The Role of Bishop - Take 2

Ed, I decided to answer your comment with a post because I couldn't keep it short enough. First let me say that I think job descriptions are way overrated so I don’t want to attempt such a thing here. I also gather from your comment that you feel that there is not much for the Bishop to do in what I have described so what follows is with that in mind.

I won’t deny that from time to time an individual may come along who has the charisma to dramatically set direction for the entire denomination and pull it along by sheer force of personality. However, I think these individuals are extremely rare (as in we may have had only 1 or 2 in the entire history of our denomination) and it is foolish to rely on it. Interestingly it is quite easy to find plenty of individuals who think they possess this quality.

Instead we need to rely on the abilities of pastors and lay leaders across our denomination and this means that our Bishop will function differently. I was recently asked if I wanted a strong or weak Bishop. I want a strong spiritual leader in our Bishop. By that I mean I expect him to spend considerable time in prayer, meditation and study of the Word. I also expect him to spend considerable time studying the landscape. That means he would have his finger on trends, fads and significant issues of our time. He would work at keeping up where God appears to be moving.

Out of this the Bishop will be in a position to keep prospective for us. Perhaps this is best illustrated by giving scenarios. Perhaps the Bishop would communicate to a pastor, church or cluster group that he felt they were getting off track in their pursuit of a specific objective. He may tell them that what they are doing is similar to what another group is doing and help them establish a network. He may tell them that though they are unconventional he sees some great potential in what they are doing. He may suggest that they try some approaches that he has seen work in other areas. And he may need to discipline on occasion. I think this is similar to what we see in the epistles and they give us a good example of what we need from our bishop.

I believe that through this the Bishop can become strong because of the influence he carries. That is the kind of strength I want. The opposite would be a Bishop who is given strength by rule. The problem with this is that it is a small step to being a dictator and that is not the kind of strength I want. Unfortunately this is the issue we are dealing with when we try to make a strong Bishop by rule. Many view the proposal to have the Bishop name the cluster group leaders as a way for him to control and dictate his agenda. I don’t see it that way. I see the person as more of a liaison between the cluster and the Bishop. He will be more of a facilitator. Leadership within the cluster will take form naturally. What is important is that the Bishop has a liaison with the cluster that he has a good relationship with. I am amazed at how so many have seen the proposal as being dictatorial or top heavy. I think people are getting paranoid here.

Communication is going to be extremely important in the position I envision. If you read a lot of blogs you kind of get to learn the heart of the blogger. That is what we need from a Bishop. I do not mean that the Bishop must blog but it is that type of regular communication that we need.

Finally let me say that no matter how much I describe this role there will be those who will say it is not enough. However, by design I think that we need to keep our Bishop less busy so that he can be a spiritual guide. There are times when the Bishop will need to impose discipline but even here, as mush as possible, I think the Bishop should delegate such responsibility as much as possible.