Seven Reasons the Pastor’s Salary Can Be a Source of Tension

If you want a lively discussion, then the topic of the pastor’s salary can usually meet that need. I have discussed this issue in the past on both my blog and my podcast. In both cases, the conversation was, well, interesting.

So why does this topic seem to evoke strong emotions in some pastors and church members? I have seen at least seven reasons it does so.

1. The pastor’s salary is often public information. In some cases, the entire church sees the amount on a regular basis. In other cases, certain members have ongoing access to the information. The constant availability of the information can engender discussion.
2. Some church members view a low salary as a necessary tool for the pastor’s humility. No, I am not kidding. But I bet those people would not like the same humility for themselves.  Continue at Thom Rainer

How Churches Can Care for Their Pastor's Children

A young pastor recently asked for my advice over lunch. His church plant was maturing, and he was looking down the road. His own children are ages 6, 4, and 1. Knowing the problems that pastors' kids can have, he wisely desired to cast a vision of care for his children.

Too many children of pastors are casualties in the spiritual battle. After seeing the inner workings of the church, many do not want anything to do with the Lord or his people. As a teenager, I almost walked away from my faith because of the hypocrisy and disunity I saw in my church.

But in my conversation with this pastor, I was momentarily speechless as I realized how little I had thought about this important question. Why? Because the church that I had shepherded for 25 years had done an excellent job caring for my own children. Today they are 22, 20, 18, and 16, and have fond memories of our relationships there.

What had my own church done that so few churches do well? What can churches learn?   Continue at Chap Bettis

The Line at Mars Hill's Communion Table

This week brought to light more disturbing facts concerning Mars Hill's leadership. By paying to put Mark Driscoll's book on the New York Times Bestseller list, Mars Hill Executive Elders may have put the church's 501(c)3 tax exempt status in jeopardy. That would be a multi-million dollar hole from which the church may not recover. There is growing pressure for Mark to step down from leadership as more elders accuse him of what I have personally witnessed firsthand - a bullying, angry leadership style that leaves members and staff bleeding on the sidelines. He laughed about the dead bodies under the bus of Mars Hill in 2007/2008. People have been pointing out the dead bodies for years, but apparently the pile has to be big enough to see from space before enough pressure will be raised to cause change or repentance. But I admit from personal experience that, until you are personally splattered with your own blood or the blood of someone standing beside you in ministry, it is hard to believe the problem is as big as it is.

The larger Body of Christ needs to take seriously the criteria set in Scripture for acting on such accusations – two or three witnesses.

I Tim. 5:19-20 Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.    Continue at Theology for Women

7 Ways Social Media Makes Pastoring More Difficult

Facebook can be very helpful to pastors. It helps us to know how to pray. It is a great avenue for communicating your message, making announcements, establishing connections, helping people to laugh, and a host of other things.

It’s also a headache.

Here are 7 ways that Facebook makes pastoring a little more difficult:

1. Expectations. Your beloved Aunt Gertrude just died. You post of your sadness on Facebook. And only Facebook. Your Pastor doesn’t call. He doesn’t send flowers. He doesn’t respond to your status update. Nothing. What a jerk!!!  Or, is it possible that he simply isn’t on Facebook all the time? Maybe he didn’t see it. Social media has upped the expectations for pastoral response.
2. Faux problems. People vent about really silly things on Facebook. And they often do it in language that requires a Rosetta Stone program to decipher. All you really know is that person X is fed up with people Y and that they need to mind their own business. So, when a pastor is scrolling through his news feed and sees these little spats what is he to do? Does he call and make sure everything is okay—only to find out that the status was really about the pain of getting onions on your McRib when you clearly said “no onions”?   Continue at Julian Freeman

Depression and the Ministry, Part 1: The Setup

Editor's Note: The following is part one of a five-part series on depression and the ministry. The series is a joint effort of the Biblical Counseling Coalition and The Gospel Coalition.

