God who had etched his people's names on the palms of his hands.

Such intimate leadership was the pattern of life for the Saviour who rapidly became known as the ‘friend of tax collectors and sinners’. This fact gives the lie to that other absurd idea that the Pastor must be isolated and insulated from his people. It is an abominable notion that the perfect deliverance of God's Word is one that comes from the study to the pulpit without ‘contamination’ by the people, as if building the church of Jesus Christ was akin to assembling a hard disk!

The Lord Jesus didn't appear to have a problem with sustaining intimate relationships with the people to whom he ministered and nor should we. I remember once sitting with some Orangemen at a Twelfth demonstration in circumstances where tempers were frayed as a result of police action on the night before. The press, looking for an interview with someone, were questioning the local minister who was not himself an Orangeman. Turning from him to the local district master, they asked for a further comment. The District Master replied without hesitation: “Whatever my minister says, he speaks for me”.

Here was a confidence born of sheep who knew their shepherd. And there is a big challenge here. People, perhaps especially in the Protestant community in Northern Ireland, feel that the church has abandoned them. At the same time, Catholics often experience Protestant churches as anti-Catholic institutions. How can we cure both these ills at the same time? And yet we must, or else we will simply be what we are expected to be! Identifying with people is the clue to this.

The Pastor Leads

There is a marvellous story in Resident Aliens of the bus company who surveyed their customers only to discover that what people wanted was cordiality and politeness from the drivers. This insight caused the company to review its training programme. Such a survey carried out in the church would probably reveal no lack of cordiality and politeness on the part of the leadership. The question is, however, has anyone got a clue how to get the church from A to B?

Speaking of pastoring Jesus said, ‘He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own he goes ahead of them and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger’. (John 10:2-5) In the shepherd psalm David says something similar when describing the role of the pastor, ‘He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters’. (Psalm 23:2)

Now this is a scary task. I well remember my early days as a pastor in Belfast. I had a Kirk Session who was ready to accept a lead from a minister who hadn't a clue himself where he should be taking them. Being a shepherd means finding pasture and water for a flock and such a need can only be fulfilled by movement. The sheep have to be taken to fresh water and grass. This task involves three great dangers of which we must be conscious.

Firstly, we take the flock where we want to go. Fathers become experienced at this routine, especially when the family is on holiday. Its amazing how, either by direct order or indirect manipulation, children can be persuaded that they want to do things which in reality are the selfish desires of the grown ups in the party. Sadly, the church can be run in the same way when in fact the skill is to discern where the Spirit wants us to go. I used to think that this was bunkum! What new things were there to know when we have the Bible? Now I see, however, that there is no escaping the onerous task of deciphering what that Word says about the things God is about now, rather than thirty or for that matter, three hundred years ago!

Secondly, there is the danger that the shepherd becomes a bully and a dictator. The New Testament is unequivocal in identifying such developments with worldly styles of leadership, which have no place in the kingdom of God. In addressing the elders Peter writes: ‘... not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock’ (1 Peter 5:3). And the Lord Jesus makes it even clearer. ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant’ (Matthew 20:25-26). Pastoring means rolling up your own sleeves and getting your own hands dirty! Lastly, leaders fail by simply taking people where they want to go. ‘The time will come,’ Paul warns Timothy, ‘when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.’ (2 Timothy 4:3) The reality is that most people want to go nowhere and that is especially true in Northern Ireland in both the religious and political spheres. It is imperative that the pastors get them moving or else they will die of starvation and thirst.

John Dickinson - minister of Seaview Presbyterian Church, Belfast.