A Pilgrimage Of Faith, J.B. Toews, 1993

on describing academic training, experience and competence. Only one-fifth as many advertisements ap- peared in The Christian Leader, possibly because the United States has a longer tradition of employing district ministers who assumed the responsibility of finding pastoral candidates for the churches. When the pastoral ministry is so visibly re- garded as a profession, it becomes a mere service that pastors render to congregations without necessarily identifying with the communities they serve. Another study of Mennonite Brethren churches found fur- ther evidence pointing to the fragile nature of Mennonite Brethren leadership: the average pastoral tenure is less than four years; in the last fifteen years Mennonite Brethren churches have found it necessary to import 154 pastors from other denominations; in the same period 126 Mennonite Brethren pastors left the ministry and entered other profes- sions or vocations. An inquiry of church members' percep- tions as to "why their pastor left" turned up three basic obser- 234 HOW SHALL WE THEN BE LED? vations: (1) The pastor came to the church not knowing the people or their specific needs. The pastoral assignment gave little opportunity, sometimes none, for the pastor to relate to people and enter into their lives. A typical comment was: "We know our pastor only from what he preaches and have shaken hands with him at the door." (2) The pastor came with a preconceived program (evangelism, small groups, mis- sions) that became the major focus. The people, however, looked for a nurturing ministry to enable them to become more productive as an outflow from their inner life (John 7:17). (3) With a weakness in personal relationships and a focus on a program-oriented ministry, the pastor's preaching did not relate to the inner needs of the people. Within a few years a vacuum developed between pastor and flock. In the single-pastor model, only an exceptionally gifted leader has the mental and spiritual resources to sustain the in- terest and productive response of a congregation over a peri- od of years. The sharing of the preaching and teaching min- istry with people from the congregation who are rooted in the community and have the appropriate gifts, appears to be es- sential for the continued effective service of both the pastor/leader and the congregation itself. Members of Mennonite Brethren churches that have en- joyed lengthy pastoral tenures reported that the key to long service was special gifts of excellence either in the pastor's preaching ministry or in strong relational abilities. The final meas