The Power of One Pastor

With all the recent incidences of Christian, public leaders abusing their power with gross negligence, it does not surprise me that our seminary leaders would address this issue in a recent boundaries workshop. What did surprise me, however, was how little I knew about power and sources of influence.

Our Dean of Students, Patricia Lull, gave a very insightful presentation on the topic of power and its sources. Several items I had heard before. For example, I realized that people respected pastors for their presumed authoritative knowledge of theology and scripture. She really opened my eyes, however, to the various ways, perhaps overlooked, in which I as a pastor can influence other people. Three points stand out.

1. People mistake pastors for their predecessors. If the person you follow held sway in a community through hard work and charisma, people will attribute that same regard to you by fact that you now fill that pastor's position.

2. People think that pastors have a closer connection with God. Pastors in training, as we sometimes refer to our fellow seminarians, cannot fathom why anyone would presume we live on a higher spiritual plane. We see ourselves as normal people with problems and doubts and down-to-earth questions about our relationship with God. I can imagine, however, that folks out there would want to look up to us as a mediator between themselves and God. They could infer that from our fancy shirts.

3. People perceive pastors as having greater sexual attractiveness and find them fascinating because in ways they are separate from what many consider "normal" humanity. This one really flabbergasts seminarians. We look at each other from across the classroom and we see "Plain Janes" and "Ugly Joes". Again, we just see regular people when we interact. The title, however, "Pastor" or "Reverend" apparently creates an allure.

Overall, it is good to know that these powers of influence exist so that they can be controlled and mitigated. The pastoral office, as these examples illustrate, grants one power over other people. Fundamentally, however, a pastor must exercise power not to control but in order to empower others in their ministries. Knowing about power latent in the position allows pastors to act accordingly to protect and edify themselves and others.