• Garrett Higbee, Part 2: Occupational Hazards
• Steve Viars, Part 3: A Ministry Sabbatical
• Jeremy Lelek, Part 4: The Need for Wise Disclosure
• Bob Kellemen, Part 5: Facing Depression with Christ

**********

Sam’s Story

I was there the week it happened. His wife asked to see me. Tearfully she told me that he had walked into the church building that week and announced to his staff that he was “done.” He said he couldn’t face preaching another sermon; that all that he really wanted to do was to run away from his own life. Sam was 45 and the pastor of a vibrant and growing church.

I am convinced that there are important changes needed in pastoral culture and that the number of pastors who find themselves in the range from discouraged to depressed give clear evidence of this. Let me suggest four potential setups of this discouragement/depression cycle in ministry.

Setup #1: Unrealistic Expectations

 

I taught a class at Westminster Seminary on pastoral care and was impressed year after year about how unrealistic the expectations of my future-pastor students were. Year after year my students seemed to forget the two things that consistently make pastoral ministry hard. What are they? The harsh reality of life in a dramatically broken world and what remaining sin does to the hearts of us all. These two things make pastoral ministry a day by day spiritual war.  Continue at Paul Tripp

Jellyfish Christianity

Some words are written down and are here for a day and then gone. Other words are so pointed, so perfect, that they stand for many years. J.C. Ryle is a man who wrote many books and pamphlets and sermons that are as powerful and relevant today as they were in the 19th century. His description of jellyfish Christianity could as easily have been written here in the 21st century.

[Dislike of dogma] is an epidemic which is just now doing great harm, and specially among young people. It produces what I must venture to call a “jelly-fish” Christianity in the land: that is, a Christianity without bone, or muscle, or power. A jelly-fish is a pretty and graceful object when it floats in the sea, contracting and expanding like a little, delicate, transparent umbrella. Yet the same jelly-fish, when cast on the shore, is a mere helpless lump, without capacity for movement, self-defense, or self-preservation. Alas! It is a vivid type of much of the religion of this day, of which the leading principle is, “No dogma, no distinct tenets, no positive doctrine.” 

We have hundreds of “jelly-fish” clergymen, who seem not to have a single bone in their body of divinity. They have not definite opinions; they belong to no school or party; they are so afraid of “extreme views” that they have no views at all.   Continue at Tim Challies

So You’re About to Call a Pastor?

This is a sensitive topic. People don’t always think rationally or biblically or confessionally about the office of pastor. Many folk don’t understand what ministers do and most people who are involved in the pastoral search process are well-meaning but inexperienced. Most congregations only do a search every 7-10 years.

Having been intimately involved in the hiring process I know how difficult it is to find good people for highly responsible positions. Searching to fill a position is difficult even when one knows exactly what the job requires and the qualities for which one is looking. If one is not sure of the sort of person or qualities or even what the job entails, the search becomes considerably more difficult. Add to this mix the fact that, in churches, most searches are conducted by committee and we all know how much more difficult committees can make things. Think of 7 people with seven different sets of criteria and 7 different job descriptions!

Some of these difficulties are in the nature of the animal. Most conservative and confessional (NAPARC) Reformed (and Presbyterian) congregations are small and all of them are non-profit organizations. This means that they are under-staffed and under funded. They rely on volunteers to do many important tasks including calling a pastor. Even if the search is being conducted by the ordained elders (as it ought to be) it is still the case that all the elders probably don’t have the same degree of experience in conducting searches.   Continue at R. Scott Clark

The Shadow of a Godly Pastor: Oh How We Need An Anointed Ministry Today!

Our people need to sit beneath the shadow of a godly pastor.

Robert Murray M’Cheyne (1813-1843),

“So that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them” (Acts 5.15 ESV).   

I was preaching at a conference some time ago when I heard something that gripped me and gave me a vision for the kind of pastors I pray God will grow in our seminary. The church where the conference was being conducted was without a pastor. The pulpit was “empty” as we say. The elders talked with me about the kind of pastor they wanted. They asked me to seek such a candidate for them in my various contacts. As the leaders discussed among themselves the kind of minister they should pray for and seek, one of the elders warned the others:

“Just remember: the man that comes here will influence your wives and sons and daughters, your grandchildren, and in fact this entire community for years and years to come.”

