What Christians Owe Their Pastors

This article was first published in the Baptist Bulletin (September/October 2008) and appears here unedited. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Years ago a minister was called “the parson,” meaning “the person.” He was a VIP. He was honored as the preacher of the gospel, a molder of public opinion, and the conscience of the community. Not so today. A recently published survey revealed the most respected people in the average American community. Ministers ranked far down on the list, behind doctors, judges, psychologists, civic leaders, and police officers. Why?

No doubt the widespread sexual and financial scandals among members of the clergy have seriously affected the public opinion of them. Unfortunately, many pastors are mere puppets, moved by the whims of their parishioners. Some are controlled by a few strong laypeople, and others are “religious politicians” instead of prophets of God. Fortunate is the congregation whose pastor speaks “the very words of God” (1 Peter 4:11, NIV) and diligently leads the church.

We believe that the Bible words “elder” and “bishop” refer to and include the pastor (or pastors) of a local church. Each of these titles reveals a facet of his divine calling. As an elder, he is to provide mature, responsible leadership. As the bishop, he is to be the general manager, providing careful oversight of the Lord’s work. And as the pastor, he is charged with caring for and feeding the flock of God (Acts 20:28).

Such divinely commissioned leaders are important individuals in God’s sight—and should be in the eyes of every Christian as well. Our Lord places great importance upon the pastor-parishioner relationship. In fact, He expects every believer to voluntarily be under the leadership and teaching of a godly pastor. The Bible allows no exceptions.

Recently a pastor introduced some new members at the close of a morning service by saying, “We welcome you to all the privileges and responsibilities of church membership.” Responsibilities? What did he mean? While the pastor did not explain, the Bible does. According to the Word of God, every Christian is under divine obligation in at least three areas: intercession, remuneration, and submission.

Intercession

Paul wrote, “Brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified” (2 Thessalonians 3:1). He also commended the believers in Corinth for helping him through their prayers (2 Corinthians 1:11). And the writer of Hebrews exhorted Christians everywhere to “remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct” (13:7). Every pastor therefore needs, covets, and deserves the prayers of his people. Unfortunately, it is much easier to criticize a minister than it is to intercede for him. In fact, many preachers experience more trouble from within the body than from without.

During a pastor’s first year, he and the church experience a period of unusual harmony, a honeymoon of sorts. The congregation laughs at his jokes and comments happily about his personal mannerisms. They appreciate their pastor’s different kind of sermons, and they usually pray for him.

By the second year, some of his personality traits start to bug at least some members of the congregation. By then they have discovered that this man is not the wonder worker they thought him to be. Members no longer invite their friends to “hear our preacher.” The critical period of any pastorate is apt to occur during this year, especially if the new pastor has followed a minister of long-standing. In just this short time, it has become easier to criticize the pastor than to pray for him.

During the third year, some members actually despise their pastor. Whisper campaigns might begin, and sometimes petitions are circulated requesting his resignation. The only intercession for the pastor is the secret “prayer meetings” called to “pray over the problem.” This is one of the primary reasons the average ministerial tenure in America is three years or less.

We need to ask ourselves, “Have I really supported my pastor in prayer?” Jonathan Edwards once said, “If some Christians that have been complaining of their ministers had said and acted less before man and had applied themselves with all their might to cry to God for their ministers—had, as it were, risen and stormed heaven with their humble, fervent, and incessant prayers for them—they would have been much more in the way of success.” If you really want to fire your pastor, then intercede for him. You owe it to him.

Remuneration

Old Testament Israelites supported their priests in grand style through their tithes. So it should not surprise us that New Testament believers are reminded that the “Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:14). Paul commanded, “Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. For the Scripture says, You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain, and, The laborer is worthy of his wages” (1 Timothy 5:17, 18). Believer’s Bible Commentary (MacDonald and Farstad) states that the word “double honor” means “worthy of respect because of his work, but also, if his time is devoted to this work fully, he is also worthy of financial help.”

