A school is a perfect picture of the role of the local church pastor. His goal, his fulfillment, his joy should be in the training and release of the people God gave him. Some will then leave, some will stay to work through the church. But they will all be equipped and released into their purpose. For some, their purpose will be to work in the church in the preparation and release of those whose destiny will take them far away. In any case, the people will know their role and feel a great sense of satisfaction and fulfillment in that they are doing what God has them to do.

  This not to say that local pastors cannot have an international ministry, but when the local church is merely a financial crutch and personal work force that sustains the personal ministry of the pastor, these saints are being misused and robbed of their own purpose on God.

 It is too easy to dismiss those who are frustrated as rebellious and stubborn. If the truth be told, it is often the pastor who is more concerned with holding onto those who should be ‘graduating’ and God is sending away that causes much of the problem. 

  How absurd would it be for the principal of a university to refuse diplomas to those who had completed the course? How long would he have his job? How many new people would come to a university that never graduated its students? The church Jesus is building is a way-station, a school, where God sends His people to be prepared to go change the world. But we have made it into a Black Hole, where no one gets out, except in pieces. But that is another blog.

  The pastor needs to decide whether or not he is really a pastor. Of course, a local congregation is good financial security for the pastor who really has another burden, another vision, another calling. It is easier to exact a salary and travel expenses for a local church than to do it the old fashioned way—earn it. 

  The pastor needs to do what is on his heart to do. Is he a pastor? Then his time, energy and anointing need to be centered upon the people he is called to prepare. Maybe the pastor’s calling is to win the world for the Lord, maybe it to minister to unwed mothers, Christian education or political activities. Maybe he is a prophet or a church planter. Any of these callings and passions are awesome indeed, but when they are confused with the real mission of the New Testament pastor, the people are the ones abused and sidetracked from their basic need: to be equipped into their calling and launched into their ministry.

  The vision of the New Testament pastor should be to build the people to do the work of the ministry God has called them to do. Where there are true pastors, there is a flow of people through the church, coming in to be prepared and going out to change the world.

This most sacred institution of the church is about to change. Not by man, for he will resist every notion and attempt to alter the role of the local pastor. Nonetheless, the Holy Spirit, whose role is to magnify and unveil Jesus in the hearts of God’s people, is at work to release both pastor and people into the glorious role God intended for them from the beginning.

  I know, everything inside of you is probably so tired of the continuous drone concerning the following few verses. I personally do not need one more Bible study on the five-fold ministry. I would much rather see a demonstration of genuine love, mercy and compassion toward God’s people, without hidden agendas, which would, by the way, be much more convincing than all the studies (and books) that exist to this point.

  But give me chance. I just might have some words that can truly set you free from so many false expectations and wrong assumptions of the role of the pastor.

(Eph 4:11 to 13) “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

  It is amazing to me that the role of the pastor has so much diversity from denomination to denomination. However, a few things are predictably the same: Win the neighborhood, the city and world for Christ; keep the people coming; keep them working; keep them giving. This ultimately insures the continuation of the local congregation as well as the national bureaucratic behemoth that grows up to “take care” of the local churches. The primary goal is the continuation of the denomination into the next generation. Thus, the methods employed are intended to provide the smooth transition as the leadership baton is passed on.

 The value of the people, in this denominational/personal agenda model is determined by their contribution to the overall vision and desires of the pastor and/or larger organization.

I wonder if we are willing to look carefully at what the vision of the local pastor should really be.

Other than these responsibilities, the pastor has the freedom, in most arenas, to build his own dream with the people coming along to finance and work out the details of what God has shown the pastor to do.

But this is not New Testament pattern.

The pastor’s role was to equip the saints, not use the saints. The New Testament pastor is to encourage and empower the saints, not drain them of their resources and sap them of the anointing God gave them, using them for his personal plans and dreams. .

I know that the local congregation can provide a good base of operations. It has incredible potential to finance whatever personal ministry the pastor seems to have beyond the local work.