And it was then that I thought, “That is what we really do at our seminary. We prepare and hope to send out pastors, and other Christian leaders, but especially preachers of the Gospel. They go out and are called and preach the Word of the Lord in a certain place; to a certain people; and in a certain period. And between the place, the people, and for a period, the life of the pastor—not just his sermons, mind you—but his entire life, leaves an impression that changes generations of human beings long after he is gone.”

In the days of the Apostles, we are told that people brought their loved ones to get near even the shadow of Peter. The anointing of one preacher was so powerful that even his shadow was enough to bring transformation. Such is the power of a godly preacher.   Continue at Michael Milton

Dear Worship Pastor: It’s Not About You

Dear Worship Pastor,

I enjoy praise and worship.  I really do.  And I appreciate the enormous effort and the talent that goes into excellent worship leadership.  I hesitate to admit the following, because it seems like someone with a theology doctorate ought to be motivated by more cerebral concerns, but a significant (major but not main) part of why I made Perimeter Church my home church is because I enjoy it so much when Laura Story (whose “Blessings” won a Grammy this past year) leads worship there.  That woman has an anointing; that’s the only way I can explain it.  I am moved by her voice and her worship leadership.

So this is nothing against contemporary praise and worship music, which I genuinely like.  And it’s nothing against worship leaders, most of whom I also like.  And, by the way, please don’t bother trying to figure out whom this is aimed toward, because (a) you’re wrong and (b) it’s not aimed toward anyone in particular.

But it has happened so often over the years that I’ve seen worship leaders fail to lead.  And by fail to lead, I mean “They went where no one could follow.”  And, after all these years, I thought I’d say something.

Imagine the following scenario.  A church service begins, and the music breaks in.  The congregation warms up, and the music grows more intense.  Yes, we all know the progression by now — the video “Sunday’s Coming” was so funny because it was so true — and yet the progression is there for a reason.  It’s rooted in human nature.   Continue at Timothy Dalrymple

5 Ways to Pray for Your Pastor in 2013

Just the other day I received a letter in the mail from a medical doctor whom I have never met before. Having told me how he had benefited from some of my sermons and articles, he went on to tell me, “I pray for you. I will be able to do so on a very regular basis now and trust that you will be helped and strengthened in your ministry and family.” This was an enormous comfort and encouragement to me. Contrary to what some might suppose, ministers of the gospel desperately need the prayers of the saints. One of my seminary professors used to tell the student body, “Pastors have a bull’s eye on their back and footprints up their chest.” This is quite an appropriate description of the hardships that God’s servants are called to endure for the sake of the gospel. The flaming arrows of the evil one are persistently being shot at pastors. In addition, the world is eager to run them over at any opportunity. This is, sadly, also a reality with regard to some in the church.

With so much opposition and difficulty within and without, pastors constantly need the people of God to be praying for them. The shepherd needs the prayers of the sheep as much as they need his prayers. He also is one of Christ’s sheep, and is susceptible to the same weaknesses. While there are many things one could pray for pastors, here are five straightforward Scriptural categories:

1. Pray for their spiritual protection from the world, the flesh and the Devil.

Whether it was Moses’ sinful anger leading to his striking of the rock (Num. 20:7-12), David’s adultery and murder (2 Sam. 11), or Simon Peter’s denial of the Lord (Matt. 26:69-75) and practical denial of justification by faith alone (Gal. 2:11-21), ministers are faced with the reality of the weakness of the flesh, the assaults of the world and the rage of the devil (see this article). There have been a plethora of ministers who have fallen into sinful practices in the history of the church and so brought disgrace to the name of Christ. Since Satan has ministers of the gospel (and their families) locked in his sight—and since God’s honor is at stake in a heightened sense with any public ministry of the word, members of the church should pray that their pastor and their pastor’s family would not fall prey to the world, the flesh, or the Devil.   Continue at  Nicholas T. Batzig

Pastoral Ministry: A Sure Way to Be Dishonored

This does not excuse the disrespectful things that congregants say. Such disrespect is a pernicious evil that we can leave for another day. At this point, please be encouraged that you are experiencing some of the natural overflow of the sufferings of Jesus, which means you are honored. Those who dishonor you are the ones who will be called to account.

