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Player-Coaches as Kings, Prophets and Priests
At the new Redeemer Church Planting Centre Blog, Tim Keller reflects on Willow Creek (one of the largest and most influential churches in the world) and the tendency for Mega Churches, Reformed Churches and Emerging Churches to be reductionistic in emphasising either the kingly, prophetic or priestly aspects to church.
The time at Willow led me to reflect on how much criticism this church has taken over the years. On the one hand, my own ‘camp’ — the non-mainline Reformed world — has been critical of its pragmatism, its lack of emphasis on sound doctrine. On the other hand, the emerging and post-modern ministries and leaders have disdained Willow’s individualism, its program-centered, ‘corporate’ ethos. These critiques, I think, are partly right, but when you are actually there you realize many of the most negative evaluations are caricatures.
John Frame’s ‘tri-perspectivalism’ helps me understand Willow. The Willow Creek style churches have a ‘kingly’ emphasis on leadership, strategic thinking, and wise administration. The danger there is that the mechanical obscures how organic and spontaneous church life can be. The Reformed churches have a ‘prophetic’ emphasis on preaching, teaching, and doctrine. The danger there is that we can have a naïve and unBiblical view that, if we just expound the Word faithfully, everything else in the church — leader development, community building, stewardship of resources, unified vision — will just happen by themselves. The emerging churches have a ‘priestly’ emphasis on community, liturgy and sacraments, service and justice. The danger there is to view ‘community’ as the magic bullet in the same way Reformed people view preaching.[i]
I think Keller nails this. The churches we need to be planting are ones that are tri-perspectival with due emphasis on the kingly, prophetic and priestly. In order to do this we need what Mark Driscoll calls ‘player-coaches‘ who are able to serve as kings, prophets and priests and at the same time train other leaders. In a new church plant these player-coaches will be godly men who work a job and serve in the church with energetic joy. They have years of ministry experience, are good fathers, loving husbands, and tough. Driscoll writes,
Too often this last point is overlooked, but when Paul said that a pastor must fight like a soldier, train like an athlete, and work hard like a farmer, he had in mind the manliest of men leading the church (2 Tim. 2:1-7). Sadly, the weakest men are often drawn to ministry simply because it is an indoor job that does not require heavy lifting.[ii]
Since new churches are flat broke, we need a team of player-coaches who can get things done and lead the church through the sheer force of their godly influence. While they lead the church in this way the church planter can stay doggedly focused on mission. He is not a pastor but rather a missiologist who studies the city and who leads a church filled with missionaries who reach the city and with pastors who care for the converts.
Who’s in?
[i] Tim Keller, “‘The Kingly’ Willow Creek Conference”, Blog 09/30/2009. Online: http://rcpc.com/blog/view.jsp?Blog_param=44 (cited 05/11/2009).
[ii] Mark Driscoll, Confessions of a Reformission Rev. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2006), 54.
Hi Toby
I would agree that faithfulness and effectiveness isn’t a zero sum game. if you are faithful you will work hard and strategize to be effective with the energy he provides.
Paul Borden in Direct Hit addresses this clearly and forcefully. we cannot pious hide behind platitudes of God’s sovereignty whilst failing to be wise stewards.
he goes onto to say the pastor is not just a disciple maker and evangelist but a mobilizer of disciple makers and evangelists.
to fill out Paul’s metaphors, the pastor is also an Ox who deserves to be fed because he is a best of burden. Sadly I think the very problem of unfair characture that is applied to Willow Creek is also applied to weak pastors by Driscoll. Its a great little tough guy pastor rift but its an unfair characture of men who have made great sacrifices.
do you really think you can separate the pastor and missiologist?.
Hey Shane. Thanks for the reference to Paul Borden. What do you think is the right response when someone finds themself ineffective and unfruitful? And what ought our confidence be in in planning fruitfulness? Surely we both agree it’s the soverign God who gives the growth but how much should we put our confidence in the means he uses to bring the growth (Romans 10)?
I am not sure if Driscoll is being unfair? He is simply saying what scripture says. If a guy has made great sacrifices he is one of the tough men 2 Timothy 2 is speaking about. I don’t think he is calling us to judge our peers but to test ourselves and those we appoint to be elders.
In my humble opionion I think in the beginning of a church plant the missionary functions as the pastor. As the church grows the missionary can either train up others to take over his pastoral responsibilities while he focuses on the mission (Driscoll) or continue to pastor and thereby limit the ability to grow (my understanding of what the Crowded House has chosen). Nevertheless I still believe that God has given the gospel to preachers which BOTH pastors Christians and saves non Christians. In that sense you can’t really separate the pastor from missiologist/preacher. Yet I am saying that in a big church this will almost be the extent of his pastoring. The reason for the delineation is, as Driscoll helpfully points out, so that the church planter tays doggedly focused on mission.