A Bad Reason for Returning to the Institution: You Like a Particular Pastor

This is part seven of my ten-part blog series entitled Ten Bad Reasons for Returning to the Institution.

I've met many very nice pastors in my lifetime. My guess is that you have, too. A particular pastor's niceness or likeability, however, ought not be a reason to return to the institution.

When I worked as an institutional church pastor lots of folks made it clear that they liked me. I liked them as well. This was not fake; rather, it was real affection. I believe the majority of pastors have this type of relationship with the people in their churches. Pastors have a tendency to love the Lord; this results in a love for the people in the pews. Of course I'm generalizing here; we could find negative examples that show pastors with ill intent. That's the vast minority.

Once you have departed from the institution you may struggle to find fellowship (at least right away). This can be discouraging. You may be tempted to go back to Rome to a church where you like the pastor. When this feeling arises please recall why you left institutional Christianity in the first place. You left because the Bible shows us a vibrant body of Christ that looks vastly different from what we generally see today. The modern church structure is foreign to scripture, full of man-made ideas rather than God's plan.

A pastor may be an extremely likeable guy. He may be kind, loving, and a great preacher. He may be all the things he is supposed to be (according to the pastoral search committee profile). He may even be this man, this man, or this man. In the end none of this matters. A pastor cannot alter the fact that the institutional church structure is blatantly unbiblical.

Don't return because you like a particular pastor. Eventually you will begin to resent both yourself and him for your decision.

What's the Main Thing That Makes an Institutional Church Institutional?

I'm taking a quick blog series break here to ask one important question: what is the primary factor that makes a church institutional?

I've written previously on several occasions about a sort of unholy trinity that forms the backbone of institutional church life. These three are expensive/special church buildings, salaried clergy, and worship services/ceremonies. Almost all institutional churches have some form of these three in place. They may go by different names, of course, but at a substantive level they are the same.

Other components of the church institution are also extremely common: budgets, fund raising, youth groups, committees, tithes and offerings, Sunday School, bulletins, nurseries, church signs, websites, etc.

Keeping all this in mind, what do you believe is the one main thing that makes the institution in fact the institution?

I'll tell you my answer: salaried clergy.

Of all the various parts that make the church institution what it is, the most significant is full-time clergy who dominate the life of the fellowship. While scripture describes an active body where each part is important, the institution gives us a drowsy group put to sleep by pastors who do almost everything. If you attend almost any church gathering it is the salaried clergy who stand front and center. They expect to do this, and the folks in the pews expect it, too. It's much of the reason pastors/priests receive paychecks.

Since the clergy are paid, they need something to do. Go ahead and ask institutional believers what their pastor's most important task is. Most will respond by saying preaching. By this they mean giving a 30 minute lecture once or twice on Sundays. This lecture requires both a special building and a ceremony. It also demands that the people sit quietly and obediently.

If church families desire to avoid institutionalization what they must do is minimize the role of the clergy. One means of accomplishing this is simply to not pay anybody. If you remove the paycheck, then everyone is forced to become more active. This has the potential to bring about great vibrancy within the fellowship. I highly recommend it.

Linking: "The Celebrity Pastor Factory"

Skye Jethani has written a bold article entitled The Celebrity Pastor Factory. The author discusses the way in which publishing companies have an unhealthy influence on the rise of certain pastors to positions of celebrity within the church.

The money quote:

In summary, the rise and fall of any celebrity pastor is merely a symptom of an underlying malady within American evangelicalism. Why are there now so many celebrity pastors? Because they generate a lot of revenue for the Evangelical Industrial Complex. Why do these pastors fall with such regularity? Because the Evangelical Industrial Complex uses a business standard rather than a biblical standard when deciding which leaders to promote.

Throughout the piece the author explains how what he refers to as the Evangelical Industrial Complex drives the growing trend that is celebrity pastors. At the conclusion of the article he offers three suggestions for what we can do about this mess.

I encourage you to read Jethani's post. He has a perspective on this subject that I had not previously read.

(HT: Challies)

Absolute Nonsense

Click here to read some absolute, undiluted, 100% nonsense. The inanity is stunning.

