A common issue raised with the idea of staffing according to purposes is that people won’t know who their pastor is.
The first response to this is to passive-aggressively infer that anyone who asks that question has some some sort of Roman Catholic view of priesthood. Jesus is your pastor, your brothers and sisters in Christ are your encourages. You don’t need to have “a pastor” to run to every time you have some issue of the faith (or of life).
The second (and less condescending) response is to affirm that Jesus gives his people a sense of respect for the pastors he appoints over them, and its perfectly natural for people to want to ask their pastor about issues.
The reality is that some people “click” with their congregational pastor, and some people don’t. If you don’t feel comfortable with the prospect of laying your cards on the table with the congregational pastor you’ve got… Chances are your holding back from investing into that church family.
However, when you staff for purposes, you give your flock a real ability to choose the pastor that they best feel comfortable chatting to.
Yes. If you move from one model to another, it won’t happen straight away. It will take time for people to get to know the other guys. But at their heart, all your staff who take responsibility for purposes, are primarily people focused.
Purpose staffing gives people more staff who care for them, and allows for a great variety of people in your church – not just people who feel comfortable chatting to you.