Can the Pastor Do It Alone?(pdf)
Translator’s Preface(Korea)
The remarkable growth of the Korean Church in world church history is due in no small part to the work of the laity. In the early years of the Korean church, lay people participated in the revival of Pyeongyang(City of North Korea), the liberation of the Korean people, and social movements. In particular, in the late 1970s and 1980s, the lay-led Bible study movement flourished in and around the churches, and discipleship ministries that trained lay people to be ministers also flourished, resulting in the qualitative growth of the Korean church.
Especially in the 1980s, the Korean church began to realise the unlimited potential of the laity. The idea is to awaken the laity and establish them as ministers. However, the concept of ministry in terms of pastoral care by the laity was poorly understood. There was much emphasis on training lay people to be ministers and to do many things, but little attention was given to the ministry of lay pastors to care for the saints.
After His resurrection and before His ascension, the Lord commissioned Peter to ‘take care of My sheep’ (John 21:15-17). Most churches are familiar with the Great Commission of Matthew 28 and the Great Commission of Discipleship, and are admittedly weak on the Great Commission of ‘tending my sheep.’ However, both of these commissions are in the same redemptive context (post-resurrection, pre-ascension) and are important commissions to the church. How does the church fulfil this mission?
This book provides a concrete example of how College Hill Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, fulfils this mission. Melvin Steinbronn’s consistent argument is that the pastoral care of the church is a shared responsibility of ordained ministers and committed lay people. In this context, the primary ministry of the ordained minister is to equip and train the laity for pastoral ministry (Em 4:11-12).
This book does not set out any theological principles for lay pastoral ministry (see Steinbron’s second book, ‘The Lay-Driven Church,’ for practical theological principles). It is a collection of concrete examples of how lay people have been able to provide pastoral care to other lay people. So this book is very concrete and practical. Of course, there are differences between the church situation in the United States and the church situation in our country. Therefore, it may be partially unreasonable to apply the contents of this book to the Korean church (for example, the Korean church is already mostly active in the attic. Therefore, the PACE ministry of lay pastors here is small in quantity. However, in terms of quality, it is a substantial ministry).
However, this PACE ministry is the foundation and infrastructure of pastoral ministry. When a church systems the interrelationships of all its members into pastoral, mutual care ministry relationships, it builds a very strong infra-ministry infrastructure. What can be built upon this foundation!
At the heart of this book is a call for a paradigm shift in lay ministry: lay people should be given the status of pastoral ministers as true priests. This does not mean that lay people should become ordained ministers, nor does it mean that they should replace the work of ministers. In this book, a distinction is made between ordained ministers and lay ministers.
Melvin has created a training manual around this book to train lay people to be lay pastors. It is very effective when trained and used by the pastors of the church.
I hope that this book will help to reestablish the place of ordained ministers and lay people in the pastoral building up of the body of Christ.
Rev. Jong Tae Kim
Rev. Byeongchea Seo
From the Editor(Korea)
For translate book, Can The Pastor Do It Alone?
The traditional church is failing to fulfills Jesus’ last request to the church before his ascension: pastoral care. The same Jesus who commanded us to take the gospel to the ends of the earth also commanded us to ‘take care of my sheep’ (John 21:15-17), yet pastoral care has been neglected by most congregations.
There are only two options: either full-time pastors take care of the congregation entirely or lay pastors take care of the congregation. In conservative and traditional Korean churches, care is provided by women evangelists. But even this has its limitations. There are only a few full-time evangelists. Despite the efforts of full-time pastors, when only pastors try to carry out the ministry, opportunities for the congregation are limited.
The so-called annual visitation reaches out to the congregation, but it is difficult to come even once a year. The only way to solve this problem is through the Lay Pastors Ministry.
The textbook on lay pastoral ministry is this book by Dr. Steinbron, ‘Can The Pastor Do It Alone?’ I am grateful to Rev. Byeong, director of the Lay Pastors Ministry Institute of Korea, for translating the first edition. I am relieved that the revised edition was published with more time and care because it was quickly translated and published for the needs of the Korean church. Pastor Jongtae Kim, who is the dean of the Academy of Lay Ministry (in our church) and is dedicated to lay pastoral ministry, made the effort to publish the revised edition. The revised edition is almost a new translation.
We are grateful to be able to introduce it to the Korean church because it has successfully passed the critical test in English-speaking countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It is hoped that the Korean church will soon learn about lay pastoral care so that it can be improved and strengthened to provide more specific pastoral care ministries, although lay pastoral care is already being done through other caring ministries.
The philosophy of lay ministry is a trend in the world church in the 21st century. It is a desirable phenomenon that old concepts such as lay ministry, cell churches, and NCD are emerging in Korea.
I hope that this book will reawaken pastors and lay people in the Korean church so that lay people in the Korean church can be of great benefit in building up the church through pastoral ministry alongside full-time pastors.
August 2001
Rev. Sangbok Kim
Pastor of Hallelujah Church, Korea
President of the Academy of Lay Ministry, Korea
President Emeritus of Torchlight Trinity University, Korea