The Eponymous Pastoral Leadership in EN Biblical or Economic

[speakword2004]

Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep
And doesn't know where to find them.
Leave them alone and they will come home,
Wagging their tails behind them

Is EN's interpretation of the pastoral office healthy? What is the practise in EN today and does it differ from church to church, region to region?
What is a Pastor? What is the role of female pastors in EN?

[speakword2004]

Did any of you notice in your churches people who left and then returned over and over?

[40days40years]

Whats up with this? Should'nt this topic be under the category general chat or teaching and doctrines? You are going to get philip mad, shame on you.

My guess about female pastors in EN is either they are doormats or monsters. officially there are no female pastors but they get to rule the young females so they are defacto pastorettes. Many times they are the wives of the actual male pastor. As far as females? I prefer the barby-doll cute doormat model verses the prophetess super monster model. In the perfect world we want cute stepford wives, getting rid of the prophetess shrew would be a nice option but she would curse you and turn you into a toad or something, definantly throw out the mutant j-2 model. Ideally a dumb Barbi that loves to shop is the idea, hey it's only money think of the alternatives above think of the humanity.

I think it was dust but it might not have been talking about the structure of EN churches in the states. Evidently for new EN young people groomed for leadership coming up there are mini Maranatha services. Hmmm, are normal non leadership loser young people excluded? I heard only the young winners are allowed to attend is this a planned thing by EN leadership? I do understand EN wanting to keep the big tithers away from some of the nubile young sheep but I am curious about what I have read of multiple forms of government in the main EN churches in the states. New leaders here on the way to indoctrinate the rest of the world? the old perfect choice game still going on?

this is what happens when we go off topic.

[speakword2004]

Did any of you notice in your churches people who left and then returned over and over?

[40days40years]

Did any of you notice in your churches people who left and then returned over and over?

I never noticed that. When their gone their gone, if you can leave and come back again and again repeatedly that shows a much healthier church environment. I have run into two guys that left Maranatha and they told me they came back. I am making myself look so bad lately but in Pulp fiction the gangster character (Maurice??) with a bald head tells Butch: You be gone, you stay gone and you lose your LA privlileges. My guess is that in a high demand group in order to leave a very high demand group (unless your thrown out) you have to muster up super strength to walk out, internally your dealing with God or at least you think you are. Once your out why take a chance again but that is an excellent question you asked and I would like to see what old MCM'rs say and present EN people say about it.

[cupatea]

I came into contact with Maranatha at Uni but decided they were a whack job. However I did get sucked into MSI 10 years later. Not quite what you are asking but I thought I'd throw it out there anyways.
Whack job because when Ken Dew led a team onto my campus to preach about "Hells Bells" it was just a tad too much for a wannabe Christian rock star who counted U2, The Police, Rush and The Cure amoung his influences besides Keith Green.http://www.factnet.org/discus/clipart/lol.gif
MSI I think because it was in Asia, they didn't preach the same crap, the leadership style was different, and I honestly believed at the time that they had thrown off the Maranatha extremes. Generally speaking I think the Asian EN churches are still way way better than what I saw in the USA.
So that is my pieces from someone who rejected Maranatha but who then got sucked into MSI/EN for 5 years BUT TODAY I AM FREE!!!

[speakword2004]

For_Christ asked the question about the process of becoming a pastor in EN. I do have questions further to that topic, but I would just like to repeat my questions again as I think examing this topic will be helpful in deconstructing what EN is really about.

1.Is EN's interpretation of the pastoral office healthy? What is it?

2.What is the practise in EN today and does it differ from church to church, region to region regarding pastorship?
3.What is the role of female pastors in EN?

My quotation of Bo Peep might be facetious, but I do think it warrants a think.

40/40 as always thank you for your quick repsonses.

[philiprosenthal]

To respond to the question above.

1. A lot of people leave because they are fed up with abuse from the EveryNation/His People leaders, but then come back because they miss their friends. With all its problems, it is a close knit community and that is something rare in our society.

2. I feel Paul Daniel towards the end of his reign re-interpreted the role of a pastor to be a church business manager. All the focus was on vision and achieving measurable numerical success rather than shepherding the sheep. I don't think this is biblical - it is one of the many areas of dysfunction the church needs to grow out of. There is a place for church business managers, but that is not the job of a pastor.