Among my Dad’s vast piles of papers every now and then something caught my eye and made me read it. This is one. Here is his list

1. The Depressive Member
2. The Mystic Member
3. The Pretending Member
4. The Doubting Member
5. The Visionary Member
6. The Boisterous Member
7. The Isolationist Member
8. The Exhibitionist Member
9. The Frustrated Member
10. The Immature Member
11. The Credulous Member
12. The Plodding Member

What a list! The first thing that struck me is that it’s quite a negative list. In fact reading the descriptions Dad gave each, you’d only want three of the 12 in your church at most. He thought #2 could be “disastrous”, #4 “can greatly hinder”, #8 you “need to guard against”, and #10 you must “handle them ever so carefully.” Leading is difficult when you open wide the doors and all the most awkward people walk in.

The only groups he really seemed to want were the plodders (which is how he would have described himself, interestingly enough) and oddly the frustrated (was that also Dad?). And he would probably take a few visionaries and one or two boisterous types if he had to and certainly he had compassion for the depressed and the doubting. What does any of that mean? Does that say something about Dad and his personality? Yes, I think so. Does it tell you something about his experience as a pastor of more than 30 years? Absolutely. You can practically hear the weariness of a pastor trying to coax his small flock to love the Lord together. To each there is, mostly sound advice.

To the depressed he counsels no rebuke but encourages them to lift their eyes to the Lord.
To the mystic he urges them to be practical and not to despise common sense.
To the pretenders he urges honesty.
To the doubting he commends trust.
To the visionary he wants action not just words.
To the boisterous, well they should just calm down a bit.
To the isolationist remind them they are a part of a body.
To the exhibitionist, call them to lift up Christ not ourselves.
To the frustrated offer encouragement not to despise small service.
To the immature give challenge to grow into maturity.
To the credulous give sound teaching.
To the plodding – copy them!

The thing is I do recognise all of those categories as I suspect most people and pastors would but I think there are ways to be more positive about the good and faithful!