Here is one reason you must be called to pastoral ministry: the people you love will not love you back—at least some of them will not love you back. They will say utterly horrible things about you, so you better be sure you want to do this. It is one thing to be dissed by the world around you; it is something else again to be demeaned by your own church family while you are pouring your heart out for them.

Personal Attacks

This is the worst feature of pastoral ministry. Every pastor, unless he is surrounded by others who shield him from criticism, has dozens of heart-breaking stories. Take the example of the pastor who receives anonymous weekly letters from a congregant who claims to be speaking for many others when she writes, “I pray every day that you would leave the church.” The letters are all cut out from magazines so they have that creepy look of a murder threat.   Continue at Ed Welch

Before You Phone Your Preacher

"Call the preacher, he's the only one to reach her, and there ain't no time to lose." Country singer Martina McBride's slightly irreverent tune strikes a chord with me. When life grows chaotic, ministry morphs into headaches, or dreams turn into nightmares, call the preacher.

I did and felt slighted by the initial response.

"Dr. George Robertson's first available opening is next month, Gaye. If we need to get you in sooner, perhaps we can arrange a phone call?"

Preferring a face-to-face meeting, I waited my turn. When that day arrived, I made one mistake. I told my husband about the appointment over breakfast.

Jim dropped his fork and looked up with a devilish grin. "We okay? You're not going to report me or something, are you?"

I reached over and squeezed his hand. "Course not. It's my ladies' Bible study. These women have huge needs, and I have few resources. I just felt the senior pastor ought to know what's going on. I've been waiting weeks to see George."

Jim went back to breakfast. "Uh huh. You know these hash browns are great, honey."

I frowned. "Uh huh? What do you mean by that? Fess up. You don't think meeting is a good idea, do you?"   Continue at Gaye Clark

How Pastor-Counselors Differ from Secular Counselors

David Powlison’s essay “The Pastor as Counselor” (available free online) is far and away the best thing I have ever read on the role of pastor-elders in counseling God’s people. It was originally published in For the Fame of God’s Name and is reprinted in CCEF’s The Journal of Biblical Counseling. At our church we have read through it together as an elder council, and I’d encourage other churches to do the same. I also wish every seminarian could read through this at least once.

Here is one section directed to pastors on their unique role in counseling:

The uniqueness of your message is easy to see. But you already know this. I won’t rehearse the unsearchable riches of Christ, or the 10,000 pertinent implications.

But I do want to note the uniqueness of your message by contrast. Every counselor brings a “message”: an interpretation of problems, a theory that weighs causalities and context, a proposal for cure, a goal that defines thriving humanness. How does your message compare with their messages? Simply consider what our culture’s other counselors do not say.

• They never mention the God who has a name: YHWH, Father, Jesus, Spirit, Almighty, Savior, Comforter.
• They never mention that God searches every heart, that every human being will bow to give final account for each thought, word, deed, choice, emotion, belief, and attitude.
• They never mention sinfulness and sin, that humankind obsessively and compulsively transgress against God.
• They never mention that suffering is meaningful within God’s purposes of mercy and judgment.
• They never mention Jesus Christ. He is a standing insult to self-esteem and self-confidence, to self-reliance, to self-salvation schemes, to self-righteousness, to believing in myself.   Continue at Justin Taylor

10 Simple Ways to Encourage your Pastor

Truth: “Hey preacher man, good sermon!” is nice…but come on, we can do better than that, right?

We can do better than the shoulder squeeze with the solemn look in the eye. Better than the slow head nod of approval. Especially when we remember that our pastor spends hours each week pouring out their heart on stage, ministering to and in our communities, and shepherding hard-heads like us.

The work of a pastor is often lonely, difficult work…we need your encouragement.

Encouragement isn’t that difficult, but it takes being intentional.

10 Ways to encourage your pastor:

 

1. Appreciate the work they do throughout the week, not just on Sunday. You know that being a pastor is more than a Sunday gig, right? We don’t love that you-only-work-one-day-a-week ribbing, by the way.

