Friday, 04 September 2009

• What Do You Expect of Your Pastor?

  One of the pastors at my church wrote a blog about the role a pastor plays in caring for the church. The big point was that she is there to equip the saints to do ministry (here is the link). This Sunday, she actually preached about it. Sunday, after the service, someone from the church commented on her blog:
  
  

  "After hearing the sermon today and reading your blog, my question is what is your job? If you pass everything off, then why are we paying you? Also, when are we going to stop hearing about how we don’t like change at each sermon? I am just curious."
  
  

  Reader, in order for the second question to be clear, it needs to be understood that, currently, our church is going through a huge transition. We used to have three services. First was at 8:45- Traditional. Second was at 9:30- Contemporary. Third was at 11:00- Traditional. Our church decided to experiment with having 2 services instead of three (for many reasons, but mainly, it is a HUGE convenience). We are also planning on building onto our church- all in all, a $7,000,000.00 project. So there is a lot going on as far as change goes. Many people in our congregation are disgruntled about it.
  
  In any case, this was my response to the commenter:
  
  

  "First of all, these are good questions. But if I may answer,
  
  1.) Don’t look at it as if she were “passing off” her job. That isn’t the idea. The idea is for the church to get together as a body and be the church. It is more than sitting in a pew on Sunday and attending the dinner on Wednesday. It is a call that consumes our entire lives. We live, breathe, eat, sleep, and do everything else in the presence and company of God. When we let the Holy Spirit use us, we take care of the sick, we feed the hungry, we give a drink to those who are thirsty, we visit those in prison, we clothe the naked, and we invite the strangers in. This is what we, the church, are called to do. Not just Kim. And this is important. It is what separates the Christian from the rest of the world- and the consequences of not doing these good deeds is hell. (Check out Matthew 25:31-46)

  Kim is a pastor, which means she is there to lead the flock- or teach… She is doing exactly what she is payed to do. That is, teach the congregation. And there are many other pastors in the church… it’s just that some aren’t payed. It is a gift that many people have. (Check out Ephesians 4) Also, it might interest you that that is exactly what Jesus did with his disciples… and what the disciples did with their disciples and so on and so forth.

  This phrase, “why do we pay you?”, really alarms me as well. First of all, the money you tithe is set apart, not for your needs, but for God’s. When you give your money, you are giving it to God… God will do what he wants with it. Sure, some of it goes to pay the pastors, but church isn’t a club. Your tithe is not a membership fee. It is something you are supposed to be giving with a joyful heart. (Look at 2 Corinthians 9:6-15).

  And Finally,

  2.) We can’t stop hearing about change until we can embrace it. If things don’t change and adapt to their surroundings, they die off. How sad would it be, if 50 years from now, St. Paul’s is looking at closing it’s doors because the people no longer see it as relevant to them anymore. This will happen, and the surrounding churches who have adapted and are continuing to adapt to their culture will thrive and continue to grow and grow… that is, unless we become all things to all people (1 Corinthians 9:22).

  I understand that change is a scary thought, but there is nothing to fear when the Holy Spirit is leading it’s church. And that is exactly what is going on here. It all comes down to trusting our leaders, mainly PJ, Kim, John, and Karie. These are all spirit led people, and I wouldn’t doubt the direction in which the Holy Spirit is pointing them.

  The biggest thing is this: there is nothing the church plans on changing that goes against what God has instructed through His word. If there was, then, there should be a cause for concern. But since there isn’t, accept the direction the Holy Spirit wants to move. And you can look at it like this, we still have the traditional service, and there are no plans to get rid of it. We still have the contemporary service and there are no plans to get rid of that either. There is nothing wrong with either service. Both are currently serving the purpose they were intended to serve."
  

  
  

  The pastor also commented on her behalf as well... but I will let you check out the link for that. 

  The questions I have for you are, "What do you expect from a payed minister in your church? " or in other words, "What do you believe the role is for a pastor?" and "How threatened are you by change?"

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