Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Hey Fletch … I came across your pivotal article on the 3 Kinds of XPs. Thanks so much for making this available.

DRF—It is always gratifying to hear from the XPastor community. The article, 3 Kinds of XPs, is very popular on the site because it addresses the main types of XPs in churches today. 

As society and church changes in the future, we may see the XP role change. By way of history, let’s remember that the title “Senior Pastor” was rarely, if ever, used in the 1950’s. By the 70’s and 80’s, it was a common title. The size of church staffs often had increased from one or two people to six to ten. With that growth, the title “Senior Pastor” entered our lexicon. 

So it is with XPs. The title was rare in the 1990’s but by 2010 it was common in thousands of churches. Often our titles are driven by changing roles and functions in the church. With society and church as complex as it currently is, I don’t foresee any upcoming change for the need of XPs.