I have been searching for a church home for a long time and I admit that I really was not looking into God's word and being patient. In 1Timothy, Titus, and 1Peter, God is very clear about the qualifications for elders or overseers or pastors as we would say today. Now I know that no church is perfect but I failed to evaluate the leadership based on God's Word.
Lately, the Holy Spirit has drawn me back to the book of Titus for Bible study. The Precept Upon Precept study has you do a profile of the Godly in Lesson 2. I was to list the qualities and characteristics of elders/overseers from Titus 1, 1
Timothy 1, and 1Peter 5. One thing that I found to be common to all was that the overseer or sheperd was to be free from the love of money. (Titus 1:7, 1Tim. 1:5, and 1Pet. 5:3) Wow!
Now this is not to minimize the other qualities because surely the overseer or pastor has to be able to teach and is to have a good family life otherwise how can he take care of the household of God? But is it not interesting that both Paul and Peter mentioned money in the context of pastoral qualifications?
I have been going to a new membership class recently. And last Sunday, the lesson was on Pastoral leadership. Now I am supposed to read ahead in preparation for class but I have not been doing that so I had no idea that we would be dealing with the subject. So imagine my surpise! I am not sure as to whether this is to be my church home but one thing I am doing is trying to evaluate everything on the basis of God's word.
One thing I can say is that at every other church where I had some serious problems, the leadership's focus was on money. Don't get me wrong. I understand the importance of money in doing God's work but how can a pastor care for a church and be worried about getting a bigger building at the same time?
My purpose in writing this post is not to church bash but to ask you and myself to open our eyes when evaluating church leadership. For years, I thought of myself as just a church member and that I didn't have the right to evaluate anything. But if you are in a church where the focus is to raise money not to build lives but to build a facility...well? Go to God's word and evaluate what He says about the love of money and the qualities of an overseer.
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3 comments:
hi melanie,
first, i thank you for your encouragement by following my blog~i appreciate you. :o)
now, if it is your desire to gather in a central place to fellowship with others then i hope you do consider ALL of the qualifications concerning those you allow to be over you. the love of money is definitely something that should not be characteristic of leaders in the assembly however, i would scrutinize the relationships they have with their family members as well. many a great orator can inspire others with their words but yet be failing dismally to lead about their own families. sad but true.
also, please consider that the leadership must'nt have a lordship mentality as in lording over the people. if you are satisfied that they are leading the congregation by being examples then i pray that while you are there, you continue to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
blessings & peace 2 u.
angela
Hey Mrs. Maverick,
Thanks for commenting on my blog! Be assured that I am considering all of the qualifications of a pastor. In my past, I have been a member of three churches where the pastor had been previously divorced while they were an ordained minister. Without going into the divorce-remarriage issue, I just don't see how this lines up with God's Word. So after a period of time, I would end up leaving because I simply was not being fed.
I have been going to a Sovereign Grace church. So trust that the pastors there do not have a lordship mentality but we interact as believers. This was very different for me. Actually no one really addresses them as "Pastor". We just call them by their first names. Go figure. :-)
Have a blessed day,
Melanie
melanie,
truth be told~ i wouldn't have any other way. if i have to address a brother or sister in the Lord with a title, then that's not the fellowship for me. i don't believe in a clergy/laity distinction among the family of God~ different giftings, but not any big Is and little u's.
ps. haven't seen you on pal-talk in a while.
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