A TENDENCY ARISING WITH SUCH FREQUENCY I SUSPECT A DEEPER PROBLEM [uncaring pastors] - by Stephen Kneale

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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The author is puzzled why so many pastors don't seem to care about people. The short answer is, they're not pastors. They may have a title, but they don't have the gift.

The author will repeatedly ask "why," but ultimately does not have the answer. We will suggest an answer at the end.
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If you’ve been in the church for any length of time, you will know it is a group of sinful people trying to help one another become more like the sinless person of Jesus Christ. With all its faults and flaws, that is the vehicle the Lord decided to use to build his kingdom and mould his people. Given all that, it should hardly be any surprise to anyone that church ministers also sin. They are the platformed sinners, teaching all the other sinners, regardless of their own sin, about the sinless Christ we want to be like. (Maybe part of the problem is the author's attitude about Christians. This is a common way of describing Christians, unfortunately. 

But Christians are not sinners any longer, despite the fact they sin. God has called us saints and new creations. We are to put off the deeds of the old nature and put on Christ. 

We are a temple of Living Stones, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit [1Pe. 2:5]. We are chosen, a holy people [1Pe. 2:9]

There is no place in the NT that describes Christians as sinners.)

But there is a certain sin that seems increasingly common in ministers that I find hard to understand how, given the tendency, they end up in pastoral ministry. (Perhaps the issue is the pastoral ministry itself. Perhaps the misrepresentation of what a real pastor is or should be has caused confusion. Perhaps the position as chief executive attracts people who are not pastoral. Perhaps because the position of pastor has morphed into "the guy in charge," people entering the ministry no longer understand that pastors care for the flock.)

In fact, I was chatting with someone else about this (in general) and they glibly noted, ‘there’s quite a lot of those guys about.’ The issue I’m talking about is those guys who just aren’t bothered with you, who have no interest in you, unless you are someone of note or worth (in their view) bothering with. There seems to be a disturbingly high number of these sorts of people in pastoral ministry. (Hmm. Pastor position without a pastor's heart. We wonder if the author is going to get to the "why.")

It is noteworthy because, in essence, pastoral ministry is all about people. And given that pastors are sinners leading other sinners towards a sinless saviour, (Where in the Bible does it say this about pastors?)

you’d have thought there would be some recognition – what with the particular gospel we proclaim and all – that as sinners (The author persists in identifying Christians according to what they once were.)

none of us are worthy of Christ’s love, care and respect.

We have receive such grace from him, that we don’t deserve, which ought to cause us to view others with the same gracious love. Whether I reckon you deserve my interest/respect/love/care doesn’t really come into it. Jesus has graciously reached out to me and so I ought to graciously reach out to others. Pastoral ministry never extends beyond people.

So why are there so many in pastoral ministry who don’t seem to have much time for people? (Yes, indeed. Why? We hope he will tell us.)

(...)

For some reason, we seem to repeatedly give pastorates to people who – in my view – fail the most basic part of being a pastor: actually caring about people even if they happen to seem insignificant to you. Why do we seem to find so many of these guys in pastoral ministry? (Yes, yes. Why?)

The thing is, it’s not as if the signs aren’t there before they enter ministry (not in the cases I have experienced, at any rate). It’s not as though there is something about pastoral ministry itself that creates the behaviour, it was usually there all along. But it tends to carry over into the ministry itself. Not just towards insignificant people who come into the church, but towards ministers and leaders too. It’s not just insigificant (sic) pew fillers who get overlooked or treated like something someone has stepped in, but other leaders and ministers who don’t appear to do much for me and my standing soon get short-shrift too. Naturally, we’ll turn on the charm for those who will give us a bit of influence or dole out the reddies. (money.)

But if you’re unlikely to do owt (ought) for me, I’ll probably not bother making the effort with you.

My question is simple: why are there so many minister’s like this? What is it about them, or us, that means we keep giving them pastoral roles? (Yes, yes. For the fourth time, why?)

Maybe we simply value ‘the ministry’ more than we do people. We want those with the skills and networking ability to make much of what we’re doing. Anything that makes our ministry seem great, people who have the skills do make our ministry swing, they’re the guys for us. Maybe it’s that those in positions of influence are the ones so frequently sucked up to that they don’t realise it because we’re all prone to flattery. They’re never on the receiving end of the cold, aloof, disinterest that they just don’t notice and happen to be the people able to put these folks into post. Maybe those of us who don’t suffer it just don’t care. Maybe we secretly harbour those same sorts of feelings to insignificant people who can’t do anything for us and our church that we’re not bothered about somebody treating them that way.

Honestly, I don’t know why it is the case. (Hmmm. So he actually doesn't know why.)

But it seems to happen with such frequency that it is hard to imagine there isn’t some wider failing that we’re all allowing to slide.

I know you’re probably all wondering who I’m talking about and are desperate for me to name names. I’m not going to do that. Not least because I’m really not talking about any one person. I’m talking about a tendency I see all over the place. And I wonder what we have done to make it so common. We would all recognise it as unpleasant and wrong if we were on the receiving end, most of us would see it as a problem and bar to qualification, yet we frequently seem to find these guys in the pastorate (and if you think I’m one of them, come and tell me so I can apologise in person!) My real question is why, given all that, we still see it so often? (So we get to the end, and the author's last statement is to ask "why" yet again.

We will supply him with the simple answer. The Church has created an unbiblical version of pastor, and installed him at the top of the pyramid in a hierarchy of position. This kind of pastor is expected to preach, visit the sick, administer the church, lead the prayer, set and track the budget, and shovel the church sidewalks of snow. The pastor is pedestalized, elevated, and empowered to be the final and absolute authority on every matter. 

This is not the biblical shepherd.

The biblical shepherd is part of a plurality of leadership in the church, laboring alongside other men who have other gifts which combine to build up the church. The church is to be led by elders:

1Pe. 5:1-3 To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow-elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers — not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

Elders are shepherds are overseers. All of the elders together lead the church. The elders

...must be above reproach, the husband of  but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 1Ti. 3:2-3 

The author has run across men who do not have pastor's hearts. But it's not surprising that many pastors do not possess every skill or gift expected of them. They have been forced into an unbiblical mold into which no man can fit. They are doomed to fail.

Pastors are expected to be supermen with super gifting and super abilities. People want a dynamic preacher, a can-do man, someone who will at the drop of a hat be able to answer hard Bible questions, and do it all in a way that pleases everyone. That is, to be able to do the impossible.

So it's no wonder the author is confused. 

As we said, the answer is simple. However, the implementation is difficult. Errant views do not disappear easily. Many pastors like the power and prestige of the pastorate, and will not easily give it up. Many parishioners like being spoon-fed by the credentialed expert. Such attitudes will not go without a fight.

Perhaps the author might himself re-evaluate his understanding and begin transitioning his own ministry.)