“You’re the reason I’m here, pastor.”
This one sentence is a good warning sign to be on the lookout for a growing “pastor cult.” Now, if you’ve ever heard yourself utter this line – don’t worry, it doesn’t mean you’re worshiping in the local pastor cult (rest assured, I’ve said this line from time to time in my own life as a Christian). When you start hearing a rash of such comments, however, take a step back and take a loving look at your pastor’s warts for a bit. It will bring you all back to earth.
Pastor cults form when both the pastor and congregation agree that a pastor should be on a pedastool. Whether it be because of personal fame, success at “growing the Church,” or preaching that impresses is irrelevant. When congregations conspire (usually unknowingly) to set their pastor up as an idol it can have some nasty side-effects. The most public effects occur when pastors are considered to be “above question” – financial improprieties and sexual failings are two big problems here. Less public effects (though no less harmful) happen when the pastor cult divides the congregation between cult members (who soak up ever word a pastor says) and “dissenters” (who either disagree with the pastor or ask inconvenient questions).
There’s reasons why congregations (inadvertently) set up pastor cults. First, pastor cults often appear to be beneficial to congregations – people who are willing to join the “cult” often swell numbers and give the appearance of congregational success. Second, pastors are often insecure about their place in the very congregations they pastor – and the “cult” grants them a level of affirmation that is often unobtainable through othe means (with the ironic side-effect that it decreases intimacy with the congregation at the same time).
Pastor cults, like any idolatrous relationship, are bad things. Rather than a healthy relationship in the Church where pastor and laity each image Jesus to and for each other – the pastor becomes a idol that inevitably replaces Christ as the head of the Church. When a congregation forgets who is really at it’s head, it loses the ability (or even desire) to communicate the Gospel – in fact, it ceases to be part of the Church.
I’ve seen people try to form such cults around pastors I’ve worked with – and I’ve had people in both the congregations I’ve served try to set me up in such a role (they have always left the Church unhappy). I really don’t have time for that type of foolishness – I tend to wear my warts on my sleeve (pretensious pastors tend to grate on my nerves), so I tend to derail any attempts to set up a pastor cult around me through my own foibles long before they get off the ground. I could, however, be over-estimating my ability to blow up pastor cults – so let me share some of my warts with the world. I share these because I’ve been getting “rave reviews” for a pastoral role I filled this week – I kinda want to take myself down a notch. (more…)