But the New Testament pattern is much different. This pattern has the focus on the preparation and release of the people. It focuses on discovering the dream and the anointing God has for His people and preparing them to respond to Him in that dream’s fulfillment.

Please stay with me for a minute. The pastor is much like the principal of a school. The principal understands that the students come to go. They come to be educated and equipped and then sent to the four winds to do what burns on their heart to do. The real fulfillment of the principal is the release of those who come to be prepared to go. The highlight of the principal is releasing those whom he has touched, counseled, strengthened and encouraged to go after their dream. .

The principal lives to see the students released to change the world. His reputation as a principal, indeed, the reputation of the school depends on the successful release of the students into their dreams. .

The true work of the school can only be fulfilled when the principal’s undivided attention is given to those in his or her care. If the principal has any other ambition than the preparation and release of the students, he is really not a principal at all. The students, the school and the world all suffer. The lack of premium education that can only be accomplished by the leaders’ undivided attention becomes an extreme point of frustration to the students.The church Jesus is building is no different. But in the man-centered church system, success is measured, not by those who graduate and move on, but by the size of the church and the pastor’s ability to fulfill his own destiny.

  Your prayers are telling of your frustration.

 “Lord, How can I flow in such anointing and yet fall so short of who I should be? Why can I pray so successfully for others while precious little seems to work for me?”

 But I can hear you thoughts. “ Truth is, I probably failed one too many times. Truth is, I am probably an ‘interim servant’. He will use me for others but I am not worth cleaning up again or forgiving again or loving again. As soon as someone comes along who is better than I am, holier, softer, stronger, cleaner, He will most certainly cast me aside and I will get what I truly deserve.

“Can there be another way to account for such silence from heaven?”  

“Yes, there is another way.” Your self-condemning thoughts are mercifully interrupted by the Word of the Lord.

“The anointing of the Holy Place is for others, The Presence beyond your humanity is for you.” 

“Could you say that again, Lord.?”

“The anointing that flows through the candlesticks of the Holy Place brings light, warmth and healing for those who are passing through its corridors. It displays the reality of what lies just beyond the veil of our own humanity in His Manifest Presence. 

“In the same way, My light, warmth and healing flows through you to those in need. God’s love through you points to a higher place, a greater reality. It points to a priesthood reserved for those who are willing to see beyond the humanity of those who minister in part, and into My Presence. Folks who cannot see beyond your human frailty can neither see beyond their own. They cannot be merciful because they have not understood their own need for mercy. They remain prisoners of their own flesh and will be forever trapped in the Holy Place, just short of My glory. Folks who cannot ask forgiveness for themselves can never forgive another. It is a human paradox. When one is unwilling to see the fleshy nature within himself, all he can see is the flesh of another. Grace and mercy are blinded to him. In fact, it is impossible to refrain from being judgmental until you have truthfully and honestly judged yourself. That is why it is best to love, and leaving the judging to Me. 

“Your personal wholeness comes from the Throne of mercy and the pulsating Presence of My love that rests upon the Throne, the Mercy Seat, within the Most Holy Place. Why do you think I sit on the Mercy Seat? Why do you think the Mercy Seat is on the Ark of the Covenant? The Ark contains the evidence of My faithfulness to every generation of humanity since it was built. 

Come to Me, to the power of my Presence, and I will make your enemies a footstool for your feet. For wholeness does not come with the multitudes of those for whom you give so much. It does not flow out of the power of your anointing. Wholeness comes when you trust Me enough to enter My Presence covered with the Blood, until the power of my love transforms you.

Your anointing is for others, My Manifest Presence is for you.

   “In the Name of Jesus”, you quietly whisper as your hand lays gently on the brow of this young woman. Silently, quietly, you wait as faith continues to build in your heart. You know she will be healed. You have become accustomed to God responding to your prayers for healing. In fact, you have become known as one who has faith to bring healing to even the most terrible of diseases. It seems all it takes for faith to flow through heart and the anointing to be released is the love and compassion of Jesus to overwhelm you. There is no formula, no pattern, no standard prayer.

