Featured A letter to prospective Pastors

I agree. The modern church no longer trains men by the old fashioned apprenticeship method. I will be the first to say that every pastor should have a good study knowledge of Hebrew and Greek (and I don't mean looking at Strong's numbers and looking the word up in a lexicon).

But the practical aspects of apprenticeship and be invaluable to a pastor, especially in a smaller church where he labors alone or with only talented laymen to assist him.

 

Amen! Part of every pastor's responsibilities is to have a Timothy he is teaching how to be a good pastor.

Every pastor, if the church is large enough to support him, should have a man on staff who he is preparing to take over the pastorate when the pastor retires or plans to move on.

This is not always possible in the event of a sudden death of the pastor or some other unforeseen circumstance.

And when a church in the area experiences a sudden unforeseen circumstance, that pastor should be prepared to offer that young trainee, if ready, to the church without a pastor. He should then be prepared to start the discipling process all over again with another young man.

This nonsense of a pastor leaving and a pulpit committee taking a year, or even more, to find a suitable pastor is just idiotic, and says more about the church's failure to prepare for a transition of leadership than it does those available for service.

Paul had his Timothy. Barnabas had his John Mark. Moses had his Joshua. All were ready, able, and available to take over the ministry is necessary.

And we should do no less. I pastored the same church for 27 years. The present pastor was with me for 15 years and when I retired he stepped into the senior pastor's position with no trouble at all. He knew the people and the people knew him.

 

This is the problem most pulpit committees have. They think the pastorate is a "professional" position. It isn't. It's a calling. Today too many churches have forgotten that true Christian ministry is much different from the world of business.

They seek professionals rather than pastors (shepherds).

They emphasize programs rather than focusing on people.

They look for the popular rather than the powerful.

We need to reexamine our priorities and practices and get them back into biblical perspective.

 

If you are looking for a professional rather than a pastor, yes.

 

From my Philosophy of Ministry, from which I taught from in the Seminary.

III. We Must Have a Pastor Who is Godly in Character, and Biblical in Function:

A. The Pastor must meet and uphold all the Biblical qualifications of the office.
I Timothy 3:1 7; Titus 1:6 9.

1. Be of Good Behavior. 1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:8.

2. Be in Control at Home. 1 Tim. 3:2; 4:5; Titus 1:6.

3. Be Hospitable. 1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:8; 1 Peter 4:9.

4. Be a Teacher. 1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:9.

5. Be Committed to Holiness. 2 Cor. 7:1.

6. Be Spiritually Minded, not Materially Minded. 1 John 2:15; 1 Tim. 3:3; Titus 1:7; 1 Peter 5:2; (read Matt. 6:19 34).

7. Be a Man of Meekness. 1 Tim. 3:3 4; Titus 1:7 13.

8. Be a Man of Maturity. 1 Tim. 3:6; 1 Peter 5:5.

9. Be a Respected Citizen. 1 Tim. 3:7.

B. The Pastor must be a man of prayer Acts 6:4.

C. The Pastor must be a man of the Word Acts 6:4.

D. The Pastor's ministry is to be one of leading, not driving the flock I Peter 5:1 3.

E. The Pastor must be willing to spend time with his people Proverbs 27:17; Mark 3:14.

F. The Pastor is to be constantly equipping the members for the work of the ministry. Members must be given training and encouragement to minister Ephesians 4:11 12.

G. The Pastor must be Called of God to the work of the Ministry. 1 Tim. 1:12.

1. A Divine Summons. Gal. 1:15 16.

2. A Selective Summons. Mark 3:13.

3. A Personal Summons. Matt. 4:18 22.

4. A Deliberate Response. Isa. 6:8.

5. A Decisive Commitment. Matt. 4:19, 21; 9:9.

H. The pastor must be ethical.

Concerning what he called the outer life of the pastor, Hezekiah Harvey wrote in 1879: "The Scriptures require in the pastor a model life. He is to be "an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity" (1 Timothy 4:12). As the leader of the flock his outward life will be expected to evince a higher moral tone and furnish more marked exemplification of Christian principles than that of the private Christian, because his office constitutes him an example, and the prominence of his position renders defects in him especially conspicuous and hurtful. (1 Timothy 3:2: "a bishop then must be blameless....")"

For some time I have been increasingly troubled with the behavior of pastors. An absence of ethical standards is epidemic. Pastor's gossip and talk in an uninhibited fashion. They often do not present a spiritual image in their business affairs. This presentation is an effort to outline some of the ethical duties of a pastor.

If the need for Pastoral Ethics is apparent toward the family of faith, it is eminently more vital toward those who are not saved.

Colossians 4:5, 6 "Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man."

Webster defines ethics as follows:

(1) The doctrines of morality or social manners; the science of moral philosophy, which teaches men their duty and the reasons of it.

(2) A system of moral principles; a system of rules for regulating the actions and manners of men in society.

1. A pastor and his relationship to other pastors;

a. He has a duty to be Loyal.

