Friday, March 13, 2015

Reason #19 - Professional Pastors Should Get Real Jobs That Provide Goods or Services

Generally speaking, pastors are able-bodied men who are capable of working a job. In light of this, they should do so.

Normal jobs provide a good, a service, or both to society at large in return for payment. Having a normal job is beneficial for all men (and some women, but that topic is for another day). Professional pastors actually hurt themselves by not having regular employment.

Working a regular job keeps men in touch with the normal hum of society.

Working a regular job reminds those doing it that it is often a struggle.

Working a regular job, when the job is a noble one, adds to society.

Working a regular job means the church won't have to pay the pastor (and thus more money can go to the poor and needy).

Working a regular job helps the pastor better understand the people of the church.

Working a regular job keeps the pastor in regular touch with unbelievers.

Working a regular job makes the pastor at least fairly normal.

Working a regular job keeps the pastor from irrelevancy.

Most of my posts so far in this series 25 Reasons Professional Pastors Should Resign have focused on the damage that salaried pastors are doing to the church. This particular post is different. The reality is that professional pastors are damaging themselves by being employed by churches. For their own sake and that of the body of Christ, they must resign now.

2 comments:

Arthur Sido said...

Not only able-bodied but often the most educated men in the congregation and yet they rely on widows and the poor to support them. Ironically this is behavior that most pastors, good Republicans no doubt, would decry in the laity of the church but still they fight to the death to defend their "right" to expect the rest of the church to work to support them.

Randi Jo :) said...

yeap