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Insights for the living organism

Herb Kopp

“Congregations and Pastors: Reflections on the Work of the Church”
John A. Esau. Newton, Kan.: Faith & Life Press, 1999.

What an amazing book this is. The character and joy of this book don’t lie so much in its profundity and exacting analysis of the relationship between congregations and pastors; they lie in the wonderful stories and vignettes which describe the multi-textured layers and tones of the relationship between congregation and pastor. This book could easily be subtitled “Common sense and earthly wisdom for congregational/pastoral longevity”.

Further, what adds magic to this book is the way in which it is written and put together. It isn’t divided into tidy chapters, each one laying out a proposition and then developing it. Rather, it tells stories, it recounts experiences, it plunges into the world of church leadership, it cautions pastors to be the best they can be, it instructs churches on expectations and charity, and it does all this by recreating 100 articles. Each one is numbered as a chapter. Initially, these vignettes and bits of wisdom were part of a column written for Mennonite Weekly Review.

As I read through the book, it became obvious that the writer is a veteran of church life. For example, under the title “Say It Again So They Don’t Forget”, Esau comments, “In my more naive years, I assumed that if something was announced once in any form, that ought to be sufficient. After all, intelligent people should listen the first time. Since then my own life has become more complex. In fact, just this morning I missed an office birthday party because the one time I was told about it wasn’t sufficient to get it onto my calendar or consciousness.”

Other titles that caused me to nod in agreement were “Inclusive Words Heighten Worship”, Pastor’s Spouse: Not An Easy Role”, “Choosing Leaders Without Losers”, “Anonymous Letters Do No Good”, and many, many more.

Here are some of my favourite quotations. In “Must the Pastor Go to Every Meeting?”, Esau opines, “If they attend every committee meeting, they are thought to be too controlling. If they fail to be present . . . they risk being thought of as uninteresting, uncaring and even irresponsible.” In “Where Do Pastors Find Support?”, he gives this wisdom: “ Pastors themselves must be responsible for finding and cultivating the relationships that will be the kind of support that will carry them forward in ministry. Don’t expect the church or someone else to do it for you.”

I recommend this book to every pastor, moderator, church leader and interested lay person for the insights which it offers into the life of the living organism – the church.

Herb Kopp is Conference Minister of the Manitoba MB Conference and a veteran pastor.

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Last modified May 4, 2000.

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