Page 31 - Empowering Missional Artists - Jim Mills.pdf

31
transplanted into the hearts of their children and if the parents are believers, they have their

pastor to either blame or thank for their ‘view of life.’

Before I turn to the issue concerning worldview, I simply want to express that pastoral

mentoring roles are supremely significant. Eugene Petersen wisely points out in his book, The

Contemplative Pastor that our role as pastors in the spiritual formation of those in our charge is

among other things about being subversive. “The pastor’s real work is shadow work. The work

nobody gets paid for and few notice – that work which helps to construct a world of salvation,

meaning, value and purpose love and hope and faith, and of redemption – in short, the kingdom

of God.” (Peterson 1989, 41) Peterson goes on to state that the pastoral role is a subversive

one, in that a pastor is called to undermine the “kingdom of self” and establish “the Kingdom of

God” in the hearts and lives of those in his charge (Peterson 1992, 33) David Taylor shared this

insightful summary of the roles of pastors:

Pastors are gatekeepers. They let things in, they keep things out. They make things
happen or not happen. To inspire a pastor with a vision for aesthetic renewal could
open doors not only for new artistic activity in the church—an ecclesia reformata,
semper reformanda—but also for the kind of discipleship that artists need to become
mature agents of grace in the culture. We cannot ignore the uniquely important role
that pastors play in the Church’s work of cultural renewal. (Taylor 2007)

A most profound comprehensive mission-statement for a pastor, which we have now adapted for

our own work in Europe, was articulated by Eugene Peterson in his book, 5 Smooth Stones.

Pastors are “instructors in wisdom . . . giving sound counsel in living whole and worthy lives in

the context of God’s creation and in response to Christ’s redemption.” (Peterson 1980, 9) In

working this primary assignment out practically, one of the pastor’s basic and extremely

important responsibilities is to foster and teach a Biblical worldview. The rampant philosophical

pluralism prevalent in the postmodern western societies of today, dictates this. This is necessary

for two main reasons: first of all that those in our charge will be “ready to make a defense...for the

hope that is in” them (I Peter 3:15) and secondly so that they understand and grasp a vision for