Categories of Ministers

It seems to me there are many kinds of ministers, even in the context of the Bible.

There are the John the Baptist types, who are out there stirring up the waters, churning souls out of the mire to come up to the surface and see the light of day.  They touch on the political and cultural issues of the day, and often get in trouble with the State, not because they are preoccupied with "change", but because it is the way to make people see their need for Jesus Christ.  HE is their one preoccupation and joy.

There are the Jeremiah types, who weep their eyes out and prophesy for a nation that is too far gone to save. They care when everyone else has given up, and continue faithfully preaching even if they are cast out and rejected by the Establishment and the Church.  The are shepherds who stay with the sheep of God, through the times of persecution and exile.

There are the St. Paul types, who dig deep into the theological and write to challenge the future generations, all the while preaching the simplest and plainest "Christ crucified" to the present generation.  These are the missionaries, the front-line apostles ("sent ones"), who have given up careers and honors to reach every corner of the world, who are not content to sit in a well-established church while one person somewhere out there has not heard the gospel.

Simon Peter types are the fatherly, wonderful saints who are full of faith, and are salt to their community, growing and helping others to grow in the Lord's precious Church.  They possess a humility and gentleness that excels all, like Moses, and yet are powerful and effective at leading and proclaiming the simple Gospel, despite their lack of formal training and gifts.  In their weakness God is glorified greatly.

James types are the ones who are able to lead other ministers and effect reconciliation where division has arisen.  They are ready to die for their faith, and encourage others to the same level of faith. They are able to raise up leaders in their wake, and leave behind a stronger church than they found.

Of course there are also those who are like Jesus Christ.  They strive to be always in prayer, depending on God's power alone, and are ever visiting, preaching, healing, doing whatever their hand finds to do, but ever retreating back to the wilderness for time alone with the Father.  They are not generally popular at all, but extremely effective in lifting the outcasts, encouraging the weak, and making the rich and powerful angry. They often are disappointed by those they love deeply, and left waiting outside.

These are the types we all strive to emulate.

Other kinds of ministers have arisen along the way who are of a different sort: these are categories I will avoid naming after persons, as I should not be the one to sully their names.

I'll just call this first category the Rock Star. These say what people want to hear, and usually achieve popularity on par with rock stars.  They are silken-tongued in the pulpit, happily married, successful in life; they are winsome and happy in all men's eyes.   But by failing to preach Christ crucified and the essential doctrines of the Gospel, they weaken the Church.  Over time, though they grow in popularity and their church grows in number, the people are eviscerated entirely in their souls.  Instead of obedience, there is only conformity, "unity" if you like, and a false sense of righteousness that is very much like that of the Pharisees.

Then there is a category that is characterized by belligerence and a preoccupation with politics and cultural issues. We can call this minister the Four-Star General.  This type is well portrayed by Robert Duvall in the 1997 film The Apostle.  Everything is warfare and political strife and saving the church, community or country from conspirators and sinners in high places. This kind of minister is, in short, distracted from the important spiritual warfare of proclaiming the Gospel, by the diversionary skirmishes of cultural warfare.

Just today I read a blog by such a "coach".  He started off well, even quoted Charles Finney's blaming of the pulpit: "If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it."  He wants Jesus to be his drill sergeant, not his wet-nurse, he says, even though God describes himself exactly as a shepherd, feeding the lambs (perhaps with a bottle), and as some of the other types he denigrates.  While many of his accusations against the ministers of our day are true, he gives the impression he thinks any minister who doesn't fit into his own particular category, isn't worth his salt.   While this type of minister, many of them, have good and healthy ministries, many are obsessed with the Dark Side, it seems, and liable to "go over to the Dark Side" in their striving with it.  Like Duvall's character, they soon stumble and wreck their ministries and their own lives.

Since I work in data analytics, I often find such categories enigmatic because they are not exclusive. None of them are white or black, male or female, good or bad.  In many ways, a man can find elements of himself in all of these descriptions.  It's never good to try and pigeon-hole anyone, nor myself, into a single category.  Rather, we all need to be who we are, and yet, we all need to learn from our forebears, and grow.