Dr Kevin J. Vanhoozer proposes two models for PASTORS AND THEIR WORK:
(1) Pastors are [junior] eye-doctors or GPs. The prescribe sound or healthy doctrine, reading Scripture with and for the people of God that they might live in the light of the gospel. They are focused on the eye / imagination / heart / mind / will / action of the body of Christ.
The word for soundness, as in sound doctrine, Greek hygiainw, can mean healthy or well.
And the word for doctrine is related to the word doctor, a teacher, hence "Doctors of the church" who are not just medical doctors, which we probably more naturally think of in our contemporary usage.
(2) Pastors are assistant directors in God’s global production of the church as the theatre of his glory. They encourage every member of the gospel company to improvise in faithful response to the Script (the Scriptures God has prescribed – see (1)) so that everyone speaks and acts their part in the great story-drama of redemption in Jesus. The pastor calls, “Action!”. Everyone knows the shape of the drama (which Act we are in: creation, fall, redemption, new creation) and how the performance will conclude. We don’t just make it up / ad lib any old how but act out our assigned roles in God’s story of which he is the prime Producer, Writer, Director, Actor.
The pastor is not a solo performer or the star of the show.
Church is not for entertainment nor for play-acting hypocrisy but for a live local performance of the gospel. We are not pretending but really taking part in God’s drama.
Hearers and Doers: A Pastor's Guide to Making Disciples through Scripture and Doctrine (Lexham Press, 2019)
(2) Pastors are assistant directors in God’s global production of the church as the theatre of his glory. They encourage every member of the gospel company to improvise in faithful response to the Script (the Scriptures God has prescribed – see (1)) so that everyone speaks and acts their part in the great story-drama of redemption in Jesus. The pastor calls, “Action!”. Everyone knows the shape of the drama (which Act we are in: creation, fall, redemption, new creation) and how the performance will conclude. We don’t just make it up / ad lib any old how but act out our assigned roles in God’s story of which he is the prime Producer, Writer, Director, Actor.
The pastor is not a solo performer or the star of the show.
Church is not for entertainment nor for play-acting hypocrisy but for a live local performance of the gospel. We are not pretending but really taking part in God’s drama.
Hearers and Doers: A Pastor's Guide to Making Disciples through Scripture and Doctrine (Lexham Press, 2019)
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