September Will Now Be Deemed "Every Christian Who Is Not A Pastor Appreciation Month"

Clergy elevation is a massive, ubiquitous, and damaging problem within the church as a whole. For some reason that I do not comprehend, pastors are generally thought of as extremely hard working folks who have very difficult jobs and receive little praise or recognition (nothing could be farther from the truth). In part because of this line of thinking, someone came up with the idea of "Pastor Appreciation Month."

Each October many institutional churches, at least in the USA, go out of their way to tell and show their pastors how much they love them. Now, nothing is inherently wrong with this; however, it often acts to further draw the distinction between clergy and laity and also elevates the clergy even farther than they already are.

Everyone else within the church is just as important as pastors. I Corinthians chapter twelve makes it abundantly clear that every single person within the church is critical to the healthy functioning of the church. Therefore, let's do something to recognize all believers. Therefore, the month of September will now be a time to encourage, elevate, and champion everybody except pastors within the church. This will be deemed "Every Christian Who Is Not A Pastor Appreciation Month." Feel free to tell your friends.

Meme Sunday

Unavoidable: Home-Grown Elders

The modern pastorate is a thing foreign to the bible. The professional pastor (he who dominates the preaching, leading, and decision making) stems from man's traditions and not anything we find in scripture.

What do we read about in the bible? We see elders. Where do these elders come from? They come from within.

Below are some descriptions of elders in the New Testament:

Acts 14:21-23

"When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed."

Titus 1:5

"This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you."

James 5:14

"Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord."

I Peter 5:1-3

"So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock."


Based upon the above passages, especially Acts and Titus, it is clear that elders come from within the body. This flies in the face of the modern pastor who is almost always an "expert" brought in from the outside in exchange for a salary; this is the exact opposite of what's been modeled to us by the apostles and the early church as a whole.

Who were these NT elders? They were simply mature Christian men who were already serving actively within their local bodies. Their character and behavior were recognized for what they were: mature in Christ. Their appointment was based upon what they were already doing. There is no sense that their behavior changed at all once they were appointed as elders.

Their behavior did not change because they were already a part of the church family.

Modern, professional pastors often struggle to feel as if they are actually a part of the church where they preach. Even after years of employment in one church, they feel like an outsider. This is because they are, in fact, an outsider.

The scriptural model is unavoidable: elders come from within. Many of today's church problems stem directly from the rejection of this paradigm by institutional churches.

Why Are So Many Pastors Paid Salaries?

This is a question I had to wrestle with when I was a professional pastor. I resigned because I came to the conclusion that the bible does not support the practice of pastors receiving salaries. Why, then, do so many churches continue this practice? (This question comes from my prior post Sorry, But I Can't Stop Asking Questions).

Five reasons stand out to me as to why this keeps happening:

1. Church history. Roman Catholic priests received payment of various sorts. The Reformers kept this practice, as they did many other Roman aspects of church life.

2. Misinterpretation of scripture. Nowhere in the New Testament is it said that pastors should receive regular salaries. The I Corinthians 9 passage refers to traveling evangelists, not pastors. As for I Timothy 5, "double honor" may or may not be talking about money. However, if it is then it's referring to love gifts after the fact as opposed to salaries given beforehand.

3. People think they need an "expert." The folks in the pews want a person to come in from the outside who has attended seminary. He's given a salary to preach, administer, and coordinate the worship ceremonies.

4. Pastors like it. I can say from experience that it is nice to receive a paycheck for studying the bible and reading theological books much of the time. Why would pastors ever speak against this? Instead, what they do is perpetuate it.

5. "It's what we've always done." Churches have been paying salaries to pastors for so long that many people cannot imagine any alternative.


The above five reasons are not exhaustive. Churches have their combination of reasons for handing out salaries to pastors. The big problem is that they have no scriptural support for doing so.

Sermon Avoidance Does Not Make You "Lukewarm"

A couple of years ago a young Christian man told me that I was "lukewarm." He was referring to this passage:

14 And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. 15 "I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." (Revelation 3:14-22, emphasis mine)

Let me provide a bit of context. At the time our family was gathering regularly with a few others families each Sunday in homes. We would sometimes see each other during the week, but for the most part our Sunday get together was the main time of fellowship. We shared in bible study, prayer, eating, and much conversation. It was almost always an edifying experience for me. We enjoyed being together.