1 Timothy 5:19 "Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses."

I believe that pastors have an obligation not to receive an accusation where there is an absence of evidence. It is not uncommon for a pastor to tell of the fall of another to those who do not need the information.

b. He has a duty to be kind.

Romans 12:10 "Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another;"

c. He has a duty to be prayerful.

Colossians 1:9 "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;"

d. He has a duty to be responsive.

Colossians 4:6 "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man."

1) Return phone calls in a timely fashion.

2) Respond to mail in a timely fashion.

2. A pastor and his relationship to members of other churches.

a. He has a duty to be protective of the other church.

 

Philosophy of Ministry, Continued

1) What is your response to people who visit your church from another Baptist church of like faith and practice in your area? It is my impression that many pastors behave almost "lustfully" toward other church members who visit. They zealously court their further attendance and even solicit their transfer of membership to their church. Many seem to feel that they can do a better job of ministering to the family than their own pastor has done (this is pure PRIDE!). Perhaps they feel that the visiting family is going to join somewhere, "so it might as well be here." Perhaps it is the tithe they covet?

"We do not regard it to be soul winning to steal members out of churches already established, and train them to utter our peculiar Shibboleth: we aim rather at bringing souls to Christ than at making converts to our synagogue. There are sheep stealers abroad, concerning whom I will say nothing except that they are not "brethren", or at least, they do not act in a brotherly fashion. To their own Master they must stand or fall. We count it utter meanness to build up our own house with the ruins of our neighbors’ mansions; we infinitely prefer to quarry for ourselves." (“The Soul Winner” by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Chapter 1, page 1)

2) Some Guidelines for response to visiting families from other churches of like faith:

a) Call the pastor on Monday morning after their visit on Sunday. This provides him with a chance to "mend the fence." Very likely he will not even know they are unhappy.

b) Pledge to the pastor that you will not visit the family.

c) Refuse (that is the word I mean!) to receive them into your membership until they have

(1) met with their pastor,

(2) made a considered attempt at reconciliation, and

(3) You have a sincere blessing from their pastor!

d) This is the only Biblical way to receive these people, based on 1 Corinthians 12:18: "But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him."

b. He has a duty to act professional.

1) Having fellowship with your friends when they preach for neighboring churches.

2) Having fellowship with members when acting in the capacity of a guest.

3. A pastor and his relationship to members of his own flock.

a. He has a duty to be their shepherd.

When Dr. George W. Truett was invited to be president of Baylor University, he declined with one of the most beautiful sentences I have ever heard. He said, 'No, I cannot come, for I have sought and found the shepherd’s heart.'

W. A. Criswell defines the ministry of shepherd in this outline fashion:

1. The Pastor possesses the ministry of comfort.
2. The Pastor possesses the ministry of encouragement.
3. The Pastor possesses the ministry of joy.
4. The Pastor possesses the ministry of feeding and nurturing.
5. The Pastor possesses the ministry of loving commendation.

b. He has a duty to be circumspect and discrete.

"A ministers associations, or special intimacies should not be with bad or loose or irreligious men; the taint will necessarily tarnish and injure his own reputation, even if it does not corrupt his character. He is to be 'a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate.' (Titus 1:8)."

"The pastor's relations with the other sex should not only always be pure in fact, but should also be such as to avoid even the possibility of misconstruction. No point needs to be more carefully guarded, for even the suspicion or thought of wrong in this, however ill grounded, is commonly fatal to usefulness, and often follows him through the remainder of life." (Harvey)

c. He has a duty to be their confidant.

Another very important area is confidentiality. No church member wants to hear his story in a sermon illustration, no matter how well concealed. No one will trust you if they cannot be certain that what you receive in confidence will remain confidential.

4. A Pastor and his relationship to professionals in his community.

a. He has a duty to perform the role of a pastor.

1. Punctuality.

2. Seriousness.

3. Competence.

"In conversation he should be genial, courteous, affable, avoiding that tone and manner of condescension which carries in it an implied sense of superiority, and exhibiting that breadth of intelligence and culture which will secure respect for his views in general society. Slang phrases, vulgar anecdotes, boisterous discussions, idle gossip, and scandal...ill become a pastor, and will in the end seriously militate against his usefulness. ...Attractive social qualities, such as enable the pastor to exercise a leading and governing power in society, are to be the most earnestly sought; their effect on pastoral usefulness can hardly be overstated." (Harvey)

5. A Pastor and his relationship to the unsaved in his community.

a. He has a duty to be honest. 1 Thessalonians 4:12, "That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing."

b. He has a duty to be compassionate. Matthew 9:36 "But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd."

Question: Can a pastor who has fallen into the sin of adultery be restored?

To Fellowship, yes. 1 John 1:9

To Leadership, no. 1 Tim. 3:2,7 -cf- Prov.6:32-33

In summary, the pastor's work is as follows: Pray, Prepare, Preach, Protect, Preserve, and Perfect the Flock. The pastor's final task will be to Present the church, the Bride of Christ, faultless, a chaste virgin, to the Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.

 

It is obvious you have failed to understand my point.

 

What is wrong with being spiritual AND professional!?