Should Pastors Lead Missional Communties? I recently responded to this question on the www.gcmcollective.com discussion threads (register free).
Why Pastors Should Lead MCs
The short answer is “Yes.” A pastor is an elder-shepherd who should be in regular pastoral contact with communities not just individuals in his church. If not, you are leading people to do something you have never done at a very foundational level of church. It’s not like leading a deacon to do A/V. This is the flesh and blood of church. In order to breath gospel life into the body, we need to be in community and on mission with them. Here are a few other reasons why I think pastors should lead MCs:
- Christological – identifying with your people’s struggles and joys so that you can minister to your leaders effectively is being like Jesus who identifies with us in our struggles and joys. Leading MCs is a powerful way to show people Christ.
- Experiential – you gather wisdom through experienced MC leadership that cannot be found in books. This helps you disciple your leaders with greater wisdom.
- Credibility – you probably have never lead MCs before, so you need the experience to gain credibility
- Discipleship – leaders catch more than they are taught. If you are leading, you are also modeling what it is like to lead, not from the armchair but from the living room and the streets. We need to give our leaders every opportunity to succeed. Begin, not with teaching and training, but modeling MC leadership for them.
- Apostolic/Missional – you should also consider starting new MCs out of nothing, not from Sunday people, but from the missionfield.
Ive lead MCs for 3 years. This has proved invaluable for my growth, insight, and leadership in missional community. I am always learning; never arriving in this. It is inspiring, challenging, messy, hard, painful, grace-giving, transforming, and gospel promoting.
Pastors Don’t Have to Lead MCs All the Time
Now, when I say pastors should lead MCs I am not saying that all pastors should lead MCs all the time. For instance, I recently took a break from leading an MC to invest more time in training elders, MC leaders, and helping my pregnant wife and with our third child. Pastors go through seasons just like everyone else. There will be times when your time should be refocused in other areas for the greater good and health of the church. I recently resumed leading a Pilot MC which has been so good! There’s nothing like spending time with the church to lead the church. It is essential to pastoral and missional ministry. I even think it would be good for pastors of big staff churches who specialized to lead MCs, for all the same reasons. It will keep their niche ministry informed by the basic unit of church–Jesus centered communities on mission. You dont have to always lead, but substantial MC leadership is a must if you are going to lead a church of missional communities.
Click the 10 Tips for MCs for more