Why shouldn’t ministers have an adequate salary? Yet consistently today, pastors are often in the lower income bracket, and some are scarcely getting by.

One of the problems, particularly in smaller churches, is that many individuals in leadership have little or no experience in management. They are usually on the receiving end themselves; therefore, they cannot understand why pastors need automobile and housing allowances, a retirement program, and medical and dental insurance. Yet most employees today receive all of these benefits, plus automatic raises and cost of living increases (often under union pressure), but not the pastor.

In addition, there is no monetary incentive program for ministers, as there is for others in managerial positions or for salespeople. One pastor remarked, “The less I do, the more I make!” meaning that the fewer miles he drives on visitation calls and the fewer times he takes a salvation or membership prospect out to lunch, the more money he has for himself and his family. This is unfortunate, but so often true. I assure you, your pastor will be free to do a better job if he is cared for financially. Your church will prosper, and your pastor will be thankful. You owe it to him.

Submission

In these days when liberty and freedom are distorted concepts, it is imperative that we get back to the Bible, which flatly states, “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive” (Hebrews 13:17). It is abundantly clear that in the formative days of the church, there were two primary divisions among God’s people: namely, those who led and those who were led. These same classifications are binding upon Christians throughout this age.

We recognize that all believers are “priests unto God” (Revelation 1:6, KJV) and that all share the same standing and privileges before the Lord. Yet a chain of command has been divinely established for the local church. It is absolutely essential for the proper functioning and well-being of the body. Therefore, believers must be loyal and must show respect for the men who have received their pastoral calling from Christ Himself (see Ephesians 4:11-12). To ignore or rebel against the concept of pastoral leadership is to despise the One Who appointed them.

The obedience demanded in Hebrews 13:17 refers first to the pastor’s teaching ministry. Kenneth Wuest translated this command as “yield yourself trustingly to their teaching.” To submit to a pastor’s faithful exposition and application of the Word is to obey God. However, the words “obey” and “submit” are not restricted in application to his preaching alone. God expects believers to respond to the pastor’s shepherding of the flock as well. Christians are to respect and respond to the wise leadership of their ministers as they would to the Lord Himself. Jesus said, “He who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me” (John 13:20). The apostle Paul exhorted the Corinthian believers to “imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).

However, a word of caution is necessary. A believer is under no obligation to obey the pastor’s teaching if it is obviously at variance with the Bible. Nor is a believer required to submit to any decision or counsel that clearly dishonors the Lord or disobedient to His Word. Every pastor should therefore encourage his people to “test all things” and to “hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Paul commended the Berean believers for doing those very things with his teaching (Acts 17:11).

But for a person to withhold this Biblical allegiance to God’s man and to speak contemptuously against the pastor’s position of leadership is to despise a divine institution, because the appointment of a pastor is as much God’s doing as the appointment of the church itself. Instead, prompted by love, believers are to submit with the goal of honoring those to whom honor is due (Romans 13:7).

Pastors have a sobering, serious position under God. According to Hebrews 13:17, they are to “watch out for [believers’] souls.” This should be motive enough for any spiritually minded Christian to gladly respond to the Lord’s appointed leaders. According to 1 Thessalonians 5:12 and 13, believers are to “recognize those who labor among [them], and are over [them] in the Lord and who admonish [them], and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake.”

A second motive for believers’ correct response to leadership is that they will give an account to the Lord. At the Judgment Seat of Christ, pastors, or “God’s stewards” (Titus 1:7), will give a personal accounting of their ministry of teaching and leading (2 Corinthians 5:10). Diligent Christians can immensely help their ministers by cheerfully cooperating with them as they endeavor to follow “the Chief Shepherd” (1 Peter 5:4).

Finally, Christians ought to gladly respond to godly leadership, because pastors will want to report “with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you” (Hebrews 13:17). God is highly displeased with insubordinate Christians; and they, too, will appear at the Judgment Seat of Christ, to “receive the things done in the body, according to what [they have] done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). A godly, submissive spirit now will bring great reward in the future.

