Check out my other Featured Series, The Love Wins Experience
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Series Content
PASTORS AND MONEY: Calling or Career
PASTORS AND EXPECTATIONS: Holy or Hypocrite!
PASTORS AND HONOR: Pedestal or Pedestrian
PASTORS AND LEADERSHIP: Organization or Spiritual
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A Peek Behind The Pastor Pulpit. . .
Pastors are polarizing people in our society.
On one side of the fence, a pastor is seen as a spiritual leader for the people he leads, which on the surface sounds like a great thing. On the other, a pastor is often viewed as ambitious, opportunistic, judgmental and money-hungry. The one more than likely has led to the other. Sure there are many a crooked pastor out there, leading churches out of greed and pride, and self-promotion. And yes, the Bible does offer a list of qualifications for pastors and deacons as a way for us to try to steer clear of such fraudulent “god” cons. But they’re still around polluting the air and diluting the voice of the God’s people.
But these posts won’t be about those pastors. Not solely, anyway.
Instead, we want to re-visit the way the current church culture nearly demands how we interact with our the local pastor. In many cases, church people are stumbling blocks to the spiritual growth of these men and women behind the pulpit. Our perspectives about who a pastor is, and what a pastor should do and be like often lead to those filling these positions to feel alienating from the very community they serve. Ironic, really. In essence, we treat them like they are the shepherd, when in reality, they’re sheep just like the rest of us.
It will feel like I’m preaching to the choir when I say “Pastors are people,too” because truthfully we’ve all probably said that once or twice. But the reality is, our expectations of these spiritual leaders may still be too high, as is the amount of honor we bestow on this position. In short, too much pressure and too much praise sets these great vessels of God’s work up for failure.
Then there’s the money, and a new view on how pastors should live. I’ve had several conversations with many people, all with different assumptions about how much a pastor should be paid (if at all), what he should buy, how he should live, etc… I wish to address this as well.
And finally, I have a word to pastors about leadership and the responsibility they have to serve God, his people, and the lost.
I hope you will join in the conversation!