One Sunday a young couple visited with us; they were invited by one of the other families in our group. I'm not sure why this couple came (maybe curiosity?) because the man clearly did not believe the way we were "doing church" was the right way. He was a very big supporter of sermons. He liked to discuss what preachers had said and written as part of their messages. Our church family had no need or desire for sermons.

Did I mention that this young man was only twenty-five-years-old at the time?

What I still do not understand is why this couple kept returning to our gatherings. It makes no sense to me. They were nice enough, but the way we functioned continued to bother them. One day it came to a head. The young man asked if he could meet with the elders of our church family. Several of us men (the older men of the body; nothing more than that) came together one evening in a home. The young man basically complained to us that the elders in our body needed to have more authority and that we should have sermons. We did not agree. I hope you see the irony here. The young man was saying that we should have authority, but he had no interest in our authority when it came to not having sermons. While making his case he kept referring back to one specific sermon he had heard and told us that we really needed to listen to it.

We kept asking him to support his assertions with scripture. He failed to do so. Eventually he told us that the real reason he wanted to meet with us was to tell us that we were "lukewarm." However, his only reason for saying this was because we did not preach and teach the bible the way he thought we should. He wanted someone to stand up front and give a typical monologue style sermon as in traditional churches. He equated this with caring for what the bible had to say. We disagreed.

It was clear to me that he saw himself as doing some sort of duty for God by rebuking us. He would not listen to what we had to say. We elders (all in our forties) were being rebuked by a twenty-five-year-old for not grabbing more authority. This encounter was both fascinating and disturbing.

This young man, while well-intentioned, was far off track. It was not long before they moved on. Last I knew they had moved near Houston, Texas to be part of Voddie Baucham's church.

I wish things could have turned out differently, but this young man would not listen. His error is in how he thinks of church life. In his mind zeal for God and ceremonial preaching go together. He believes that love for the Lord is most clearly shown by sitting and listening to a speech.

He is wrong.

None of us has to adhere to the typical traditional, institutional style of gathering in order to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. In fact, I would argue that taking part in church meetings that seek to edify the body through mutuality is a sign of great care for Christ. According to the bible, that is to be the purpose of gatherings.

If you read this blog regularly then you probably have no use for sermons. Don't worry, that's fine. Sermon avoidance does not make you "lukewarm." Rather, it might just be a sign that you care about how God wants his church to live. As far as I'm concerned that is evidence of being just the opposite of lukewarm.

Poppycock

I like the word poppycock because of the way it sounds. It basically means "nonsense" or "rubbish."

If you want to read an example of poppycock, simply click on this.

Listing the 25 Reasons Professional Pastors Should Resign

Below is a complete list of all my posts in the series 25 Reasons Professional Pastors Should Resign.

Reason #1 - Professional Pastors Propagate the Clergy/Laity Divide
Reason #2 - Professional Pastors Take Jesus Christ's Spot as Senior Pastor
Reason #3 - Professional Pastors Turn Gatherings Into Performance-Oriented Shows
Reason #4 - Professional Pastors' Salaries Place a Massive Financial Burden Upon the Church
Reason #5 - Professional Pastors' Sermons Put People in the Pews to Sleep
Reason #6 - Professional Pastors Cannot Be Fully Accepted Members of the Body
Reason #7 - Professional Pastors' Sermons Are Thought of As Special Messages from God
Reason #8 - Professional Pastors Get Confused With Biblical Elders
Reason #9 - Professional Pastors Lead Almost Everything, Taking Opportunities From Others
Reason #10 - Professional Pastors Can Easily Abuse Power
Reason #11 - Professional Pastors Stay Largely Cloistered, Not In Full Contact With the Real World
Reason #12 - Professional Pastors Suggest That Payment Should Be Given For Service
Reason #13 - Professional Pastors' Long Sermon Prep Implies That The Bible Is Extremely Complicated
Reason #14 - Professional Pastors Are Placed on a Pedestal by the People
Reason #15 - Professional Pastors Preach Tithing In Order to Get the People to Give Enough to Pay Their Salaries
Reason #16 - Professional Pastors Keep the People in "Feed Me" Mode
Reason #17 - Professional Pastors Imply That Churches Need "Experts" to Lead Them
Reason #18 - Professional Pastors Keep Money From Going to the Poor and Needy
Reason #19 - Professional Pastors Should Get Real Jobs That Provide Goods or Services
Reason #20 - Professional Pastors' Salaries Give the Message That the Church Should Spend Money on Itself
Reason #21 - Professional Pastors Turn Church Family Gatherings Into "Worship" Ceremonies
Reason #22 - Professional Pastors Allow and Encourage the People to be Spectators
Reason #23 - Professional Pastors Are, In Fact, Professionals
Reason #24 - Professional Pastors Tell the Church That the Biblical Model for Church Life is Unimportant
Reason #25 - Professional Pastors Force Jesus Christ Into the Background

