What Does a Preacher Look Like?

I teach preaching for a living, and my students not only preach in class but are required to go out to all the nations, or at least to local West Michigan congregations, and preach the gospel.  They have to preach a certain number of times in parish settings during the academic year.  This is a requirement of the degree program, not a class requirement.  Our field education office (now called the mentored ministry office) serves as the match.com between preachers who need placements and churches who need preachers.

Because of this system, I hear back from my students about their experiences in local congregations (note that "local" can include churches near the tip of the lower peninsula, all around Chicago-land, the suburbs of Detroit, etc.).  This week I had conversations with two students about their most recent experiences with this kind of preaching.  Both conversations gave me pause.

The first student is a young man who grew up in LA.  His parents are Korean immigrants.  He mentioned to me that one of the comments he'll often get after the service is that his English is so good.  Other congregants will ask him where he is from and he'll answer, "Los Angeles," and they will stand there obviously expecting a different answer.

Another of my students, a young white woman, said that when she was in the line at the back of the church after preaching a man approached her and said, "It's hard to think of an authoritative word coming from a small, blonde girl."  She handled herself well in the moment, but was rattled.  In my office later she was able to say, "I've learned that authority has nothing to do with size or strength."

Both of these conversations reminded me that many people have strong ideas in their minds about what a preacher should look like: white and male.  If the preacher isn't white, then we need to be able to classify him: "I don't really want to know where you're from, I want to know what race you are so that I can slot you in the right box."  If the preacher isn't male, we need to comment on her appearance so as to distance ourselves from the preached word: "You are a small, blonde girl, therefore I do not need to take you seriously."

My students are white, black, Asian, Latina/o, Hispanic, African, male and female.  There are students right out of college and a few who have grandchildren.  Some are married, some are single.  They are tall and blonde and short and dark and everything in between.

And they are preachers.

They will soon be your preachers.  It's a short few years before these men and women will be filling your pulpits as your pastors.  Is your congregation ready to hire a Korean man?  A white woman?  A black grandmother?  A white man with biracial children? A married couple who wants to share the preaching load?

The preachers of the church of tomorrow are going to look a lot more like the global church than the preachers many of us grew up with.

I think that is a very good thing.

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Comments (13)

I think it's not quite accurate to equate race with sex in this instance. After all, the Bible does have something to say about females holding authority positions in ecclesiastical settings.

This is an issue that reasonable people can debate, and it would be a patronizing mistake to assume that those Christians who disagree with us are sexist, when in truth they are merely concerned with following God's word as they understand it.
Andy, A good point. Faithful people can disagree reasonably. But don't let that discussion distract from the central idea here of a church and church leadership that is diverse. Could an African pastor lead your congregation? Could an African-American?

It reminds me of a Chrstian Century article I read long ago that said mainline church members heartily endorsed a diverse pastorate, but when asked what kind of pastor they wanted in their pulpits, they overwhelmingly said we want a 38-year-old white guy, married with young kids, so he has ten years of ministry experience but is not so old as to be boring. Is everything else second rate or exotic?
One of my favorite churches in Southern california, Harvest Rock Church, has a Korean pastor. It is a charismatic (neo-pentecostal) mega-church. He has a powerful ministry and most of his congregants are anglos. The pentecostal tradition was birthed out of an interracial, inter-gender experience. The Azuza Street revival was led by black ministers like William Seymor and women like Jennie Evans Moore, yet the congregation was racially mixed. The neo-pentecostal church I attend is a Foursquare church, a denomination founded by a woman and noted for strong woman pastors and teachers. The charismatic wing of the church does not care if you are white, black, hispanic, Korean, Gypsy or Jewish as long as you carry the annointing of the Holy Spirit.
Andy, what does the bible have to say about preachers who are small or blonde?
Oh, i like this as I have been to various churches with many different pastors or associate pastors of all colors and gender. Yes Paul who was an old bachelor wanted the church as he knew it to be run by a central figure, preferrably a man. Why you ask, because in those days and in most of the middle east even today. Women are not worthy to lead any man any where at any time. They are truely second class citizens told what to do by husbands and family members. Those of us who live in a country where things are much more equal have a hard time understanding long lived triaditions and cultures. If God calls you to profess his love for us all, then please do so with all the love that he gives us. There are many wonderful pastors and even lay pastors who show by word and example the love of God for us all. In God's Grace John
Growing up in the south, I know a good many people who would balk at the idea of a pastor that isn't a white, middle-aged male (preferably with a good-looking wife and a car full of kids). In fact, the church I attended in high school was considered progressive because we had exactly four African Americans in our congregation (they were all the same family). Race and sex are bigger issues than most people want to admit. Even if one wants to take the stance that women shouldn't preach, there is no biblical basis that someone should be limited to preaching to congregations of the same race. Yet many people have grown up where this concept is the norm. This article is a good reminder that God moves outside our comfort zones of gender and race.
Our church has a married couple sharing the load. He will take the pulpit more than his wife, because our church is old fashioned nearly to the extreme. There are several, sadly, in our congregation who are very vocal and active about trying to get rid of them, as "a woman shouldn't be preaching". I find it sad really. I cheer them on as does my wife, and we pray for them and support them as much as we possibly can. I don't imagine it's easy for them trying to do their jobs while fighting a completely 90 degree uphill battle all along the way. Those the most vocal and unhappy are on the church board, and are constantly making life hard for them.