2. Take notes on Sunday. This is a great way to encourage your pastor…at least act like you’re going to work diligently to remember and apply their teaching.   Continue at Ben Reed

Five Reasons to be a Member of a Local Church

As a pastor and a lifelong church man, I’m concerned about the increasing tendency among young evangelicals to dismiss church attendance as irrelevant to spiritual growth. Today, my friend, Dave Jenkins shares five biblical reasons for being a member of a local bible-believing church. Dave is as pastoral intern and blogger and the director of  Servants of Grace Ministries.

The belief that professing Christians should gather together as members of a local Church in is waning many sectors of Christianity today. Some feel that faith shouldn’t be “institutionalized” and should be a private matter between individuals, not something to be experienced in community.

Here are five reasons why I feel Christians should be members of a local church. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but these reasons give Christians a biblical framework to think through why they should be members of a local Church.

First, The Bible clearly teaches that God made a distinction between His people and the world (Lev 13:46; Number 5:3; Deut. 7:3).  Christ says that entering the Kingdom of God means being bound to the Church “on earth” (Matthew 16:16-19; 18:17-19). The New Testament refers to some people being inside the church and some people being outside the church. (1 Cor. 5:12-13). The church in Corinth consisted of a definite number of believers, such that Paul could speak of a punishment inflicted by the majority (2 Cor. 2:6). Not only does the New Testament speak of the reality of church membership, but its dozens of “one another” passages are written to local churches. The “one another” passages in the New Testament fill out our understanding of what church members should look like practically. Biblical church membership is important, because the church presents God’s witness to Himself in the world, and displays His glory. In the church’s membership, then non-Christians should see in the lives of God’s changed people that God is holy and gracious and that His gospel is powerful for saving and transforming sinners.  Continue at Daniel Darling

IMAGE

How Sunday School Can Change Your Church’s Culture

Changing the culture of a church is one of the most difficult things for a pastor  to do. But over the last decade our church has discovered an unexpected tool for changing a culture: adult Sunday school.

HOW SUNDAY SCHOOL CHANGED OUR CHURCH’S CULTURE

Here’s an example. For some time, our elders were concerned that dating in our church too closely resembled dating in the world. People dated for fun, and only sometimes with an eye toward marriage. They treated their roles interchangeably, failing to view their interactions as a chance to prepare for the complementary roles of husband and wife. For instance, men would not lead and shoulder the risk in relationships, but instead sit back to see if a woman was interested before he put his cards on the table. And of course many couples maintained cavalier attitudes toward physical touch.

Periodically, several married men in the church conducted evening seminars for single men and women in an effort to inject biblical teaching into their thinking. And, while helpful, these seminars did not accomplish the culture change that the elders desired.

Enter a Sunday school class on dating and marriage. The elders asked a man in the congregation to prepare seven weeks of material on marriage and six on dating. The first seven described the goal of marriage, while the next six applied the principles discussed there to the process of finding a spouse. This class has been repeated each year for ten years now.

The class was controversial, especially at first. The questions became so lengthy and involved that the leaders quickly decided to devote an entire class to Q&A, and for several years they held an additional Q&A session at an elder’s home on a weekday evening.

But today, the culture of dating in our congregation is markedly different. Not all dating relationships in our church are conducted according to biblical principles, but most of them are. And while only a bare majority of our single members have taken the class, virtually all of their conversations about dating are overshadowed by the content of that class. Couples more naturally ask, “How can we make our relationship more biblical?”  Continue at Jamie Dunlop

When Your Preacher Is Not John Piper

Many who have had the privilege of hearing John Piper preach in person would testify that it felt like a monumental event. His preaching powerfully combines truth and passion, leading to convicted and exhilarated listeners. After the sermon, certain hearers might leave wondering if they were just in the presence of a figure who will be talked about in future centuries.

Then they go back to their home church, where several things are different, including the preaching. Thankfully, the gospel is still proclaimed. In fact, the sermons are thoroughly biblical, but the ability of their regular preacher simply does not measure up to the phenomenal preaching they recently heard.

Unless you attend a church led by of one of the celebrated preachers of our day, you most likely have faced a similar situation. Either at a conference or on the internet, you have heard exceptional preaching, but each Sunday you're back in your simple little home church that hardly anybody beyond your town knows about, with its "nobody" of a pastor who will probably never preach to thousands.

