What Disqualifies a Preacher?

Are you talking about pastors here, or preachers in general?

 

Me too Ally. Maybe you should be asking your preacher these questions? Tread carefully.

Blessings,
Sue

 

Ally, we joined a Baptist church several years ago and had been there about a year when we found out the preacher had been divorced. (His mother told me.) He married his first wife during Bible College. She had lived in the same town as him his whole life. About two years into their marriage she told him she was in love with a woman friend and was involved with her. She refused any counseling and filed for divorce. A few months after the divorce, she killed herself. The pastor has since remarried.

BTW.. He is no longer pastoring a church.

If I had known this BEFORE we joined the church, I still think I would have joined. This was totally outside his control. He attempted to honor God's word by trying to save the marriage and did not remarry until many, many years after her death.

How would you feel about this?

Diane

 

Somebody's done something to fix my registar! Praise the LORD!


Too bad the title of this thread couldn't be "What qualifies a preacher". A lot of fruyitless time has been spent on disqualifying preachers, I don't even dare to say that there aren't qualifications for them. I talked with my previous pastor concerning the qualification of being the husband of one wife. At the time he believed that the double-married could only preach and not pastor. I had heard much preaching to the contrary and was having a hard time distinguishing the facts. I told him that we spend so much time over argueing who is and who isn't qualified that people are falling off into hell all around us. Talk about a facial expression! We are to edify the Body of Christ, not help satan tear it down. Yes there are disqualified preachers, and they will answer to God, but to spend so much effort in saying who is and who isn't? How about spending more time telling some one the Old, Old Story of Jesus and His Love?

Now if you want to talk about being qualified to fill the position in the church, then we have something to discuss, but to down grade preachers we don't like, no way, the flesh gets too much involved in those types of discussions.

Get your self a "half full looking to be overflowing" attitude, instead of a "half empty looking for a certain emptying out of all the Lord has put within you" attitude.

There's a song out called "I'm Drinking From the Saucer", ever heard it? It's talking about our cups being filled to overflowing and the saucer catching the overflow. It has to do with the cup and saucer that many would drink their hot coffee or tea from. When it was too hot to drink, the overflow was sipped from that saucer until it cooled.

May your cup be filled to overflowing that you would be able to drink from the saucer!

In Christ, "My cup runneth over"

Brother Ricky

 

We have to deal with the negative aspects. The scripture does.

I think verses 4 and 5 of the passage cited are perhaps the most often ignored. Pastors must have solid families! A pastor should have the love and respect of his wife and his children. If he doesn't--no excuses please--he should not be a pastor.

Note it does not say that his children must be saved, but I think the text makes it clear that they should be well-behaved, whether they are 3 or 33. No undisciplined brats allowed. No bitter rebellious teens against his harsh, unloving discipline. If he can't be a credible leader to his own children, how can he lead the church?

From a former qualified-preacher's kid,

Tim

 

Tim:
It would be nice if it were a perfect world and nothing out of our control happened. In the example given at the start of this thread, the wife simply left. Does he hit her on the head and drag her back?
There is the well known intance of a pastor (I am not sure whether we are to drop names here)VERY well known, whose wife simply left him. Should he be defrocked and kicked out of his radio and tv ministry for what someone else did?

 

Well, to answer the original question. Unrepentant sin and teaching false doctrine will disqualify a pastor. Being a husband of one wife and having a disciplined family are qualifiers. If at some point during the pastorship he becomes divorced or his family goes wild, then he is disqualified. Also note he is supposed to be above reproach.

We do need to be concerned with our pastor. If we let a disqualified person preach in our pulpit, then he will be a stumbling block for others. New believers may think his actions are excusable, and he could be teaching falsely. This is something we can change, and should. Yes there are some prominant people preaching who are disqualified, not being a member of those churches I can not change that. I simply won't support those churches or join them. In the SBC all churches are autonomous and make their own decisions. That church's local association can vote that church out of the convention.

My personal feeling is that if someone is a pastor and becomes divorced or finds themselves in a situation to be disquaalified, they should remove themselves. The pastor of all people should exhibit leadership and leave the pulpit without fighting. If they did this they would teach their congregation that even though we are believers and will be forgiven of all sins when we die, there are still standards and penalties for our sin while on earth. For example, if I was driving wrecklessly and accidentally kill someone. If I am honestly repentant God will forgive me, but I still will be punished by the government.

A pastor has to be above reproach.

 

So, you're saying that even if the pastor does everything biblically possible to save his marriage, but his wife still divorces him, he immediately becomes unqualified to keep his position?

I completely disagree with that. You're condemning the man for something out of his control.

 

I have known some humble godly women who would be much better pastors than some men who allowed themselves to be on pastor pedestals who thought they were God's gift to mankind.

 

a child doesn't have to be undisciplinedned to be a brat. even the best of children from the best of families is sometimes going to rebellious, even when the parents have raised them right.

 

How do you make your 33 year old adult child behave, how do you control them? And are you supose to? I think not, after all, who controls you? Do your parents still discpline you? No, once your child is grown and gone you are no longer in control of them and their choices.

