* pastoral salaries
* handling gossip about a pastor
* correcting a sinning pastor
* the pastor's home life, and
* pastoral leadership

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III. Give Your Financial Resources
17) The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. 18) For the Scripture says, "Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain," and "The worker deserves his wages." (I Timothy 5:17-18, bold mine)

Part of our biblical responsibility to our pastors is to make sure that they are paid well. As Paul says, those pastors who serve “well are worthy of double honor” (I Timothy 5:17). What is this “double honor”?

• In the book, Biblical Eldership, Alexander Strauch says that “double honor” refers to financial payment for those who leave a job outside of the church
to devote themselves to the preaching and teaching of God’s Word.

• Scholars from Dallas Theological Seminary say this: “All elders received a stipend for their work. Those who labored in preaching and teaching were
eligible for double pay.”

Whatever view you take, you cannot escape the fact that this passage clearly shows us that one of our responsibilities to our pastors is to pay them well, for “the worker deserves his wages” (I Timothy 5:18).

Money… it’s the last thing to arrive at church and the first thing to leave. Often, when church powerbrokers are unhappy with a pastor (usually over an issue of preference or style that has wrongly been elevated to a level of biblical importance), they cast their vote of accusation by not giving anymore. The Bible calls this “robbing” God (Malachi 3:7-12). It is a clear indication of spiritual immaturity when someone plays games with giving. Those who use money in an attempt to manipulate a pastor are only showing their lack of discipleship and spiritual maturity no matter how old they are or how long they have been members of the church. In the church today we have way too many long-tenured, affluent, spiritually immature members who use their money—not to bless God’s work—but as a means to try to manipulate pastors for their selfish agendas. This is NOT the spirit of biblical giving.

Biblical giving focuses on giving to God—not to a church, organization, or person. Yet, it seems that many Christians lose this biblical focus. Hence, the ecclesiastical money games begin. So how can we keep our focus on giving to God? I do a little mental exercise that helps me to remember that my giving is to God—and this may be something you want to try. Since I am paid monthly, we give our “tithe” on a monthly basis. (Before I was paid monthly, I was paid weekly—very weakly!) When it’s time to put that check into the offering, I imagine that the moment I release it, the check zooms up to Heaven before the throne of God—and then comes back down into the offering plate—smoking—as if hot off the altar of God. Why? 1) Because my attention span is short, and I need to do stuff like this to keep my brain in the service—and 2) I want to make sure that I always remember that my giving is to God—through the church—not just to the church—and not just to a person or a group of people.

Now, according to the Bible, part of giving to God via the church is making sure that our pastors have their material needs taken care of sufficiently. We don’t give to pastors. We give to God—and part of that giving goes to take care of the needs of our pastors.

How much should we pay our pastors? We often ask this question not because we want to pay what a pastor is worth or deserves, but because we have miserly motives: we want to know the minimum we can pay the pastor without losing too much credibility or respect. This unbiblical attitude reminds me of a story of a pastor who wasn’t paid particularly well—not because the church didn’t have the money—but because the deacons held to the erroneous idea that pastors should be poor to keep them humble and dependent on God. So one day the pastor—who had a background as an electrician—wired a 220 voltage to the front pews where the seven deacons of the church sat every Sunday morning. He put a control switch in the pulpit. On Sunday morning, he stood in the pulpit and said, “Before we start our service this morning, we have a little church business to take care of.” The seven deacons in the front pew looked at each other in surprise and then suspiciously back at the pastor. The pastor continued, “I make a motion to increase the pastor’s pay 25 percent. Is there a second?”
Before anyone else could answer, the pastor’s wife from the back of the church said, “I second the motion.”

With his hand on the electrical switch, the pastor quickly said, “All those in favor say ‘aye’” and he activated the switch making the electricity flow to the front pews.
That day seven deacons died of electrocution.

Seriously, how much should our pastors and other church staff be paid? If your pastor serves well, you will want to take seriously ALL the ways you can offer “double honor”—and you can start by blessing your pastor with extra monetary gifts! The Bible says the worker is worthy of his wages! If this type of abundance thinking does not fit with your economic philosophy when it comes to paying a pastor, then I suggest you scrap YOUR economic philosophy and adopt God’s as found in I Timothy 5:17-18. To do less than “double honor” for a pastor who serves well is to violate the Word of God. (See point VI for additional practical ways you can show “double honor” to pastors who serve well.)

Based on this biblical principle, I challenge you to ask yourself if you can honestly say:

“I give cheerfully and liberally to God via the church to help provide for the physical and material needs of my pastor and the pastor’s family.”

