Author	Thread: Not paying ministers
Admin	Not paying ministers Posted : 19 Jul, 2009 08:54 PM A recent trend I have seen in churches lately involves pastors tailoring their message to keep their job. Instead of preaching the word with boldness and letting the Holy Spirit guide what they say they apologize for the message they are about to give. Or even change it because they are afraid of how the congregation may react, and may be fired. My solution to this problem is to stop paying ministers. Whenever people put money towards something, they think they have a right to direct things. When it comes to ministers-- the sermon. One first remember that a tithe is not an investment but Gods money. Anyway, tithes can go to keep the church building in shape and for missions. The minister, elders, and deacons can be on a board that directs these funds. However, ministers should have another job, like the deacons and elders do. That way they won't fear losing their job and will be more interested in what God is having them preach then in what the congregation is wanting to hear. Post Reply
View Profile History	Not paying ministers Posted : 20 Jul, 2009 05:57 AM dear alasha, i am one who has never taken a dime for singin or preaching.. as you say thats not my source of income.. pastors do much more than just get up and preach on sundays.. there is alot of time spent in preparation for each sermon.. searching of scriptures. the writing it out.. makin notes. etc.. then they have folks comin to see them with their problems at their church office.. so they find scriptures and advice for these peoples.. and alot of time spent in prayer.. usually much more than your normal 5 minutes in prayer.. then they visit the sick in the hospitals.. in a small church he may be the maintainance man the janitor etc hehe..he has meetings and councils he has to be there for.. a pastor wears many hats..noadays.. but i do agree with you that their job security should not affect their sermons.. preach it and let it step on whos toes it may.. he should preach whatever the good LORD lays on his heart to preach.. and remember GOD will provide . so when youre preaching dont see dollar signs comin or goin.. ole cattle Post Reply
Boazsruth View Profile History	Not paying ministers Posted : 20 Jul, 2009 09:12 AM When God calls you to preach or teach, it is often hard and as Cattle said time consuming. Remember when certain ppl came up against Moses...God opened the earth and swallowed them. We have to be careful what we say about God's anointed, even King Saul when he was trying to murder King David, David would not touch God's anointed. I recently started helping out in a deliverance ministry at church and it has been a blessing but the attacks are huge and the enemy will come against you. Some times we dont think about how large the staff is that works at our churches and how much salary has to be paid or even the electric bill and if they feed the homeless or give to missions, it all cost money. This mighty men and women of God need prayer and a covering... Post Reply
Phoenyx View Profile History	Not paying ministers Posted : 20 Jul, 2009 10:35 AM At Whitehouse Baptist (a church some of my family goes to), they had a preacher that came in, then he went bankrupt, lost his wife and kids, and finally quit. The reason for this is that he was doing things outside of church without a job. Before him, they used to have a policy of paying preachers. Now they stand by that no preachers should be paid, and they should have jobs to support themselves and their activities, to show that they are capable of holding such a position. They had multiple preachers so I suppose that has helped to maintain this new outlook, sharing and advising each other. Post Reply
View Profile History	Not paying ministers Posted : 20 Jul, 2009 10:59 AM dear ruth, nice post.. amen ole cattle Post Reply
Phoebe2 View Profile History	Not paying ministers Posted : 21 Jul, 2009 01:46 PM Some people sacrifice everything to serve God, the Scripture say "Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel." Post Reply
View Profile History	Not paying ministers Posted : 21 Jul, 2009 02:37 PM dear phoebe, welcome to the forums. ole cattle Post Reply
noothergods32 View Profile History	Not paying ministers Posted : 23 Jul, 2009 01:32 PM I suppose my biggest problem with this idea is that scripture specifically contains the idea of remunerating preachers. While this may not mean a weekly paycheck it does mean that the church is supposed to support its pastor. Now I agree that pastors should not preach sermons simply for the sake of keeping their jobs, however I understand this concept as many congregations will fire a pastor as soon as they feel convicted. The solution here is for Christians in churches to grow instead of trying to be comfortable. However this is not likely to happen. Post Reply
View Profile History	Not paying ministers Posted : 23 Jul, 2009 05:06 PM hmmm... looks like most are in favor of paying pastors. I'll point out several problems though. Pastor as we have defined it is not really a scriptually ordained position. Ephesians briefly mentions it as something some people are called to do but there is no clear definition of what a pastor is. The closest thing you have is the position of elder that is clearly defined. The gift of being a pastor is fairly vague and could be applied to any sunday school teacher, elder, decon, or spiritual mentor of some sort. Basically, its someone who is gifted in leading and dicipleling young and immature christians. Scripture doesn't establish one guy as being the head of a church and calling him pastor. Pauls instructions to Timothy were to appoint elders (plural). Now Timothy himself may have been considered a pastor of sorts as was Paul and many of the other apostles however, you must put that into context. They were church starters not babysitters. Their job, their lifes work was to go from city to city preaching the gospel, starting churches appoint and train leaders/elders to lead the church permantly and then they had to leave and start other churches or visit the ones they were at. Now Paul does mention that the church should not "muzzle the ox while its treading the grain" However, he also points out that he was tentmaker. In other words, if old brother Paul wasn't too good to hold a secular job then why do these "pastors". If the pastors are "overworked" its because they were never supposed to carry that burden. The elders should. Pay the preachers by the hour. Then we will know who is really called to preach. paying someone to study the Bible sounds a little ludicrous. I do that regularly and nobody writes me a freakin check! As far as buildings go, the early church was freaking awesome and the closest thing they had to a church building was a rich persons house. Pouring thousands of dollars into a building that gets used maybe two or three times a week while orphans in thailand sleep in the street and hope for a bowl of rice, is disgrace to christianity. anyway i'll cut this off here before i open another can of worms. So many of these problems are related and ministerial pay is just one of them. Post Reply
View Profile History	Not paying ministers Posted : 23 Jul, 2009 06:18 PM dear fury, welcome to the forums ... ole cattle Post Reply
noothergods32 View Profile History	Not paying ministers Posted : 24 Jul, 2009 08:14 AM However you also have the position of the apostles in Act where they turned away any duties that removed from them the necessary time to study, spend time with God, and teach the word. Yes Paul was a tentmaker but he was also not what one would call either a pastor or an elder. Paul traveled a great deal planting new churches in cities unreached by the word. He was a tentmaker because he did not wish to burden these new churches with his support. Modern church planters often hold secular jobs or get support from other organizations while they are planting their churches for the same reason. On top of this you have three terms in the New Testament 'elder', 'bishop', and 'supervisor' that are all (arguably) refering to the same position of leadership in the church. And when Paul told Timothy to appoint several elders it seems fairly clear that these elders were to be under him in authority. Post Reply

First

Page : 1 2

Next  4 >>

Last