Some writing invitations feel like an offer to walk through a minefield. The title for this article, which was given to me, should tell the reader that’s exactly how the invitation to write this piece felt. What do I as an associate pastor wish the senior pastor knew? I’m sure no one will try to pick though this article looking for veiled criticisms and complaints against my boss. Which editor at 9Marks do I thank for setting me up?
So let me state up front: I love my church and the pastor I currently serve. But I’ve been around churches long enough, and have enough friends in church staff positions, to have picked up on a number of tendencies worth noting.
Here, then, are a few thoughts for the senior pastors and would-be senior pastors out there who work or will work with associate pastors.
YOU ARE NOT AN ISLAND
The first is that you are not an island, so don’t think that the uniqueness of your role somehow isolates you from others.
Senior pastors have a special and wonderful role in Christ’s church, but like folks in leadership everywhere, they face a sinister temptation to massively overvalue their uniqueness in a way that isolates them from accountability and input and burden-sharing. Keep Reading...
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