IV. Refuse to Gossip About Your Pastor
19) Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. (I Timothy 5:19, bold mine)

Because leadership in the church requires our pastors to speak God’s truth to us, many times pastors are the recipients of the bloody back stab of gossip from church folks. Unfortunately, the sting of gossip and unfair accusations are a normal part of what it means to be a church leader. Therefore, Paul admonished Timothy, a pastor/elder, not to entertain an accusation against other pastors/elders—unless the accusation is brought by two or three witnesses.

But what about those of us who are NOT pastors/elders? How should we handle an accusation brought against a pastor? The next time you are in a group of “Christian” people and someone starts to bad mouth a pastor (and there will be a next time), don’t give the accusation the dignity of a listening ear! Instead, ask the person who initiated the talk about the pastor if he/she has talked directly to the pastor he/she is talking about. According to Jesus in Matthew 18:15, the first step to dealing with interpersonal conflict in the church is a private one on one meeting: “If a brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.” (Note that Jesus is talking about issues of sin—not issues of style or preference. More on this critically important point in the next section.) So, the next time someone starts to verbally chew on your ear about a pastor, you need to lovingly hold that person accountable to Matthew 18:15. You need to stop the accusing person—in mid-sentence—and ask, “Have you talked to the pastor one on one in private first?” If not—and my experience is that there is a STRONG chance that there was not even an attempt to meet one on one with the accused pastor in private—then you need to support your pastor by holding the accusing person accountable to Matthew 18:15. I strongly suggest you try lovingly and firmly saying something like this, “One week from today, I am going to ask you if you have talked to the pastor in private. If you haven’t, I will call the pastor and ask the pastor to contact you.”

If the accusation against a pastor is being brought by two or three witnesses (not supporters of the one accusing—but actual witnesses)—then the witnesses should present their case before the other elders/pastors—not to you or anyone else inside or outside of the church! If you say, “Well, I’m just listening to the complaint about the pastor,” I say to you, Proverbs 17:4: “A wicked man listens to evil lips; a liar pays attention to a malicious tongue.”

Based on this biblical principle, can you honestly say, “I refuse to listen to or spread gossip about my pastor”?

V. Lovingly and Privately Correct Your Pastor
20) Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning. (I Timothy 5:20, bold mine)

Lest you wrongly believe that I think loving and supporting a pastor should be a cotton candy experience (all sweet fluff), let me clarify that the Bible embraces the idea of loving confrontation over issues of sin. In matters of sin, we must be willing to risk the relationship by speaking God’s truth in love. Galatians 6:1 says, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.” As strange as this passage (and others like it) sound to our culture’s scream for tolerance and unquestioned acceptance, the Bible clearly indicates that confrontation, when done correctly, is HEALTHY in relationships. This includes our relationship with our pastor.

To be faithful and true in my exegesis of this passage in I Timothy 5:17-20—I must point out that verse 20 (“Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning”) is written to Timothy—a pastor/elder on how to deal with sinning pastors/elders. That is, this is instruction to a church leader on how to deal with another church leader who is sinning. Paul tells Timothy (a pastor/elder) that those pastors/elders who sin are to be rebuked publicly. Again, this is how pastors and elders are to deal with a fellow pastor/elder who is sinning!

If you are not an elder or pastor—I don’t believe you have any business publicly rebuking a sinning church leader.

However, you do have a responsibility as a brother or sister in Christ if you see another brother or sister sinning—and that includes a sinning pastor. As stated previously, Matthew 18:15-17 is your mode of operation. And if a second step of reconciliation needs to be taken because your pastor will not listen, I suggest you judiciously involve two or three elders/pastors—not members or attenders.

I must be quick to point out that you have no basis for correcting anyone if your issue is a personal preference—not something the Bible clearly calls a sin! In issues of sin, the Bible tells us to lovingly and privately go one on one and confront (Matthew 18:15; Galatians 6:1). In issues of personality or style, the Bible tells us to bear with one another and love one another (Colossians 3:13)!

So, based on this biblical principle, can you honestly say, “I lovingly and privately correct my pastor on issues of sin and offer grace on issues of preference”?

VI. Help Your Pastor to Flourish at Home First
5) If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church? (I Timothy 3:5, bold mine)

The Focus on the Family survey of pastors found this about the home lives of pastors:

80 percent believe that pastoral ministry affected their families negatively.
33 percent said that ministry is an outright hazard to family life.
94 percent feel pressure to have an ideal family.
24 percent are currently receiving marital counseling.

The number one problem in clergy marriages? Insufficient time together.

