Requirement for a pastor: The ability to teach!

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“An overseer (episkopos) then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach….” (I Timothy 3:2)

Most preachers would rather preach than teach.

Even the names say that, don’t they?  We call pastors “preachers,” not “teachers.”  And yet….

In seminary, we used up an entire class period one day trying to figure out the difference in preaching and teaching.  By the end, we had given up.

Each of us has our own understanding of how they differ. Here’s mine.

Think of preaching as exhorting and proclaiming in order to change lives; think of teaching as imparting information and insights in order to inform the mind and change the heart.

Teaching can be an important but minor part of preaching, and exhorting may be one component of good teaching. But the major chord of preaching is proclaiming, and the major thrust of teaching is conveying insights and truths.

“Yes, but….”

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Ignorance plus arrogance? Move back and give it some room!

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“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” (Is that in the Bible? It ought to be. Smiley-face goes here.)

Here’s one that is: “I am also convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able also to admonish one another.” That’s Romans 15:14, and we sure wish we knew whether the Apostle Paul had tongue firmly planted in cheek when he said this or was dead serious.  It appears to us that the recipients of this Roman letter, as with so many of the others Paul wrote, were deficient in some areas of knowledge of spiritual things. We’re glad they were, of course, because in addressing these issues for them, Paul ended up instructing us.

One wonders what it must be like to be “filled with all knowledge.”

After all, “knowledge puffs up” (I Corinthians 8:1).  Modern translations say, “knowledge makes arrogant.”

Ignorance does too, oddly enough.  In fact….

Ignorance coupled with arrogance makes for a deadly combination.  When you see that monster coming down the road, get out of the way because it bloodies everything it touches.

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The toughest thing preachers have to know

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“This very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you'” (Acts 27:23-24).

I had planned my Bible study message for the little interdenominational group that meets each Wednesday in a local restaurant.  I knew what “the Lord laid on my heart” and had gone over it earlier that morning during my walk.

And yet, that’s not what I shared.

Here’s what happened.

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The hardest thing in the world to believe

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“If it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2)

I have little trouble believing in God and about the same ease in believing in Jesus. I believe the Bible and am confident I’m saved and that my sins are dealt with forever and there is no condemnation for those in Christ.  I believe every word in those grand old hymns we sing and never preach a thing I don’t believe with my whole heart.

However.

The one thing I have the hardest time accepting is that after we die, some essential part of us remains intact and suddenly materializes in some celestial place called Unimaginable. And that there we will see our loved ones and our Lord and receive rewards for how we have lived this life and dwell there forever and ever in some kind of endless day.

Call it the Father’s House (Psalm 23:6 and John 14:2) or “a kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34), paradise (Luke 23:43), or home (II Corinthians 5:6-8), it’s still asking a lot from us to believe in Heaven .

It’s easier to believe that death ends everything. That’s how things seem.

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How to tell if you’re ready for the next level of service in the Kingdom

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“Now, the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things, and they were scoffing at Him.  And He said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God'” (Luke 16:15).

The director of missions (a local denominational leader, for readers unfamiliar with Southern Baptist terminology) told me about a visitor he had one day, a fellow making himself available to pastor a church.

The DOM (I’ll call him Will) said, “Tell me about your present church involvement.”

The visitor said, “I’m not actually involved in a church at the present time.  I’m just visiting around.”

Will: “How long have you lived here?”

The man: “Five years.”

Will said, “May I ask why you haven’t joined a church and become active?”

The man said, “Because my presence would intimidate a pastor.”

Will said, “My friend, I would never recommend you as a pastor of a church.  Not in a million years.”

The visit ended quickly.

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When you’re doing your best work for the Lord, you may be enjoying it the least.

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“…we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed;  perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (Second Corinthians 4:8-10).

Think of this as a letter, a reply to several people in the  ministry who are so stressed out–and angry and discouraged and frustrated–they are considering jumping ship, throwing in the towel, and a lot of other metaphors that mean quitting and going back home..

Don’t quit, friend.

When you find yourself working in a place where God sent you and doing the work which God gave you everything else is secondary.

The fact that the church keeps changing your job description and expecting more and more from you is just a fact of life.

The fact that the pastor you work for has become a tyrant is interesting, but not much more than that.

The fact that the personnel committee is making ever-increasing demands on you while curtailing the little support you were receiving is of concern, yes, but it’s not determinative.

That Sister Dee Structive is stirring up gossip about you and trying to undermine  your ministry just makes your service for the Lord all the sweeter.

And that’s my point.

When the people you look to most for support and encouragement in ministry turn against you and you find yourself all alone out there on the stage, you are about to do your best work for the Lord.

Don’t blow this now, child of God.

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The Number 1 failing of church finance committees when money is scarce

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“Prescribe and teach these things.” (I Timothy 4:11)

“Ladies and gentlemen of the church staff, we your church’s financial leaders have called  you together today to inform you of some unfortunate changes we’re going to have to make since our church’s offerings have been running low.”

That’s how the ministers on the church staff regularly learn of cuts being made in the budget, their ministries, their income, their benefits.

The church contributions are running low, so the committee looks for a place to cut.

This is how it’s done. And it has to be the worst way imaginable to deal with a financial crisis in the church.

There are several problems with this machete approach….

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What the pastor owes the church staff

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“My pastor called me in and informed me that the church is hurting financially, therefore my pay would be cut by (so much) and my health insurance is being terminated.”

In the last year, at least a half dozen staff ministers have written to me describing this very scenario.

The first they knew of the change is when the pastor “called them in and informed them.” If you think that sounds like a plantation manager informing a lowly day-laborer, you’d be about right.

What are you thinking, pastor?   Where is your heart?

You have just told us far more about yourself, pastor, than about the church or the staff member.

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How to change the culture of a church

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“I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18).

I received a note from a young pastor in another state, along with his resume’. He said, “I’d be interested in coming to your city to pastor. However, I do not want to waste my time on a congregation of self-focused, carnal and complacent church members. I feel led to pastor a church poised for growth, where the people want to reach the lost for Jesus.”

I wrote back, “That would be nice. But if we ever have such a church, you’ll have to get in line, friend.  Every pastor in the country will be clamoring to go there.”

It would be nice to serve a church made up of spiritually mature and responsive believers.  It would be heavenly not to have to lead troublesome business meetings where the deacons want to go one direction, the personnel committee another, and the congregation wanting nothing to do with either.

Most churches I know are not “poised for growth,” but are dealing with issues of one kind or other.

That’s why God has to “call” pastors to these churches. No one knowing what he is doing would voluntarily go to any of them.

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