How did they get to be our pastors, you ask? Simple. The glory and love of God.

In what I tend to think of as a "This Present Darkness" scenario, the pastors were voted in and no one can really understand how, it just kind of happened. I remember that there was a young man that was being looked at for the job, and the next thing we had a (gasp) female pastor. I praised the Lord pretty loudly when I found out. I still do. I pray they can show our congregation how to get past their misconceptions and prejudices. I doubt it, but I have faith in the Lord.
I appreciated this post a lot. I agree that much of the old way of the church, society even, was to have churches that are sometimes separated along racial lines. A black church, a Korean Church, an white church, with a pastor of that race at the head of that church. I think, however, that in this day and age, the children of all of the baby boom generation have grown up with a slightly new worldview. Or at least that was my experience going to both a Christian private school in Orange County and then a public high school. A huge emphasis was placed on accepting others from other races, and quite honestly, some of my better friends were NOT white. Maybe this is just an isolated experience God gave me, but I would suspect that there are many students like me that experienced something similar.

I agree that we must be willing to accept a pastor that is Heaven sent, after he passes the tests to see if he is anointed with the Holy Spirit. He should be accepted no matter his race. I have personally learned quite a lot from Francis Chan (and his book, "Crazy Love" which I recommend everyone read, to be challenged especially in living faith out), and he is definitely not white. Yes, the accent may be difficult to understand, but that can often bring out some amazing things in people. For me, it has opened my very blind eyes to something of the rest of the world. I have a pretty crazy story to go with this, but in summary, God brought an Iranian into my life, who was not easy to understand, and I am now engaged to her. It is interesting how God can use something like that. What I mean is: I had to learn her accent, and then, since she knows many other international students on my campus, I have learned others accents. I have met more Iranians (Iranians, often a people that are grouped with Iraqis and Arabs together, falsely) and learned more accents. This has awakened a new interest in missions, for me, which is a very good thing. And, the best part: we do not need to go overseas to the rest of the world, since so much of the rest of the world sends their best (and their poor) right to America! What more opportunities to minister to the world could be asked for? A part of a preacher's job description is keeping his flock aware of the world, and focused on carrying out the Great Commission, as the Apostles did in Acts. What could be BETTER for a white congregation, then a Korean Preacher? Or a Chinese pastor for a black church? Or a white pastor for a Chinese church? All these can challenge people in a very good way.
"A married couple who wants to share the preaching load?"

That's already happening - my husband and I are doing this very thing. We hear nothing but positive comments.
God does use women - but in almost every occasion in the bible, it was because a man was not willing to follow God. The Bible appears to say that a man should be the head of the household and that the church congregation is a representation of the household with christ being the head of the global church.

Race is far less important than sex. I have served in missions and worked with pastors of many races serving God. What I have noticed is that those that take the word of God as truth and don't try to explain parts of it away by using culture as the sole basis - Culture will always change - are the pastors where the church is alive and the spirit is working. Today abortion is part of culture. It is still murder, no matter what culture tells you. In the same way, God made men and women different. Men are not better than women. But God called each of us to certain tasks. And He does in parts of the Bible give us different commands. To explain all of that away is taking the Bible and creating your own God.

Putting sex and race on the same platform in this case is not much different than putting sexual preference and race on the same page when advancing the homosexual agenda. God made us different for a reason.
I like the post, and I think you missed a big one. I'm a white male, so I the "mold" according to the typical American Model, but the idea in your post hits me as well.

"You're so YOUNG!"

Pastors are, in people's minds, not only white and male - they're also made old.

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