Reason #25 - Professional Pastors Force Jesus Christ Into the Background

Of all twenty-five reasons in this series, this one is the most problematic. While the bible shows us that Jesus Christ is the one and only head of his church, professional pastors push him into the background.

Of course, they don't truly force Jesus into the background because nothing in the universe could do that to our sovereign Lord. However, the very existence of professional pastors forces Jesus out of the way in the eyes of the people in the pews. Many Christians look to pastors for leadership more than they look to Christ.

This problem is closely related to professional pastors taking Jesus' spot as senior pastor and professional pastors being placed on a pedestal by the people.

As Christians, our entire belief system is wrapped up in one person: Jesus Christ. He is everything. I'm not denigrating the Trinity in any way in saying this. Our God is the three-in-one who is difficult to comprehend with our finite minds. While God is all, Jesus Christ is all as well. Christ is the head and we are the body. We are all equally needed parts, while he is the supreme leader. He points the way, and we all follow. He lovingly and sacrificially gave himself for us at Calvary so we would live for him.

Professional pastors cloud this beautiful picture by coming in between the people and their Lord. The pastor tells the people what to think, what to do, and how to act. The folks dutifully believe because he is the expert from the outside. Quite frankly, professional pastors are little different from Roman Catholic priests.

As the body of Christ, we need a clear, unobstructed view of Jesus. Anything that gets in our way must be done away with. The professional pastorate is a good place to start.


(This post is the final installment in 25 Reasons Professional Pastors Should Resign.)

Reason #24 - Professional Pastors Tell the Church That the Biblical Model for Church Life is Unimportant

Every good Christian teacher points to scripture over and over. The bible must be the source of any instruction that occurs within the life of the church. Most pastors consider themselves to be teachers (they had better). At least within evangelicalism in the USA, pastors do a fairly solid job of pointing people back to scripture again and again while preaching and/or teaching. This is certainly a generalization, but it is one I believe to be true.

When it comes to teaching about the gospel itself, most pastors look to the bible to lead all they say. While the gospel may be presented in somewhat different ways (for example, John 3 versus John 4), the key content remains the same. We all find this content in the bible. I give pastors credit for staying true to scriptural teachings on salvation.

Something weird happens when most pastors begin teaching about the church. They abandon many of the principles of biblical interpretation that they use for understanding and teaching the gospel. Most pastors take into consideration everything the bible has to say about salvation.

When it comes to the church pastors ignore much. In particular, they act as if what we read about church life is simply description. The scriptures certainly tell us much about how we are to live. Some of this is in the form of exhortation, but some comes in the form of narrative. While narrative may be descriptive, some of it also has prescriptive authority.

I'm convinced of the prescriptive nature of the New Testament church narrative for one primary reason. That reason is that the apostles were present as active participants in the early church. If anyone knew what Jesus expects and demands from the life of his people, it would be the apostles. A few years ago I wrote a piece entitled On the Importance of Apostolic Presence that explains my reasoning in detail.

The form of church life we see around us today deviates a great deal from what we see in scripture. Professional pastors have a large part to play in this. Through their piecemeal teaching about the church, pastors are telling the church that the biblical model for church life is unimportant.

Pastors are not being fair in how they interpret and teach the bible. They use strikingly different principles for their teaching on the gospel versus their teaching on the church. This is incredibly irresponsible. Not only is their teaching faulty, but they are offering to the people a confusing manner of how they should understand scripture as they study it for themselves.

