Expert vs. Expertise
Over the last two years I’ve been directing a research project at Luther Seminary that seeks to understand a little better what makes congregations thrive. Toward this end, we’ve partnered with about 40 congregations across the country and worked with them to discover what seems to work the best as they invite people more deeply into the faith.
We’re at a point in the research where teams of two faculty members from Luther are traveling to visit each of the congregations. Our job, really, is just to listen to what these congregations are discovering and learn a) what we can share with other congregations and b) what we can do better at our seminary in order to prepare leaders to cultivate vibrant congregational life.
This past weekend I was with a congregation that is giving particular attention to preaching. And one of the comments made by a parishioner in an interview really got me thinking: “You (the pastor) are the expert in the Bible, in theology, and pastoral care. And that’s important. But you’re not the expert in life. We’re all experts in life. So maybe you should have some of us talk on Sunday about how our faith gets played out in daily life.”
I really like that. You’re the expert in Bible and theology. The role you play is important. But we’re experts at how faith shapes everyday life. I think it gets at an important distinction between expertise and being an expert. We have tended in our culture to give great authority to experts. But how helpful is that when it comes to our faith lives? Do we really benefit when we set up some people as experts in the faith and the rest of us are – what? Oh yeah, we call ourselves lay people.
But this statement frames it differently. Yes, the pastor has great expertise in working with the Bible and theology and the rest – and in that sense is an expert. But we’re all working at this faith-thing, we – that is, all Christians – have a lot to contribute to the conversation in terms of how faith gets played out in daily life. The pastor’s expertise, that is, should be deployed to help us discover and express our faith better, not as a substitute for our talking about the faith.
What would happen, I wonder, if Sunday weren’t set up as the big performance where the pastor puts on an interpretive show demonstrating his or her prowess at interpreting Scripture and connecting faith to daily life? What would happen, that is, if we imagined that Sunday was really the rehearsal – that life was the performance, the place we meet God in the world – and the pastor used that time not to perform the faith for us but instead to help us practice, to gain the skills we need to live our faith in daily life? In this scenario, pastors are less like performers and more like coaches, guides, and conductors, helping the rest of us to gain confidence in living out our faith in the world.
A lot would need to change, I think, to move in this direction. But we might end up all feeling more competent and confident about sharing our faith with others. You’re good at some things. We’re good at others. Maybe all of us should contribute to Sunday’s effort to practice and rehearse the faith. Yeah, I like that a lot.
Gut-level honest reaction: if the Sunday liturgy revolves around a pastor’s “interpretive show demonstrating his or her prowess at interpreting Scripture and connecting faith to daily life” – then I submit that it is not liturgy at all, but rather a cult of personality or just a live version of a YouTube video.
As we all know, liturgy is the work of THE PEOPLE. If the Sunday gathering is not a collaborative effort, if the Body of Christ is not involved in its preparation and carrying-out – then it is really nothing more than The Pastor Show.
“You’re good at some things. We’re good at others. Maybe all of us should contribute to Sunday’s effort to practice and rehearse the faith.” This is how my congregation has been doing the messy business of working together for the better part of 50 years. There have been low points – we all have them – but the truly collaborative spirit that is present, and peoples’ real desire to work to the greater good, has made our worship the springboard into the coming week.
It has required a real humility from the pastors that have served us (currently, 2 Luther alums!) as well as a genuine excitement about getting people involved in making worship happen, and then having the grace to get out of the way. “Micro-management” is a nasty word at our place. It’s not rigid – some would even call it “happy chaos” – but it works. Not only does it work, it brings us all great joy – which always leads me to ponder why a congregation would choose to do this any other way. “Collaborative” and “collegial” are, next to “grace,” two of the most freeing and empowering words I’ve ever heard/experienced.
Thanks for the comments, Mary. I think you’re right. And I also think that no pastor goes into worship thinking it’s all about him or her, but by default we’ve set things up so that one person does most of the talking, interpreting, connecting, etc., and most of us are just plain used to that to the point that we think that’s what preaching is. Chaos and messy are freeing and often bring join, but also a little daunting to many at first. Thanks, again, for sharing your experience.
Thanks so much David – I’m in the Pacifica Synod, on the synod worship team, and am really looking forward to hearing/meeting you at Assembly this year.
You are so right in that we’ve set things up in a certain way. I see the seminaries as a place where questioning this status quo should be the norm – of course, you lay the foundation, but you also ask “Why??” at every step. Being able to answer that question is, I think, critical to being able to imagine worship in new and different ways – as well as critical to doing worship well in any style or setting.
Dear David,
I have yet to thank you for coming and speaking to us at CTIM in Hanover PA. I thoroughly appreciated both your keynote and preaching workshop. I left feeling like I didn’t have to keep trying harder to be a better preacher by using just the right turn of phrase or literary device. You encouraged me to focus more on helping God’s people practice their faith. Reading this post today reminded me of how thankful I was for your words that Saturday and every week at Working Preacher. Thank you!
Abby
Thanks so much, Abby. It was great to be with you all. And, you’re right, we’re called to proclaim the gospel in a way that helps others see, claim, and proclaim it too. We don’t have to “wow” the audience or put on a show. I’m glad that’s freeing; I find it that way, too. Blessings on your ministry!
Many thanks to all for your insight and deep thinking about how it might be accomplished in real time to be faithful hearers and doers in God’s Kingdom here on earth.
I especially appreciate the conversation about a collaborative spirit of worship and ministry together. But, as a lay person, I feel there are still barriers to this collaboration in worship and the liturgy of the people, e.g. the confession and words of institution at the table. If we are to learn to forgive and accept forgiveness we need to feel empowered to do so. And, if truly wherever two or three are gathered, we should be free to commune. So, how can all be equipped to share in this ministry?
Thank you, David, for your thoughtful and open conversations of how life might be lived in a community of grace and faith.