During my first pastoral position, I noticed something very odd. It was our senior pastor’s office. It was on the upper level of the church, beautiful room, but also so far away… isolated. Within Asian circles, the pastor is revered, sometimes slipping into an unhealthy perception of them. It is one thing for the flock to see their leader in this way, but another when the shepherd begins to believe this about themselves as well. And it’s so easy to fall into that trap. What ends up happening is, rather than overseeing their flock, a desire to be SEEN by the flock develops. I wonder sometimes if this is something that the leaders as well as the flock see as part of what is rightfully theirs. I mean, the Levites were not given a land for themselves, but they were afforded the right to receive a portion from the other lands. I honestly think that Asians believe that because leaders are set apart to do the “hard work� of leading God’s people, that this reverence is a perk of their position.
It probably has more to do with the cultural makeup, but I’m not convinced that I’m far off on this thought. The irony about developing a desire to be “seen� by their flock (rather than seeing them), is that they see their leaders only selectively. They see them in action on Sundays and maybe during Bible study. Why wouldn’t they seem reverent if the flock’s experience is limited to that? If the flock were to see who they really were as a leader of their homes, to their children, their wives… when their lives are not under scrutiny, THAT may change their perception dramatically. The desire to be seen as a particular leader by the flock seems to creep in to our hearts and overtake our call to be the ones who are overseeing them.
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