Do you Believe a Man can effectively pastor a church and reach a community while living a significant distance from the church?
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Do you Believe a Man can effectively pastor a church and reach a community while living a significant distance from the church?
Yes, if he lives within 20 minutes or less Votes: 5
Yes, if he lives within 30 minutes or less Votes: 4
Yes; distance is not really an issue Votes: 5
No Votes: 3
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I think it is hard to reach a community if you aren’t living there.
The problem is the definition of “living there” varies from place to place. We tried to work in an area here in Poland that was about 20-25 min. from our house. It wasn’t working. Generally speaking, we weren’t there visiting often enough to get people to come and people didn’t want to drive that far to go to church. What I have noticed is this though…People generally will drive from a rural area to a city to go to a church but rarely the other way around. So, for us to ask people to go from the Warsaw area to drive out of town 25 min…it just didn’t work.
Anyway, I’m sure there are exceptions. I heard of men who were pastoring churches while teaching at BJU. That seemed so strange to me when they were 120 miles from their church—they were only there on the weekends. It seems a little LESS strange to me now that I’ve run into churches (brethren) that use laymen a lot more than churches that I grew up in, etc I just know that unless you spend a lot of time on the road, you can’t really do too much while pastoring from that distance.
But most of it depends on the exact demographics of the area. You can be 30 min. away from church and be only a few miles from it, if the traffic is bad. Or 30 min. may be 30 miles.
Generally I’d agree with Greg L. here. It is harder to pastor from a distance. I am not sure how anyone can even dispute that statement. Whether or not you are effective will depend on your gifts, the readiness of the people, the working of the Holy Spirit, etc.
The problem is the definition of “living there” varies from place to place. We tried to work in an area here in Poland that was about 20-25 min. from our house. It wasn’t working. Generally speaking, we weren’t there visiting often enough to get people to come and people didn’t want to drive that far to go to church. What I have noticed is this though…People generally will drive from a rural area to a city to go to a church but rarely the other way around. So, for us to ask people to go from the Warsaw area to drive out of town 25 min…it just didn’t work.
Anyway, I’m sure there are exceptions. I heard of men who were pastoring churches while teaching at BJU. That seemed so strange to me when they were 120 miles from their church—they were only there on the weekends. It seems a little LESS strange to me now that I’ve run into churches (brethren) that use laymen a lot more than churches that I grew up in, etc I just know that unless you spend a lot of time on the road, you can’t really do too much while pastoring from that distance.
But most of it depends on the exact demographics of the area. You can be 30 min. away from church and be only a few miles from it, if the traffic is bad. Or 30 min. may be 30 miles.
Generally I’d agree with Greg L. here. It is harder to pastor from a distance. I am not sure how anyone can even dispute that statement. Whether or not you are effective will depend on your gifts, the readiness of the people, the working of the Holy Spirit, etc.
Wow,
It looks like more time is spent clarifying one’s position, and coming up with a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box!
Let’s sweeten the spirit a little guys!
It looks like more time is spent clarifying one’s position, and coming up with a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box!
Let’s sweeten the spirit a little guys!
Serving the Savior, Pastor Wes Helfenbein 2 Cor. 5:17
[pastorwesh] Wow,Surely you exaggerate???
It looks like more time is spent clarifying one’s position, and coming up with a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box inside of a quote box!
:) Written with a very sweet spirit, BTW.
I’m curious as this particular thread really isn’t very vitriolic, nor are there very many quotes in a quote. What are you getting at?
You know, Becky, you’re right. I guess I was referring to quotes #30 and #35. However, I read the whole thread in one setting, and my initial reaction was, “It seems like people are more interested in trying to catch people in their words, than they are about understanding where the other is coming from.” Maybe my rebuke was unwarrented. I just found the topic to be of interest b/c I’m moving to an Urban ministry this week, and I was hoping for a little more contribution to the actual topic, instead of the “I said” no “You said” no “I said” stuff. :0)
Anyway, hope that helps.
Anyway, hope that helps.
Serving the Savior, Pastor Wes Helfenbein 2 Cor. 5:17
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