In my former denomination, the common practice for pastoral searches is for the bishop to meet with the church board to discuss what they are looking for in a pastor. The process often takes weeks to complete, as competing factions and differing desires have to be taken into account. But the bottom line is finding the "right fit" for that particular church.
It makes sense, in a way, since it is desirable for the pastor and congregation to mesh. One wants to take a particular pastor's gifts and personality into account in assigning pastoral responsibility. But as I've observed this process in action, it too often amounts to "what do these people want?" "What sort of pastor are they looking for?" I had a conversation with a Lutheran bishop more recently, and he made the comment, "well, yes, preaching is a good thing, but I have a lot of small churches to keep running and I need pastors who'll be accepted by them." Preaching is a "good thing," but what really matters is to keep the churches running; this trumps all other considerations.
Of course, it could be framed in another way: "I need pastors who can nurture these particular people toward spiritual maturity"; or "I need pastors who are equipped to address the problems in this church." These are legitimate considerations. But the focus was not on nurturing people or on addressing problems; it was on running the business of the church, keeping the people happy (because, let's be honest, leading people toward spiritual maturity and addressing problems often leads to short-term unhappiness).
The problem with looking for a perfect fit is that what a church needs may be a pastor who is out of step with the congregation, who is not just like them, who is able to introduce them to a larger world of Christian possibilities. Chesterton says this about saints: "The Saint is a medicine because he is an antidote. Indeed that is why the saint is often a martyr; he is mistaken for a poison because he is an antidote. He will generally be found restoring the world to sanity by exaggerating whatever the world neglects, which is by no means always the same element in every age.... Christ did not tell his apostles that they were only the excellent people, or the only excellent people, but that they were the exceptional people; the permanently incongruous and incompatible people; and the text about the salt of the earth is really as sharp and shrewd and tart as the taste of salt. It is because they were the exceptional people, that they must not lose their exceptional quality.... If the world grows too worldly, it can be rebuked by the Church; but if the Church grows too worldly, it cannot be adequately rebuked for worldliness by the world" (Saint Thomas Aquinas, pp.22-23).
When I've attended gatherings of pastors, too few of them have been exceptional people in the way Chesterton describes. Becoming "incongruous and incompatible" would be unthinkable for them; they were too busy trying to be relevant, trying to show that they were in step with the world. For the most part, at such gatherings, I've felt like I was at a managerial conference or a sales convention. Seminary training and denominational expectations have pressed pastors into that mold so they'll be equipped to keep the church running at all costs. But I suspect there are more important things than keeping the church running.
Here's how the apostle Paul describes his ministry: "We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy which so powerfully works in me" (Colossians 1:28-29). Not keeping the business of the church running, but aiming to lead believers to spiritual maturity (many of whom do not want to become mature and need to be admonished). God's will for a particular congregation is often just the opposite of what seems most prudent from the outlook of a North American, pragmatic, business perspective. "Therefore it is the paradox of history that each generation is converted by the saint who contradicts it most" (Chesterton, p. 23).
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