 Watching the anointing flow through you is the most rewarding experience you have ever had and equally unexplainable. It is truly better to give than it is to receive. Knowing that He is using you to change another’s life, to see someone respond to His love has no words to explain its sense of wonder and gratitude within. 

 But that does not make it easier to dismiss the struggle of your own heart. Watching so many others healed does not settle the storm in your own spirit. The war within rages with each one you pray for and with each one who is healed. Of course, you rejoice with them . Of course, you are thankful for the anointing that flows regardless of who a person is or what they have or have not accomplished in life. You have seen fevers leave the smallest infant and the back of a ninety year old woman restored before your very eyes. You have seen marriages transformed and run-away children come home after the briefest of prayers. Still, the cry of your soul is relentless. The ache within is not even touched by all that you have seen, even at your own hands. It is not that you are ungrateful. That would be absurd. You are clearly overwhelmed at the power and love of God that others experience through you. You are baffled at being such a powerful instrument in the Hand of the Lord when there is so much within that causes you to question, to wonder; so much that resists Him and His ways. And, to be very honest, you wonder why so many are healed, so many are set free at the prayers you pray on their behalf, while you seem to be more broken than ever. How can it be that you are used for the eternal benefit of others while you are clearly less able, less worthy, less capable than most for whom you pray. 

 “How can the same anointing that flows through me for the healing and benefit of others have no effect on the one through whom the anointing flows?”

 You have prayed for countless folks who have been healed immediately while no prayer seems to help you. You have prayed prayers of deliverance over many who have been set free from whatever afflicted them, while you still bleed with fear and sorrow over things from which you cannot find freedom. 

 You thought you would be satisfied when God used you as He is using you. You thought that when more and more people were recognizing you, respecting you that you would be the happiest person. But that is not what has happened. You are plagued by the issues of your own humanity, tormented by the things thought long gone and forgotten. You heart yearns for Him, not for recognition or respect. Your heart yearns for union with Him. But surely He must not be pleased with you. Surely He is using you because there is no one else available, no one else willing, no one else cleaner than you. That must be it.

 I have performed many weddings over the years of my ministry. I have been invited to countless rehearsal parties, dozens of receptions and even a few bachelor parties. But there is one place I have never been invited. There is one place where three is a crowd, indeed. That place would be the bridal chamber! It is the place of complete union. It is, I dare say, the holiest place of all! It is sacred and precious. It is intimate and profound. There, all inhibitions and fears are released in a crescendo of hope and vulnerability to one another. It is where the will of one is released to the will of another in the expectation, assurance and full conviction that what can be accomplished by being two can most certainly be exponentially increased by being one.  

If this be true in the natural, how much more in the Spirit? Please remember “This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.” (Eph 5:32) 

The holiest place in all the universe is where mere mortal man chooses to trust the Lord Jesus with real union. It is where we lay down our will, our plans and our hopes to take on the will of God. This is not ‘getting saved’, it is a solemn recognition that His ways are higher than ours and we will trust Him more than we will trust ourselves. Just like a marriage, trusting Him is not a one time event, it is a daily, consistent yielding to His loving plans for our lives.  

The most precious and most powerful thing we possess in this world and in the spirit world is our free will. It is more powerful than God’s will, for it is the only thing that can successfully prevent God’s plan from coming to pass in our lives each day. With our free will, we either yield to union or prevent it. We either invite the mercy of God or we reject it. 

It should now be coming clearer as to why the church system cannot co-exist with the Church that Jesus is building. They are at polar opposites in desire, purpose and function. The system points to its own self-perpetuation, building and securing its own future through whatever means necessary. The church Jesus is building will always release God’s people to their own destiny in Christ, with mercy, favor and true power to accomplish one goal: to establish only one Kingdom in the earth, His.