Therefore, we must find PRACTICAL and TANGIBLE ways to rally to our pastors and their families! Let me suggest SEVEN:

1. Make sure that your pastor gets a REAL day off each week! KEEP THEM ACCOUNTABLE! Most good pastors I know are stubborn workaholics, so
   be sure to ask them about this. Demand a full day off.
2. Make sure your pastor takes ALL of the vacation days the church has allotted—and make sure your pastor has a reasonable amount of vacation time!
   Ask your pastor about this.
3. Make sure your pastor has no more than three nights a week out of the house away from family. Ask your pastor’s spouse about this.
4. Buy a pastor and his wife a gift certificate for a nice meal at some classy joint—and then slip in a homemade coupon to babysit the kids so they can
   get away for the night!
5. Send them to Disney World! (Everyone else in the congregation has been there or is planning to go there—why shouldn’t the pastor’s family also
   have this opportunity?)
6. Volunteer to watch the kids for a week or weekend—and send the pastor and his wife away for some down time!
7. Do something just for the pastor’s wife! (A ladies' night out every month?)

Please don’t sit there as you read this and assume that someone else from your church will help your pastor prioritize family life. I challenge you and your family to make it a family project to love and support your pastor’s family—and to promote your pastor’s success—by doing something practical and tangible (perhaps something above)… this week! A pastor’s time with family IS a deeply spiritual issue—for “If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?” (I Timothy 3:5, bold mine).

Can you honestly say that you are fulfilling this biblical principle? Can you honestly say before God and others, “I do everything in my power to make sure my pastor flourishes in family relationships (spouse and children)”?

VII. Obey and Submit to Your Pastor’s Leadership
17) Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Hebrews 13:17, bold mine)

God fully expects us to obey and submit to the leaders of our church. And note well that our leaders will stand before God and give an account of their leadership over us. God’s cog-to-cog functional design for the church requires:

Cog #1 Humble servant leaders who operate under the complete direction of Jesus Christ (the chief elder/pastor of every Bible-based church) and do what is in the best interest of the people they lead.

Cog #2 Obedient and submissive followers who willingly respond to the above type of Christ-like leadership.

But let’s be frank, the leadership and followership in most churches today rarely work like well-oiled cogs. Often in the church it’s like someone has thrown the wrench of self into the cogs of our ecclesiastical machinery! Sometimes it is a leadership problem, and other times it is a follower problem.

Sometimes it’s a leadership problem. If you have been given the oversight of a church as a pastor or elder—then please read the following very prayerfully. Addressing the need for BIBLICAL leadership—not the current CEO model of leadership being followed by so many church leaders today—Alexander Strauch writes, “What is of supreme importance to God… is the way in which elders shepherd God’s people. God measures success by the spirit in which elders handle people, solve problems, and perform their duties—not so much by outward results. Thus, humility and servanthood are at the very heart of Christian leadership. We must understand that it is possible for a church to be governed by a body of elders, yet be totally unscriptural because of the manner in which the elders operate. Like Pharisees or worldly rulers, the elders may wrongly separate and elevate themselves above the people. The elders may serve chiefly to satisfy their egos. They may serve because they need to dominate people. But only elders who operate in humble servanthood are true, biblical elders” (Biblical Eldership). The truth is that many churches are not formidable forces for God in their communities precisely because some pastors and elders don’t exercise a biblical, Jesus-like leadership with the very people they claim to lead. What would happen in our churches if pastors and elders strived to be “true, biblical elders” as defined by Strauch above?

Sometimes the breakdown is an obedience/submission problem on the part of the congregation. John MacArthur writes, “In many churches today, the congregation rules the leaders. This sort of government is foreign to the New Testament. Church leaders are not to be tyrants, because they do not rule for themselves, but for God. But the command is unqualified: ‘Obey your leaders and submit to them.’ It is the right of such men, under God and in meekness and humility, to determine the direction of the church, to preside over it, to teach the word in it, to reprove, rebuke, and exhort…. Just as church leaders are to rule in love and humility, those under their leadership are to submit in love and humility…. When you do not have Spirit-filled leaders who rule well or submissive people who follow well, you have chaos and disunity in the church and open doors to all sorts of spiritual problems” (Commentary on Hebrews). The truth is that many churches are not formidable forces for God in their communities precisely because some followers don’t exercise a Hebrews 13:17 type of obedience and submission to the Christ-like leadership God has provided for them. What would happen in our churches if the followers REALLY obeyed and submitted to strong, caring, and Christ-like leadership from pastors and elders?

As a follower, can you say with complete integrity, “I obey and submit to the leadership and oversight of my pastors/elders”?

Conclusion: Will YOU Take the Pastoral Covenant Challenge Right Now?
What would your church be like if you seriously entered into a covenant with God, each other, and your pastor to apply the seven biblical ways to encourage your pastor? What would happen if we REALLY took our God-given responsibility to our pastor seriously? Why not start a movement in your church to encourage and support your pastor RIGHT NOW?