This interpretive mess would largely disappear if the professionalism of the pastorate disappeared. Let's hope it happens today.


(The above is section twenty-four of 25 Reasons Professional Pastors Should Resign.)

Reason #23 - Professional Pastors Are, In Fact, Professionals

The title of this post borders on redundancy. That was purposeful on my part.

Professional pastors by definition are professionals. They do certain things and receive payment for doing them. Very few of these men would continue to do those same things if they weren't paid (they might want to do them, but they wouldn't have time since they'd be working a regular job).

When a pastor begins his time at a church he signs some sort of contract. The church agrees to provide him with a certain package (salary, insurance, retirement, etc.) while he agrees to preach, baptize, marry, bury, visit, etc. The pastor supplies the services while the church supplies the money. It is a clear agreement between two parties.

What I've described above is the definition of a professional.

It ought not be this way. Scripture shows us churches free of this sort of professionalism. Elders (as opposed to modern-style pastors) were men who were simply part of the body. They were recognized for what they already were: godly individuals who were growing to be more Christlike while helping others do the same. These men may have received some financial gifts from time to time, but nothing in the bible suggests that they ever received salaries for their actions.

Well-known author John Piper has written a book entitled Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. The book is directed to pastors. I enjoyed reading it; it's well-written and thought out. However, and this is a big however, Piper is wrong in the very title of the book. The fact is that professional pastors are, in fact, professionals.

Today is a great day for all professional pastors to resign. The church will benefit greatly from turning to a biblical model of elders and away from salaried experts.


(This is part twenty-three of my blog series 25 Reasons Professional Pastors Should Resign.)

Reason #22 - Professional Pastors Allow and Encourage the People to be Spectators

The church we see in the New Testament was active.

Was the N.T. church perfect? By no means. However, they generally lived out active lives for Christ. Part of this stems from all the one-another exhortations that we read in the epistles. This, in turn, comes from Jesus' teachings, such as those we see in the Sermon on the Mount. While Christ expects us to take spiritual rest in him, he also wants us to impact the world through his revolutionary priorities.

In light of the above, it seems that today's pastors would do all they could to inspire an active church. However, the opposite is actually the case. Professional pastors lead weekly ceremonies that keep the people locked and quiet. The folks in the pews are not encouraged to speak whatsoever; they aren't even supposed to move except to stand and sing. This entire situation brings about what we would expect: a passive church. The salaried men up front not only allow this, but also encourage it. If they thought it was a terrible thing (which it is), then they would certainly do something to change it.

But would they do something to change it? Since most people in the church have learned passivity through the years, they now expect it. The status quo is that the pastor will lead worship services. He will be the active one while the people sit silently. This is one of the main things the pastor gets paid for. Therefore, his paycheck depends on his encouraging passivity in the people. If he actually challenges this system, he could find himself on the unemployment line. He's not going to do that.

What we have in place is a largely quiet, dull, uninspiring church that lacks impact upon society. The laity have become spectators. The pastors lead the show. Week after week the church sits in a stupor while the paid experts lead the performance from the stage. This sad, pathetic situation will not change with salaried pastors in place. Therefore, they must resign. How about today?


(This is post twenty-two of the series 25 Reasons Professional Pastors Should Resign.)

Reason #21 - Professional Pastors Turn Church Family Gatherings Into "Worship" Ceremonies

It's Sunday morning right now. Many church bodies in this country will gather today. A small percentage will get together like big families. The vast majority, however, will spend much of their time in a repetitious ceremony.

I'm not sure where the term "worship service" originated (if you know please leave your answer in the comments section). A more appropriate term would be "Christianesque ceremony." Instead of churches gathering to strengthen the body through mutual edification, they meet to perform basically the same ceremony week after week. Professional pastors stand at the epicenter of this phenomenon.

Salaried pastors receive their salary in large part because they preach. Monologue style preaching does not work as part of family get-togethers. Instead, this type of pastoral performance only works in ceremonies. Thus worship services rule the day in most churches.

