A Real Problem With No Solution

 I have written about growing older as a church member. I want to address a topic that is looming over our Fellowship and I have no idea if it has even been talked about. I am talking about pastors who stay on in the ministry when they are so out of touch and irrelevant as to be an embarrassment to us all. I am talking about pastors and evangelists and missionaries who will not retire.

Why can a pastor not retire? I do not know. There is no biblical basis for this idea. There is ample old testament evidence to suggest that old kings and prophets and priests all were quite useless at the end of their lives even though they still occupied their office. David was a foolish old king. Paul could only answer letters for the last years of his short life. Church history give us better guidance than the book of Acts in some cases and this is one of those cases.

For some pastors, they have the respect for what they did in shepherding their local church. But they no longer are doing anything fresh or new or groundbreaking. The ship has sailed and they cannot even find the dock. They are using ancient techniques to solve high tech problems. They spend more time managing than innovating.

If you cannot use email or a smart phone, you ought to retire. If you are fighting old battles that are irrelevant today you ought to retire. If your church has heard your personal stories enough that they can tell those stories for you you ought to retire. If you cannot drive your own car you ought to retire.

At the very least I think that our pastors and board of elders need to talk about finding a way for old preachers to retire. Pastor Mitchell was pathetic during the final years of his life. Why not quit while you are ahead? Do not do your church the indignity of dying in the pulpit. You can endure to the end in retirement as well as being in charge.

Ignoring this issue will not solve this problem.

Sunday Afternoon Thoughts

 "Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions." Joel 2:28

Our Fellowship in general, and many of our local churches in particular, are youth oriented. Our evangelism is youth focused. Discipleship is youth driven. Church planting is primarily done using young couples. And it is so because it works best that way.

The only problem with this focus is that we are not allowed to get old in our Fellowship. Our bodies are not allowed to succumb to the onslaught of aging. We are not supposed to have age related illnesses. Moses is tossed out as an example, so that if we don't live strong until the end we are failures. Sorry pastor Mitchell, you faltered at the end of life so you did not live up to Moses' standard. You should have quit while you were ahead.

On the idea of illness, some Pentecostals think that all illness is caused by the Devil. This poses a unique challenge. A man of God ought to be able to cast out the demon and get us old folks healed. Instead, they blame us for their ministerial failure. Do not tell me that my body is being attacked unless you have the answer on what to do to alleviate the illness. Some old folks in church trust doctors because doctors help with practical solutions to persistent problems. Doctors never blame their patients for being sick. If God will not heal us by a miracle, are we cut off from God forever?

I notice that in our text, old men are given preference over young men since they are mentioned first. Dreaming is as valuable as seeing visions. It is wrong to think that the vision of youth is more useful than the dreams of the aged.

"The end of a thing is better than it's beginning;" Eccl.7:8

Decently And In Order

 "Let all things be done decently and in order." 1Cor.14:40

There is, or there ought to be, an order and a structure to our church services. It is not a place for people, moved by the Spirit, to run around out of control. It is not a place for interruptions or outbursts. A church service has a beginning, a high point, and a conclusion.

Pastor Mitchell used to have one of his 4x6 index cards with the order of the service written on it. Welcome all! was at the top of the list. It had prayer requests or announcements or other points of reference to follow. There was an acceptable time for exercising the gifts of the Spirit. And there was and still is an acceptable time to end the service.

Worship is a time to honor and glorify God, not a time to flaunt your talent or to put on a show. The sermon is usually the high point of the service. The sermon also must be orderly and have a structure so as to get to the point without wearing out the church. I can tell if a preacher has notes or if he is winging it. Pastor Mitchell used an outline. He did not write out the whole sermon. He did not always finish his sermon.

The word decently is a word that means like a gentleman. It means gracefully or  with dignity. A church service should be well behaved, not a riot of confusion. The sermon also ought to be full of grace and truth. It ought to be the aim of every Fellowship pastor to learn how to preach like a gentleman and not like a wild man. You do not need a college degree to be a great preacher. You do not need a cathedral to have a dignified church service. You just have to want it. You can grow into it.

Revival that is wild and out of control will not last long. 

The Boy Who Cried Wolf Today

 When a preacher wants to stir the church into action he tends to paint a picture of a world worse than it actually is. When a political leader wants to drum up support he paints the opposition as the enemy. When a doctor wants you to do what he or she wants you to do they run out the worst case scenario about your condition. What do these have in common? They are like the boy who cried wolf. Or like Lot in Sodom. One day something catastrophic will happen, and no one will take them seriously.

"So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, get up, get out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking." Gen.19:14

After the bottom falls out, some will begin to believe. But if you do what they tell you to do and nothing changes you begin to wonder if it is as bad as they say. There are things worse than dying. Living in fear is worse. The fear of illness is sometimes worse than being sick.

We need God to help our pastors to rightly divide the word of truth. We need our doctors to be wise about what we really need. We need politicians to be wise about what is truly important. Lest, when the wolf really comes, no one believes the cry of the boy.

Asking the Experts

 If I need medical advice, I go to the doctor. If I need car repair, I go to a mechanic. If I have spiritual questions, I call my pastor. If I just need to talk to someone, I call a friend. My point is, when you need specific help, you contact a professional.

Some people think that they are professional, and they are not. They think that because of their age, or their experiences in life, they are experts in a field, any field for that matter. Television and the internet makes you think that you are smarter and wiser than you really are.

To be happy and at peace in life, you need to know who the real experts in life are, and your only burden is to reach out to them for their expert help. By doing this you can easily dismiss the shade tree experts who are quick to give advice, even if they do not know what they are talking about.

Just because it worked for you does not mean that your way is a universal solution to everyone around you. It means that you are a pseudo expert in what works for you.

When I go to church, I expect to hear an expert preach from a treasure of wisdom that he has filled in God so that he has something valuable to give to us. I look to see if he practices what he preaches.

Common Ground for Ministry.

 Because of the things that I have been through in recent years I have begun to notice how powerless we are to help people that we have nothing in common with. It seems that until we have gone through something or experienced something we have little understanding or compassion for those around us.

It was not until my wife died that I find myself having great compassion for those whose spouse has died. Since I failed at pastoring I have great compassion for those who feel like failures. Because my wife went through years of physical ailments I can have compassion for those with long term illnesses. Because I have been through financial collapse I no longer thumb my nose at those facing financial ruin.

The common ground in the gospel is that if we are saved, we can minister to anyone who needs to be saved. If we speak in tongues, we can help new converts to enter that higher plane of experience.

Because we are human, we can minister to other humans. Any time, any place.

The Sunday Morning Priority

 One thing about pastor Mitchell that stands out in my mind is how hard he worked to do what he did and he still found a way to be in his own church on Sunday morning. He seemed to feel that this was important. He took the time and he spent the money to make this happen almost every Sunday morning.

My thought on this is that if the senior pastor misses Sunday morning he is missing the thing that makes him the senior pastor. He misses the opportunity to minister to those who are the fruit of his ministry. He misses the connection with his home church people. He misses an opportunity to set things straight from the sometimes crazy ideas of his assistants.

If a senior pastor cannot be in his church, on the platform, and behind the pulpit, on Sunday morning, maybe he is too busy.

One more thought. Senior pastors who insist that every decision be made through them are limiting the growth of their own churches. If everything comes to a standstill until you get home, this produces hard feelings in some, and a lack of innovation in others. A church needs it's pastor to be present, and available, and approachable; not just a face on a website telling us who you are. Even in our church, Sunday morning is the most important service of the week. I think that it is important for our senior pastor to be there. Amen!