If your pastor is a God-called leader and is diligent in his work for the Lord, you owe him your constant prayers, your continued support, and your Christlike submission. To do less is to disobey God.

(Coming soon: What Pastors Owe Their Churches)


Roy E. Knuteson (PhD, California Graduate School of Theology) is a retired pastor who attends Calvary Baptist Church, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin.

Discussion

[Aaron Blumer] To me the decisive factor there is how the church believes it ought to be governed. If it is strong on congregational rule, then the congregation must know what the salaries are. If it believes in a much stronger board of elders or similar forms of modified congregationalism, it is probably enough to leave that detail to the elders.

Not personally going to debate which of these models (if either) is “correct,” but pretty much congregations decide what they believe about these things.
Aaron, that’s a solid point, and probably where dcbii and I disagree. I don’t think comparing a church to a publicly traded company is a direct analogy. The church is not a company nor are attenders shareholders. The collective church pays the bills, not any individual. Therefore the individual does not necessarily need to know the financial details. In fact, at our church we do not provide exhaustive details for any area of our budget. We break it into large tracts of ministry funding. There is no vote. But again, this difference is related to Aaron’s point. The church body must collectively trust its leaders to ensure accountability and reasonable compensation for its pastors. I don’t think it’s a huge thing to disagree over. To each church its own…

[Jim Peet] Bulletins? I really doubt we need them. Display a slide or two in the lead up to the worship service. Communicate news via a blog or email marketing.
Thanks Jim,

I could not resist adding to your comment on church bulletins/PowerPoint.

Regarding the latter, some are still “fighting the battle.” One pastor told me: “This is a fundamental church - we don’t use PowerPoint here on Sunday morning!”

Regarding bulletins, as I get out in churches, I see everything from programs comparable to something you would get at an NFL game to the poorest excuse for a paper airplane you have ever seen!

I learned a life-long lesson on church bulletins from the master-head usher who trained me as a teenager in the Lutheran church. One Sunday he pointed to a small block which had been left blank on the back of the church bulletins we were distributing and simply said, “That blank spot is a great way to preach the gospel.” ;)

(As an aside, I will make a deal with you: We can eliminate church bulletins and go all electronic if we also agree to eliminate “announcements.” I would really love to meet the first guy who got up one Sunday morning and decided, “You know what, I’m going to get up in front of that church and read the bulletin today!!” :Sp |( :tired: )

Church Ministries Representative, serving in the Midwest, for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry

[Jim Peet] Churches (particularly of the larger kind) need to leverage newer technologies such as:

  1. End stuffing envelopes for missionary prayer letters and putting a stamp on ‘em: Use [URL=http://www.mailchimp.com/ Mailchimp] or [URL=http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp] Constant Contact] instead. If my 90 year old mother can use email anyone in your church can too!
  2. Secretaries - don’t need them. I can think of countless examples in my company where there might be one administrative assistant shared among 60-70 employees. My own wife manages a team of more than 50 employees with a budget more than a million and has no secretary.
  3. Technology and servers: I don’t think any church needs a server or a server administrator. Use Google mail (can be branded to your own domain name) let “the cloud” manage your data
  4. Use financial tools like QuickBooks Pro - online. Do we really need Financial executives for churches?
  5. Have complex ministries like a day school: Use web based educational software.
  6. Print much less or none at all. I doubt copiers can be eliminated but the use of can be greatly reduced. I work in a fairly complex environment. I don’t even use a copier! Print to PDF. Publish on the web with a service like [URL=http://www.scribd.com/ Scribd] (there are others). Bulletins? I really doubt we need them. Display a slide or two in the lead up to the worship service. Communicate news via a blog or email marketing.
    I can think of many smaller or newer churches that are doing these kind of thinks: Janz, Doug Roman, Greg Linscott, etc.

    Make the back office efficient so that members have a sense that monies are being used wisely by the church
I hope that our secretaries, network administrator, and business manager do not read this, because this is a direct indication of your opinion of their jobs.

