Pastors at large

With you, the title "pastor-at-large" makes me want to ask, "Does this Genevan robe make me look fat?"

When I recently visited the Presbyterian Church in America's Rocky Mountain Presbytery, its committee on Officers & Churches brought a proposal to call a “Pastor At Large,” modeled on the practice of other PCA presbyteries, who would “be a pastor to pastors.” The proposal was postponed to their next stated meeting for perfection, but the sentiment on the floor seemed to be strongly in favor. If I heard correctly, the Rocky Mountain Presbytery has sixty teaching elders, and several speakers said they felt the spiritual care they receive needs much improvement.

I suspect that sentiment would be echoed in many presbyteries of the PCA and OPC, other than in those in which the sentiment would be "What spiritual care?" Even the most casual observer of presbyterian conflicts will note that many pastors seem to have, to put the point gently, "issues." Many presbyters will object, and with good reason, that it costs money to call and support a pastor-at-large (also called a "presbyter-at-large"). Fair enough. How much money do Church splits cost? How much money is permanently lost to a presbytery and denomination when a congregaton dissolves or withdraws?

Spiritual care is not a luxury. It's a necessity.