Tuesday, 17 January 2012
I have not seen it all but I have seen a great deal when it comes to the church. I grew up as a Pastor's kid, went into full time ministry in June of 1981. I have served as a children's minister, youth pastor, associate pastor and senior pastor for 29 years. My entire life has been given over to service in ministry and it has, for the most part, been incredible and wonderful.
One interesting challenges of a career in ministry is how often you will be called into question by those you lead. This is somewhat unique to ministry. I can't imagine a pilot being told how he should fly a plane everyday by the passengers on his plane. It would be hard to believe that the GM at your local Walmart would have the people who shop his store lined up outside his door each week to call into question his management skills. I say all this tonge in cheek, but there is a measure of truth in what I am saying.
Certainly, no pastor/leader is perfect and it is a good thing that we are held accountable for our ministry. The Bible gives us a review form we can use not only to check on our pastor but to check on our own lives as well. We will talk about this more in a moment. First let me say a bit about Style of Ministry. There are different styles of ministry and most of us were influenced by one or more of them at some key point in our life. We must be careful not to mandate STYLE as doctrine. My pastor was my dad and he had a gentle grace style, however we had a lot of personalities and different styles of ministry come through our church and I was exposed to many in our movement as well.
I enjoy particular styles more than others, they are easier for me to understand and grasp the content of what the preacher is saying. I have made it my practice to be open to all the syles of ministry. So long as the clear Biblical doctrine is prerseved, taught and practiced, I can open to the preferred delivery method of any minister of the Gospel.
So how can we know for sure we can trust our pastor/leader. The Apostle Paul encouraged his followers to follow him only so long as they noted that he was following Christ. Paul understood his sin nature and kept a humility about who he was in the scheme of things. He recognized how much he needed Jesus everyday Ro. 7:24. The Bible gives us a review sheet for our lives and for those who would seek to lead us. We are told in John 13:35 the world will know we are Christians by our love! We are told in Matt. 7:17 that good trees bear good fruit. In Gal. 5:22-23 we are told what that good fruit is.
When it comes to judging a particular pastor/leader use the Biblical method. Do not disregard a spiritual leader God has placed in your life because you are more comfortable with a different style of pastor or spiritual leader. If we do that we will miss out on some incredible blessings.