People do not read the slides…bulletins are printed reminders that people can refer to when they cannot remember what they saw on the slide.

Email - there are some people who do not own a computer and do not have an understanding of email. What are they supposed to do if they have made the choice not to own a computer or use email? Do we penalize them?

Just because your mom knows email and your wife does not have a secretary, does not mean the rest of the world should operate in your paradigm..

I thought that we left the cookie cutter mold behind (do as I do and do as I say)… so it does not matter what others are doing, as long as we are doing what is best for our ministry..

tlange… it’s OK. It’s just Jim’s opinion, among many differing ones.

Personally, I’d love to have a secretary, but that’s not likely to ever happen.

As for “a few slides” instead of a bulletin, a couple of drawbacks…

1- You have to have a good video projection system installed. Ours is still on a cart you roll out when you want to use it.

2- You can’t take it home and stick it on the fridge to remind you of what’s going on

3- Everybody has to be there in time to read the few slides, so you really have the same problem you would if you read announcements at the beginning of the service, only it’s done silently.

To Paul Scharf about announcements: at our church, they serve a few important functions

1 - getting word to the ones who just refuse to read a bulletin (every church has ‘em)

2 - announcing stuff that we forgot to put in the bulletin

3- telling folks, hey, read the bulletin

4- to use up time so the service doesn’t end too early and I don’t have to preach so long (kidding)

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

[Paul J. Scharf]
[Jim Peet] Bulletins? I really doubt we need them. Display a slide or two in the lead up to the worship service. Communicate news via a blog or email marketing.
We have elderly that do not have Internet. We have college kids/singles who mostly ignore email (Twitter, maybe Facebook; mostly texting).

The bulletin is the ONE consistent means of communicating info to everyone who attends.

Our video system is still on a cart and used for special services. Small churches without the manpower and/or financial means to support full-time video systems and video announcements on Sundays rely on bulletins still. To do email, texting, Twittering, and then still set up a nice video announcement sequence for Sunday takes FAR MORE WORK for the pastor doing everything than simply putting together a bulletin and running off 30 to 40 copies (remember, small church).

At least they can be done well today. I look at ours from the early 90s and can’t believe the difference computers have made over the ole’ typewriter!

Finally, the order of service is followed and appreciated by our congregation. Folks know where we are in the service, the pages of hymns, text to hymns that are not in our hymnal (yes, we print choruses and hymn texts in the bulletin on occasion), etc.

I tried doing announcements on our web-site, but nobody read them.

I have no problem with a WELL-DONE and informative church bulletin. In fact, that is one tradition which I would probably be sad to see go away.

One little tidbit about bulletins: always make sure to print more than enough and distribute them liberally. I know one situation where the pastor always printed just a few LESS than needed and asked the ushers to give them out sparingly. REALLY bad idea.

As a pastor I always tried to give any leftover bulletins away during the week — to people who did not attend on Sunday, or even people in the community. (The former is very easy if you have a church mailbox system.)

Announcements are a different story altogether. I see nowhere where announcements fit in a “worship service,” anymore than they would be appropriate in a wedding or a funeral, especially if we want to talk about the regulative principle. If something just HAS to be announced, place it at the very beginning or the very end (when people can do something about it anyway) — PLEASE! :D

Ironically, many larger churches have done away with announcements, as some of them could take the entire service just on announcements if they tried. On the other hand, I have been in small churches where someone literally read the bulletin line-by-line or spent a healthy five minutes inviting people back to the evening service.



JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE YOU FEEL INVITED BACK!!’
 :Sp

Church Ministries Representative, serving in the Midwest, for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry

Growing up in the Lutheran church, the pastor I had when I was a small boy used to put a word-for-word transcript of his sermon inside the bulletin. (As I remember it, only members got these “special editions” of the bulletin, as they were placed in each member’s church mailbox in advance of the morning services.)

That was a practice I never thought I would see again…until I served as a pastoral assistant in a larger, suburban Baptist church about 30 years later where the pastor did the same thing!

