“If the holy spirit were pastor of a church, what would that church look like?” I thought it was a great question. Perhaps, somehow, theologically speaking, He already is the pastor of a church. Not sure how that works.
Regardless, though, the vision I got was of a pastor who sees his or herself as a pastor to pastors. What I mean is, a pastor who spends Sunday equipping the congregation to be pastors themselves, that is to baptize people through the week, perhaps in their home swimming pools, to guide people through communion, perhaps around their own dinner tables, to teach the Bible to their friends and neighbors, to sing together in their homes, to make meals and share them with the sick and so forth. Then, on Sunday, “pastors” could gather to encourage each other and share stories about their own “churches” in the world. I even imagined buying a bunch of little sheriff badges so a pastor could “deputize” their congregations as priests in God’s kingdom, answering to the Holy Spirit and doing the work of Jesus directly....
And I think in a decade or so, it would be beautiful if a shift happened in our cultures, where pastors played more the role of Gandolf or Yoda (I’m not new age! Don’t attack me!) and saw their congregations as young, struggling heroes, scared to death but with a massive responsibility to be priests in the kingdom of God. What if we really were called to that kind of adventure and at church we were being equipped to do pastoral work, to have authority and agency? " (Donald Miller)
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