A New Title

The Philippines is a very religious country. There is no separation of Church and State like the US. On the contrary, religion, Catholicism and Christianity, is at the centre of all government institutions in this country. Mass is held every Friday on the high school campuses, as well as the college campuses. The priests from the local church will visit their local elementary schools every week to teach the children about the Bible. I was taken by surprise the first time I went to the Municipal government building Friday morning and saw the government workers outside participating in Mass and communion. Catholicism is by far the dominant religion but because of the similarities with Christianity it is hard to tell which one has the greater influence. Because of the cultural place religion holds in this country being a Priest or Pastor is a respected and desirable position. Because of the great respect shown towards religious matters, the religious leaders have been put on a pedestal. As a result, the title Pastor is worn proudly by those who have achieved it. I have talked with young men who have never wanted to be anything but a Pastor. Most American children dream about being a heroic Police officer or fantasies about saving lives as a fireman. Both of these careers represent power, respect and admiration. But the young men I talked to would fantasies about being a Pastor and no doubt for the same reason American children fantasies about being a police officer, power, respect and admiration.

This is what Jesus says about the use of titles in Matthew 24:

"They love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called 'Rabbi' by others. But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have one teacher and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth 'father' for you have one Father who is in heaven. Nor are you to be called 'Instructor,' for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

Every Pastor I have met in the Philippines introduces himself as 'Pastor' so and so. I was involved in an embarrassing situation that will serve as a real world example. I was waiting for a Van to travel home, back to Borongan and I saw two foreigners who had rented a whole Van. I was interested because they had the van stuffed with surfboards. I talked to them for a while and got to know them. They were Swedish and they work on the ski slope during the season and take surfing trips in the off season; pretty cool. I was with a Pastor who was across the street for most of the conversation. He came over to us and put his hand out to greet the foreigners with a hand shake. As they shook hands he introduced himself saying, ‘Hi, I Am a Pastor.’ He doesn’t understand that in most of the world that title gets little to no respect. We had an embarrassing silence and the foreigners had a puzzled look on their face, not knowing how to respond. One of them said ‘ok’ and we continued our conversation. This is an example of what Jesus told His disciples not to do! It is the custom to not even use the name of a Pastor but just the title. People in the barangay will say 'Hi Pastor' and within our church the title Pastor has taken the place of a person’s name altogether. When I spent time visiting local Pastors in order to recruit their youth for the Bible School, I would completely be shut out until they knew I was a Pastor. Shortly into the conversations I would be asked 'Are You a Pastor?' When I replayed yes I had their attention and respect. My translator saw the issue and sprung into action. I would introduce myself as Caleb and I was the new director of the new Bible School. The young translator next to me would jump in and say 'Pastor Caleb!' because he knew we would get nowhere until they knew. This was embarrassing and heart breaking.

Many religious leaders today can learn a great lesson from Paul. In 1 Corinthians 15:9 Paul says he is the least of all the apostles, not even worthy to be called an apostle. In Ephesians 3:8 Paul says he is the least of all the saints and finally in 1 Timothy 1:15 Paul calls himself the chief of all sinners. This shows a clear progression in Paul's growth as a Christian leader. 1 Corinthians was written around 57 AD, Ephesians around 62 AD and Timothy near the end of his life, around 67 AD. Paul an apostle to the Gentiles, a brilliant man and leader in the church grew in his knowledge of his own sinfulness and helplessness apart from the Lord until he saw himself as the chief of all sinners. This is amazing, as Paul grew and matured as a Christian leader, his view of himself became lower and he grew in humility as a result.

This seems to be the exact opposite of what many Christian leaders are doing today, especially here in the Philippines.

J.D. Greer says that 'Spiritual growth is growing in our knowledge of our sinfulness' so the more a Christian grows the more aware he becomes of his sinfulness and as a result they become more and more humble and loving towards God and others. That's Jesus point when He says those who are forgiven little love little and the other way around, those who have been forgiven much love much. How different the church would look here if its leaders grew in humility like Paul and would shun these titles of respect and authority.

In closing I want to say that my intention is in no way to diminish a God given positions and I do not think that titles should be done away with altogether. Paul gives the titles 'Elders' and 'Deacons' to distinguish a specific office and duty within the church. But using religious titles as a way to separate a Pastor from the ‘common Christian’ is unbiblical. Furthermore, using religious titles as titles of respect and authority is wrong. Jesus said do not call yourself Rabi or Instructor because you are all brothers! If our eyes are opened to this issue and it is addressed the church would be more effective and it would better reflect the most humble and meek servant/leader of them all, Jesus. Leaders like Paul continually grew in their understanding of their totally deprived nature. They would continually place themselves under their brothers in a true servant’s position. A title like 'apostle' would only be called upon when Paul wanted to make clear that what he was saying was God's words and authority not his own. But as a brother and leader Paul placed others before himself and it was clear that he treated and saw all others as better than himself. What an amazing example he is and I pray that I and other leaders can grow into this type of leadership.