at The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection and I hope that you are not indispensable at your place of employment. My wife, Nicole, brought this idea up to me and I think that she is right on. The true leadership of a congregation should be in the gathered people and not in any single individual. This is at the root of the United Methodist Church as early Methodists societies formed and were visited by a traveling preacher on a regular but perhaps not frequent basis. The society continued to function even as the traveling preacher was elsewhere at other gatherings of the faithful.
A critical role of a leader is to empower and equip the next generation of leaders that will take over when a transition becomes necessary to continue to fulfill the mission and vision of the organization. The need for transition can be a result of a change in appointment, illness, or other reasons but the result is the same. Any particular leader is not indispensable and it is the responsibility of the leader to ensure that this is the case.
Rev. Andrew Conard 
5 replies on “I Am Not Indispensable”
Interesting thoughts Andrew as always. I affirm your statement that Clergy should not see themselves as irreplaceable in their congregations because it fails to remind the people that THEY are the Church.On the other hand this should not push ourselves into failing to recognize our own gifts.
Even during those times when the circuit rider wasn’t present there were leaders (officially or unofficially) who held leadership in those parishes. Recognizing the Pastor isn’t the Chuch (capital C) doesn’t always combat people’s seemingly endless need to defer.
The wise Rev Bill Selby suggests that we all carry a letter of resignation in our pockets to remind ourselves that we can (and will) be replaced and to remind ourselves that we are not trapped by our employment. The world really doesn’t rest on our shoulders.
Ben – Good point, recognition that the pastor is not irreplaceable should not lead to apathy or lack of striving toward how God would work through the individual in the life of the congregation. Leadership is necessary in any organization.
Amy – Thanks for passing on wisdom from Rev. Selby. I might take that up that practice.
Somewhat of a parallel I’ve heard in the technology field is “Always be working yourself out of the job.” I’ve honestly never thought how relevant that is to pastoral positions, or for other things in this life. 😉
Brian – thanks for your thoughts from the IT world. That is a great quote!