What if your gospel-preaching pastor is not as good as one of the great orators of our day? Is it time to sell the house, pack up the family, and change churches? No, I don't think so. But what should you do? Keep Reading >>>

“What Would You Say to My Husband if You were a Young Seminarian Again?”

Dear Students in the Gospel of Christ:

Recently, I was asked by a young wife and mother to write some thoughts on ministry reflections for her husband, a seminarian. Specifically, this godly young woman wanted me to answer the question, “As you look back on life and ministry, and where he is in life as a seminarian, what wisdom would you offer him as a husband, father, a man of God preparing for ministry? What would you do differently? What went well? What counsel would you give him? This will be my gift to him.” Well, perhaps she might have done better at Macy’s or with another minister, at least. But here is my reply. If the Lord could use anything in it in your life, then I would be most thankful.

“Here are some reflections on your wonderful question: As I look back on the season of life that your husband is in, I would…

…thank God even more for a faithful wife who was made by God to help me; with wisdom, insight into the challenges I face, the opportunities I have, and to listen better, more carefully, to her God-given intuitive understanding of how I could be a better father, husband and man of God.

…listen more and enjoy the changing cycles of growth in John Michael, our son. In short, enjoy the present stages in your little ones’ lives; soon they will pass. I have always told my son, all through his growing up, “Son, do you know what my favorite age is for a boy?” He soon learned that I would say his age back to him. Recently I asked him that and he told me, “Dad, I think it is (pause…): seventeen!!!” “Yes, Son. That is my favorite age for a child.” Yet don’t just say it, take time to soak up the unique blessings and challenges of every age.  Keep Reading >>>

What You Reeeally Want in a Pastor

There are a lot of things a church should look for in its next pastor. But as your church considers different pastoral candidates, I want to make sure this is toward the top of your list: a supernatural faith in the power of God’s Word.

 

AS IMPORTANT ANY OTHER QUALITY

I’m not talking about a man who simply checks the belief box on the “authority” or “sufficiency” or “power” of the Bible.

I’m talking about a man who whose conviction here runs so deep that it profoundly influences the way he works and lives. He plans his weekly schedule based on this conviction. He rests his daily mood upon this conviction. He even picks his clothes in the morning knowing that, it’s not how good he looks that will bring life to the dead, it’s the resurrection power of God’s Word and Spirit.

This is as important as any other quality a pastor could have. It’s as important as swimming is to a lifeguard, throwing is to a quarterback, or adding is to an accountant. It defines the very task of what a pastor does.

 

THE POWER OF THE WORD

Humans create with hands, shovels, and bulldozers. Not God. God creates with words. He says, “Be,” and it is. He says “Peace” to the riotous wind and waves, and they obey. He says “Come forth” to dead people and their eyes pop open.  Keep Reading >>>

The Devil is in the White Spaces

It is always shocking to me when people tollerate, follow, and even adore teachers who clearly flaunt biblical standards for conduct, and then act surprised when false teachers and outright heresy are entertained in the church. “Naïve” doesn’t even begin to describe this kind of complicit partnership with false teaching. Because the Scripture warns that “Satan comes as an angel of light,” we simply cannot marvel when his deceptions have somehow “crept in unawares.”

Second Timothy 4:3 predicts that, “the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching.” Too often people assume these opening words to mean that one day, as evangelical ministry marches on with expansive gospel-momentum, a blatant, rather foul stench straight from hell will mount an offensive against sound doctrine so sudden and obvious that all who love Christ will cry out in unison, “Damn the heresy!” If only that was the way it worked.

Instead of opposing the truth with blatant lies, Satan does a far greater work in the white spaces between Paul’s words. When the Apostle warns that “a time is coming,” we shouldn’t imagine a sudden plunge from the heights of doctrinal precision, but rather a slow, imperceptible decline via subtle spiritual optical illusions. The enemy knows that discerning shepherds would never allow their sheep to suddenly deny truth and turn aside to doctrines of demons. His tactics have to be implemented over long periods of time, introducing slight, unnoticeable deviations to the truth. So just exactly how was the enemy able to bring us to the place where we no longer endure sound, in-depth preaching and teaching, and yet celebrate casual conversations with false teachers?    Keep Reading...