IVORY TOWER PASTORS and their Collateral Damaged Parishioners, Pt2
Part One of this series here.
Since Ivory Tower Pastor’s (ITP) are the epitome of mental aloofness, they tend to delegate away control of everything to others. First by bringing in a staff who are capable to running everything on their own (their way,) even without pastoral oversight and without the ITP’s having to say a word. At least one of my pastor’s top-staff-personnel had been referred to him by those closest to him. In other words, pastor is uninvolved, even with the selection process from the start to the finish, he is delegating away that power too.
When all church operations are – in his eyes — functioning like a well-oiled machine, the ITP then enters into his cloistered ivory tower existence, never to be truly heard from again. The transformation into a paper tiger is complete. At this point he has completely distanced and shielded himself from clearly observing anything! Now his staff is stepping in and taking care of all situations and cares of such an operation; they are shouldering the burden and running the show-their way! ITC staff – in my experience — are in all reality nothing more than cruel henchmen and taskmasters, who will use and abuse the volunteers and parishioners…as they see fit.
Unfortunately, this paid staff in my ITC do not have the have same heart for God’s children as its pastor has, or once had. Actually one cannot be certain that the pastoral love is still there at all. That perceived love is what brought in the crowds to begin with.
All the while this smirking – stab you in the back — staff is putting up plenty of smoke and mirrors in an attempt to blind and confuse an ITP to their dirty deeds as if to say “Nothing here to see, move on”. Yet simultaneously they are setting their own dark agenda in place. The ITP is kept in the dark about matters that are deemed too unimportant to bother him about, all the while keeping truth-bearers far away. This staff transforms an Ivory Curtain into an iron curtain of containment.
A fitting quote from Lord Acton, member of the English Parliament once said, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Well said sir, well said.
Image: http://www.coveralia.com/caratulas/Ivory-Tower-Ivory-Tower-Frontal.php