Here’s how you can get started:

1. Download the covenant of seven biblical ways God wants YOU to encourage and support your pastor (they are both one page long).

WORD DOC http://www.cadreinternational.com/download/CC--PastorCovenant.doc
ADOBE PDF http://www.cadreinternational.com/download/CC--PastorCovenant.pdf

2. Study the Scripture verses one by one to discover what God has to say to YOU about encouraging and supporting your pastor.

3. Sign the Pastoral Covenant and give it to your pastor.

4. Share this article and Bible study with people in your church.

5. Consider having a service where the seven biblical ways to encourage your pastor are taught and explained--and then offer a challenge to the entire congregation to sign the covenant. You could have a signing of ONE covenant--and then frame the covenant and put it in the church foyer!

6. Then hold each other accountable to living out the seven ways God wants YOU to encourage and support your pastor!

7. Expect some to disagree--but speak and live God's truth in love anyway!

 

RESPONSE: If God used this article to speak to your heart in some way to encourage you or to remind you of an important ministry lesson, please take a quick moment right now to share it with us at   info@cadreministries.com

In Honor of Long Haul Pastors:
My Encounter with “Moses”

Did you miss last month's Cadre Connection? My Encounter with Moses:

CLICK TO READ:
 http://www.cadreinternational.com/training/0904.php

 

 

Way Cool Pastor Appreciation Stuff You Can Use

Use the following external link from Focus on the Family to appreciate your pastor:
http://www.family.org/pastor/cam

 

Lighten Your Pastor's Load by Recruiting, Motivating, and Retaining Volunteers in the Church

Recruiting, Motivating, and Retaining Voluneteers, order it today!

For more info or to order online, click here
 http://www.cadreministries.com/store/packs.html#rmrv

To order via regular mail, click here for printable order form
 http://www.cadreministries.com/store/mail.html

For details about hosting a Recruiting, Motivating, and Retaining Volunteers in the Church WORKSHOP, e-mail info@cadreministries.com

 

 

Two AWESOME Volunteers!

Meet Neil and Kristy Sullivan--Awesome Volunteers in Peoria, IL!
Our three oldest children, Emily (thirteen-years-old, on the left), Billy (twelve-years-old, not pictured), and Aubrey (ten-years-old, bottom right) serve in our church's puppet ministry. This has brought our family into direct contact with two of the very best volunteers I have ever met --Neil and Kristy Sullivan. I love the passion Neil and Kristy have for Jesus--and for training kids to work in children's ministry via puppet ministry. Neil and Kristy are having a profound impact in the discipleship journey of my children.

From ten-year-old Aubrey: "I like Mr. Neil because he is very funny--and he can be serious too. I like Ms. Kristy because she brings us donuts every Sunday morning when we are doing our puppet ministry for the children."

From twelve-year-old Billy: "Neil and Kristy are a blast. They know how to have fun doing ministry. I love the practices every Tuesday night as much as I love doing performances for our children's ministry on the weekends."

From thirteen-year-old Emily: "Neil and Kristy are great because they are excellent teachers and they love us. I love serving in the puppet ministry because we get to make a lot of kids laugh and help them learn about God at the same time. Aubrey, Billy, and I have grown as people and as puppeteers since we've joined the puppet ministry. I am so glad that Neil and Kristy are our leaders!"

Neil and Kristy, thank YOU for the time you strategically invest in training our kids to love Jesus--and to serve Him. You are two of the best volunteers in the church!

A Call for You to Brag on an AWESOME Volunteer in Your Church!
Use the electronic megaphone of Cadre Connection to brag on an AWESOME volunteer in your church. Send a picture and short paragraph or two explaining specifically why this volunteer is AWESOME and we’d LOVE to champion him/her in the next edition of Cadre Connection! Send a picture and explanation to info@cadreministries.com.

 

 

Cadre Training Coming to Your Area?

• The Teaching Genius of Jesus, 10/19/04 5:30-8:30 PM, Chillicothe, IL
• The Power of a Personal Growth Plan, 10/22/04 7:30-8:30 PM, Bloomington, IL
• Recruiting, Motivating, and Retaining Volunteers, 10/30/04 8:30 AM-3:30 PM, Freeport, IL
• Ministry Is Relationships, 10/30/04 8:30 AM-3:30 PM, Freeport, IL
• High Impact Methods of Teaching, 11/6/04 9 AM-3PM, Kingsford, MI
• Recruiting Volunteers, 11/18/04 6-8 PM, Peoria, IL
• Ministry Is Relationships, 11/20/04, Oakdale, MN

* Note: Contact info@cadreministries.com for more information on all of the above.

 

 

A Strange But True Billy Story
The One Minute Bible:

 http://homepage.mac.com/billc323/Personal16.html