 

You also need to consider that the Husband is held responsible for the Spiritual growth of the wife

That being said, in the above case, the Pastor obviously could not stop the divorce, and did follow scritptural guidelines in not remarrying until after his wife was dead.

There are varying opinions on the "Husband of one wife" statement, from one in a lifetime, to one at a time! We could go round and round on this board about that issue, in fact, we have in the past!

You really have to evaluate the situation on an individual basis, using compassion, and also using the Word of God. There are clear guidlines for many situations, and principles that have to be carefully and cautiously applied for the rest

 

Well, I'd say that at the top of my list of reasons for a pastor to step down would be immorality. Either an affair or inappropriate relationship with someone would seem to be the main thing I would think.

Several years ago, there was a local Church of Christ congregation that had a pastor (married) who was quite dynamic. Many people thought highly of him, however, he was having an affair with another woman at the church (who was also married). Once the woman's husband found out, of course, he wasn't too happy. He was, however, willing to forgive this man and his wife(something most people could not consider doing). The pastor decided to come clean to the congregation once he realized that this man wanted this out in the open. The pastor then decides to leave town and talks of committing suicide.

Much to the dismay of fellow parishioners, one of the elders in the church follows this man up to Wisconsin or Minnesota to bring him back to the church. However, it wasn't just to insure that he didn't kill himself..it was ALSO to convince him to STILL be the pastor of this church. SO..this man comes back and preaches for several months before FINALLY stepping down. The end result was many hard feelings on some of the parishioners parts since most did not feel he should continue as a minister anywhere but especially not at this church. I think after a while, the woman who he had an affair with, divorced her husband and left the church. She has since married for like the "third" time. I have my own feelings about this woman, so I certainly don't blame the pastor only in this sad saga. But, there seems to be a "stain" on this congregation that few in town aren't aware of. If a pastor has an affair, he should step down regardless.

 

No I am not saying that a divorced man is not supposed to be a pastor, Scripture written by God is saying it. I did not write the Bible.

God has standards. If a man marries a woman and she ends up just up and leaving something in the mix was not right. It could be one of many things, a hardened heart, poor relation between husband and wife, marring an immature person, marring somone with other different beliefs, the list could go on and on. That is one reason we should be more careful who we marry. It is pathetic that the divorce rate in the church is just as bad as outside the church. Maybe if we had less divorced pastors and more pastors who would do marital counseling before people married then there would be less divorces.

Kate, in my definition of a disciplined child, they would not be a brat. I misbehaved some as a child, but on a whole I was welled disciplined and respectful of others, especially adults. There are some children who I know all of you know one, that has no self control because the parents never discipline them. You know the kind that the child makes the demands and the parent obeys. If a pastor has a child steeling cars and sleeping around and the pastor can not control the child somehow, then they should excuse their selves from pastoring until the situation is remedied. This is something I see as repairible, while a divorce is not.

 

Please direct me to that scripture.

So the man has to carry the blame and condemnation, regardless. Hardly seems scriptural to me.

Funny, I had the strange notion that when people are old enough to go out on their own, they are responsible for their own actions. Silly me.

So, let's say this pastor's father was a pastor, also. By your reasoning, the older pastor must step down, also, because he can't contol his son, the younger pastor.

And so it goes.....

 

Let me see if I can reconcile some of the comments above with scripture:

Apparently the following would be a better reading of 1 Tim. 3:4,5:

"One that rules well his own house (in a perfect world), having his children in subjection with all gravity (unless they're still rebellious after he's done his best); For if a man knows not how to rule his own house--it makes him better able to sympathize with other parents who don't know how to raise their children, so how shall he take care of the church of God?--just fine, thank you."

Sorry, I just don't read it that way.

Pastors must be wise leaders in family matters. It is an indication of how they will lead believers in the church. If they must remove themselves because of family problems, it is not a punishment, it is rather an admission that they need better leadership skills--and they must begin practicing them first at home.

I do not believe the popular myth that the best parents will still have children who go wildly into rebellion. On closer inspection, I have never observed it to be true. Usually the parents are overly-strict disciplinarians or little involved in actually training their children in righteousness when wild rebellion occurs. Sure, they look good at church--they have to--but there's always more to the story. Usually such parents are blind to their own faults, and cannot understand why their children reject their authority.

A father with such faults will make a poor pastor. The best thing he can do is withdraw from the ministry for a time until he has resolved the problems in the family (probably starting with him). Then later he can return with the proper respect of his family and fellow believers.

Finally, considering grown children--they don't suddenly become wild at seventeen--it's a lifelong process. Perhaps in an authoritarian home, the rebellion builds up quietly waiting for a chance to escape--but it's still building steadily. I've seen this over and over again.

May God give us strong families, and spiritual leaders who can show the way! It's not easy (I have four children myself)--but it is absolutely necessary. It's a challenge we must meet by the grace of God.

Sorry, but the scripture allows no excuses here.

In Christ,

Tim