When we look in the bible we don't find anything that looks like modern worship services. Instead, we see the body of Christ come together informally for the mutual upbuilding of the whole. The individual parts carry out the one anothers and use their areas of gifting to strengthen the entire family. It is a beautiful picture. This is what the church needs much more of today.

Professional pastors stand in the way of mutual edification. The reason is that they have to preach in order to get paid, and preaching only fits with a ceremonial atmosphere. Therefore, salaried pastors must resign. They must resign now.


(This is part twenty-one of 25 Reasons Professional Pastors Should Resign.)

Reason #20 - Professional Pastors' Salaries Give the Message That the Church Should Spend Money on Itself

What do today's churches generally spend money on?

The answer is a simple and profound three-headed monster: pastors, buildings, and programs. The vast majority of most church budgets go toward covering these three things. The budgets themselves may seem more complicated than this, and in detail they probably are. However, when looking at the big picture it is clear that a huge percentage of the funds are used to pay for the salaries of the pastor(s), building mortgage and upkeep, and a wide variety of programs.

What's wrong with this situation?

What's wrong is that Jesus himself instructed his followers to give to meet the needs of others.

When the church spends most of its money on itself, it is disobeying Christ's command to help those who cannot help themselves. Putting a check in an offering plate, knowing that it will largely go toward pastors, buildings, and programs, does not exactly conform to Jesus' wishes.

Professional pastors sit right at the heart of this sordid situation. They actually take home more money from the church than goes to meet the needs of those who have no where else to turn. As a salaried pastor myself, I always felt weird putting a check in the offering plate, knowing that some of that same money would come back to me in the form of a paycheck. The longer I toiled as pastor the worse I felt.

When pastors accept a paycheck for services rendered, they give the message to the entire church family that it is just fine for the church to spend most of its money on itself. It ought not be this way.

Professional pastor friends, please resign today. The message you will send will be a blessed one.


(The above is part twenty of 25 Reasons Professional Pastors Should Resign.)

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.

Reason #18 - Professional Pastors Keep Money From Going to the Poor and Needy

Simple math: a church has a finite amount of money to spend.

If a local body decides to pay a pastor a salary, then a large portion of the money taken in is already gone. A pastor's "package" may cost the church $50,000 per year (maybe more, maybe less). That means that the believers in that church have to give over 50 grand for any money to go toward anything else.

Of course, a local body that pays a pastor likely also has to pay for a large building. There goes the next massive chunk. So before any money can be spent on anything else, the pastor and the mortgage company must be paid.

The simple math is that if a church pays a pastor a salary, then it has far less money to give to those who truly need it: the poor and needy. When we look in the bible, we see numerous exhortations to care for those who are unable to care for themselves. We see in scripture the church give its money away to those who have little to no means of making money of any kind. The poor and needy can be those inside the church or outside.

The sick irony is that most pastors are, in fact, quite capable of working real jobs to support themselves and their families. They do not qualify as "the poor and needy." I quit as a professional pastor and have held down a regular job for four years. It is not, as they say, "rocket science."

Professional pastors ought to all resign immediately because they are keeping money from going to the poor and needy. It is as simple as that.


(This is post eighteen of 25 Reasons Professional Pastors Should Resign.)

Reason #17 - Professional Pastors Imply That Churches Need "Experts" to Lead Them

When institutional churches search for a new pastor they look for someone with a bible college or seminary degree.

When men want to be pastors they go to bible college or seminary.

Why do these things happen?

The reason is that most Christians believe that they need "experts" to lead them. Instead of looking to their own church family for elders, they instead almost always turn to outside "experts" with advanced degrees to be the next pastor. This occurs across denominational lines. The vast majority of new pastoral appointments are men who have never had previous contact with the particular body they are to lead. The churches look less at I Timothy 3 guidelines than they do at what degree a person has. Salaries are even partially based on what theological level a person has attained. For example, men with doctorates are the most expensive.

The above is understandable from a secular perspective. However, the church is not secular in nature, and therefore ought not follow a secular model. The church has no need of theological "experts" from outside. It only needs look inward for godly men already in its midst.

Professional pastors: please resign today and encourage the church to cease looking for leadership from outside "experts."


(This is post seventeen of 25 Reasons Professional Pastors Should Resign.)