Pastor in sin !

Bruren777,

You have not followed the mandates of Scripture. Go talk to your pastor. Use the principles found in Matthew 18. Until you do this, I would recommend you remain silent on this issue.

 

While I see major B's point & others like it, we see in the case before us that this pastor ADMITTED his sin by saying "God will forgive". Therefore it's not just a rumor or gossip.

I useta attend a baptist church at which Dad was a deacon. There was a married music minister who taught piano on the side, who once gave more than music lessons to one of his single female students.(Not a member of that church) No one knew about it but GOD, and the two people. However, he repented and, after a long discussion with his wife, PUBLICLE ADMITTED HIS SIN IN CHURCH w/o naming the other person. His wife was at his side during his confession. He also tendered his resignation as MM.

The pastor said there was nothing to do but forgive him as he had "owned up" to his sin which no other church member knew about, and, far as he was concerned, the matter was closed except for the finding of a new MM.

However, a number of people in that church, includeng mosta the members of mosta the committees, an ast. pastor, and two deacons, arranged for that man to be expelled from that church's membership. That action outraged most of the other members, Mom, Dad, & I included, because that action was totally unScriptural. As the pastor said, who among us hadn't sinned since becoming a Christian? It's not as if this man was living in sin and was trying to hide it or justify it...He had come before the body of the church seeking forgiveness of what he considered to have been a sin against it, after he had come to God, and then his wife.

Dad made one of the hardest decisions of his life. Ever since being saved, he had aspired to be a deacon, and one of the proudest moments of his life was his first service as deacon, escorting people to their seats, helping with the offering plates.(plural plates; this was a large church.) After the above incident, he told me, "Son, you know how I love serving the Lord as a deacon. But in all conscience I cannot continue as deacon any more, because the church isn't governed by Christ any more, but by a group of old fogies who have gone against Scripture. I am resigning as deacon; my next phone call will be to tender it."

To keep a long story short, the pastor also resigned for the same reason & the resulting tumult soon destroyed that church. Its edifice is now a telemarketing center.

 

The man should have stepped down as MM, as he did, but a repentant sinner is not to be kicked out of the church. Only an unrepentant sinner.

The passage escapes me right now.

However, your father and the pastor both made a drastic mistake in turning the church over to men who were obviously not spirit-led.

Good leaders abdicating to bad ones should never happen although sometimes you cannot win.

If the pastor in question here does not repent, if he has need to, then he should be put out of fellowship. Fired, that is.

As always, scriptural guidelines should be followed. If anyone is unwilling to follow through, he should just let it drop.

Bruren, meet with the pastor and deacons along with two witnesses and bring this into the light.

Period.

MR