Featured What's Wrong with Younger Pastors'???

This thread is about pastors....so that would be off topic.

 

What we have noticed is that soon they are tired and many quit going to church. They may come and go to church but that soon ceases. We have set up alternate times with no success. We have also agreed as a Bible study group to accommodate them with no success long term. One of the problems is that they seldom see the same people each time they work. The conclusion that I have come to is that they have not considered the cost before taking those jobs. I know one young man who has ministry among some as he can. He is a strong believer but had the training before he went to work there. Eventually he wants to be a pastor. I have noticed the pastor who has the most ministry among them is a man who grew up here and speaks their language. His parents are farmers. He is a man among men. A lot of what he does is not small groups but more like how ministry was done in small churches on Wed. night. Even when I ask workers and pastors the answers seem to be the same. They have few ideas. I have noticed that when they retire they are at church each Sunday and become involved in church ministry. It seems that as I listen to them talk they feel as though they neglected their family for many years due to their job.

 

That is simply not true. There is nothing in the Bible about chasing down members. Hospital visitation, WHEN YOU ARE CALLED FOR (James 5:14), is commanded, and evangelistic visitation is certainly spoken of (door to door evangelism), but there is not a peep in the Bible about running around gathering up church members.

Nothing to do with laziness. Our ministry is the Word. Not sheep petting. We are specifically told NOT to leave the ministry of the Word for physical ministry pursuits (Acts 6). Social visitation is the job of the deacons.

A proper sermon requires 10-15 hours of preparation. If you are traditional Baptist church, you have three services (Sunday Morning, Evening, and Wednesday). It is likely, if your church is decent size, that a man is neglecting his family, or neglecting his BIBLICAL pastoral duties, if he spends his time visiting folks unbidden, every time they miss a couple of services.

 

That is your exaggerated statement but it has no foundation in truth or the reality of what is going on or even what is being called for in this thread.

 

What do you consider the proper size of a church to be then? Is there anything in scripture to suggest it?

 

Let me preface that these are economically difficult times....so what if your job demands that you be there on Sunday?

 

I don't think there is a "proper size". I want to say a Church should be small enough so that the members know and support each other..probably less than 500. But I can't say that, because the Bible doesn't. It just says that the Christians in a given locale should meet together at least once a week.

Our church is in the 80 in attendance range, and it is fairly hard to keep up. I cannot imagine having 3 or 4 hundred more.

 

Sure it is.. "Oh no, I lost a customer. Let me go see if I can make him happy, give him concessions, and get him back!"

Its exactly what is being talked about. No one wants to admit it. But I have seen it, time and time again. Evangelism is neglected for the sake of sheep petting.

 

What Jesus' story about the shepherd who left the 99 for the 1 sheep that had gone astray? Jesus isn't speaking about the unsaved because they were already His sheep. Part of a shepherd's and undershepherds responsibility is to care for the sheep.

With that said, I notice that people don't want to be visited in their homes without any prior notice. I don't like it either. But if someone was active in the church, faithful in attendance and then started missing, I would think a phone call, which is a type of visitation, an email, a text would be entirely proper for the shepherd who really cares for the sheep.

 

You can always tell when someone is not entirely comfortable with their own position because they exaggerate and misrepresent things to justify their behavior. You do what you want. And shame on you.

 

You must have recently been called to the ministry of moderator.

 

EWF, that's why many churches now have a Saturday evening service or Sunday afternoon or evening service.

The few folks we have who work on Sunday (my wife is one of them) can make our service since it is in the afternoon after they finish work, or between shifts. Most of our folks are college age and work third shift so an afternoon service works great for us. Then we also have a Sunday p.m. Bible study, a Wednesday p.m. Bible study, and a Thursday a.m. Bible study.

 

Not at all. Shame on you. "You disagree with me. You are bad" LOL. :wavey:

 

Disagree. That text is about feeding (teaching) new Christians, mature Christians, and supervising the local body of believers.

Going after the stray sheep is the job of the Holy Spirit, and of Christ. You don't see Paul chasing after Demas.

 

Jesus is speaking about His job, as God, of rounding up the elect into the Body. This is an evangelistic parable, not instruction on church discipline and organization.

 

Wonder what scripture is telling us about Luke 9:14

(About five thousand men were there.) But he said to his disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each."

 

I would disagree. I understand what you are saying given your Calvinism. So maybe it's not a matter of you being right and me being wrong. We just interpret it differently.

I can't just be the feeder of the sheep. They have other needs than just eating. But we will disagree so have a great Labor day!

 

I come from a RC background, this puts me in mind of 12 different masses on Sunday & two on Saturday. Is that what we are becoming? Its more of an observation, a question Mex than it is a criticism.

That kinda schedule must take away time the Pastor needs to devote to his family & his own needs, correct.... and/or then you would require more people on the staff to facilitate these multiple services. Isnt this a drain (both physically & economically) on the Church?

 

You absolutely NAILED IT! Thank you for your candid reply.

RD2, when the pastor DOES spend time with members, people easily get offended and jealous that so-and-so gets more time than they do, etc. It can become a reason for gossip and pastors and their wives have to be very careful not to show favoritism.