Dr. David Brown puts a sort of abbreviated transcript of his Sunday morning sermon in the bulletin faithfully each week, and many people follow along as he speaks.

(http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?speakerOnly=true&currSection=serm….^David^L.^Brown)

Church Ministries Representative, serving in the Midwest, for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry

I pastor a small church and this is how I handle to anouncements. We do use bullitens still and I give the anouncenments on Sunday Morning BEFORE the worship service starts. Our power point is hard wired in. That is actually pretty easy and economical for small churches to do. But I don’t use it for anouncements. I usually use it for my sermons (both Sunday morning and Evening). I would like to get to the point where I use the media in the following ways: While I would still print bulletins put the anouncements on PP and get rid of the anouncements during the Worship Service, put the words up on the screen for instrumentals (offertories), putting the Words up for choruses and even hymns on occassion, and continue with my sermon outlines.

I didn’t agree with everything Jim said, but he did make some good points. Sometimes we pastors are in a bubble, particularrly those who don’t do any secular work. At times, we are not sensative to real world applications.

Roger Carlson, Pastor Berean Baptist Church

To Aaron’s list of projector drawbacks, add 4 - not everyone can read the screen.

Having better-than-average vision, it took me a while to grasp this, even after hearing from persons with the problem. How can they [U] not[/U] read the screen, I wondered. Do they need new glasses? Corrective lenses do not always restore vision to 20/20, especially for distance, and in our current economic conditions, an increasing number of persons are facing tough choices about purchasing new glasses with up-to-date correction.

Things That Matter

As the quantity of communication increases, so does its quality decline; and the most important sign of this is that it is no longer acceptable to say so.--RScruton

[Brent Marshall] To Aaron’s list of projector drawbacks, add 4 - not everyone can read the screen.

Having better-than-average vision, it took me a while to grasp this, even after hearing from persons with the problem. How can they [U] not[/U] read the screen, I wondered. Do they need new glasses? Corrective lenses do not always restore vision to 20/20, especially for distance, and in our current economic conditions, an increasing number of persons are facing tough choices about purchasing new glasses with up-to-date correction.
I’d suggest using only sans serif fonts (e.g. not Times New Roman) and no less than 18 on the size. Also, light text against dark(er) backgrounds—that combination is easier on the eyes. High contrast is easy to read.

Father of three, husband of one, servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. I blog at mattolmstead.com.

Announcements are a different story altogether. I see nowhere where announcements fit in a “worship service,” anymore than they would be appropriate in a wedding or a funeral, especially if we want to talk about the regulative principle. If something just HAS to be announced, place it at the very beginning or the very end (when people can do something about it anyway) -
I do think it’s best to put them at the beginning… but if we believe in the regulative principle in that sense, why do we take up an offering? (cf. “that there be no gatherings when I come”)

Our worship service doesn’t actually “begin” until after the announcements. I even say “a few announcements before we begin worship” pretty often.

But Sunday PM they are often in the middle of the service with the offering. I don’t really see how it’s a problem in a less formal service. It isn’t interrupting anything. But a “break” in a service can be helpful to folks sometimes, even if it is an “interruption,” because physically we’re better able to focus sometimes if there is a change of pace.

This thread’s really wandered all over the topic map though, hasn’t it!

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

Aaron,

I agree.

Roger Carlson, Pastor Berean Baptist Church

Jim Peet’s kind words aside…

  1. We still print a bulletin.
  2. We rarely use powerpoint.
  3. We paper copy missionary letters and emails and place one in every church family’s church mailbox.
  4. We have 17 secretaries.
  5. I’m kidding on the last one.

Greg Linscott
Marshall, MN

I have a secretary - his name is Jay. ;)

Seriously, we open our service with announcements [something I’d like to change eventually] , and they’re also listed in the bulletin for our late-comers.

"Our task today is to tell people — who no longer know what sin is...no longer see themselves as sinners, and no longer have room for these categories — that Christ died for sins of which they do not think they’re guilty." - David Wells