Living as Holy as a Pastor

I'd initially thought about not posting this because I didn't want to risk kicking up dust, but I've changed my mind. Something said in the comments the other day under the post "Appreciation Into Idolatry" has got me wanting to express something that I've thought for a long time. I've heard this statement before, but it deserves serious consideration:

"It should be the job of every pastor to put himself out of a job."

Doesn't that statement ring true? Pastors are not called to live lives that are more holy than those of non-pastors. As a church leader, part of my task should be to teach, train, and focus our people on Jesus Christ and often to see them raised up to become leaders themselves. As the people in our church fellowships live out their lives, we ought to see them grow in knowledge, wisdom, love, and boldness as their faith is built larger and larger upon the foundation of Christ, and this transformation should have outwardly visible results.

I don't believe it's a problem with "the system," but I do believe there's a problem of laziness -- all of us having adapted to our way of doing "church" for so long that we nearly always take a very easy route. We don't hold one another accountable. We don't show love to one another as our sense of community grows (if our sense of community does, indeed, grow). Do we go to "a church full of strangers," as a friend hypothetically commented to me yesterday?

Think about that family or person that typically sits down the pew (or chairs or stadium seating, as the case may be) from you on Sunday. I mean it -- visualize them right now. Have they ever been to your house? Have you ever been to theirs? Do you ever get together with people outside of a church setting to talk about the Word? Not just your "insider" group of close friends, but new people. Brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. This is the stuff that shatters comfort zones...

Are you, like I, lamenting the fact that the Church isn't making a big impact in the world? Could this be an indicator of why? We can sometimes barely even start touching others in our own congregations. How can we expect to touch people outside of them?

I'm blessed to be part of a fellowship that doesn't expect the pastoral staff to be the go-to team that has "got everyone's back" in difficult situations. My guess is that your fellowship is like that, too. My concern is really with the large percentage of church members who don't think that way. Our action may be what God uses to stir them out of complacency.

Posted in: Christianity, Relationships, The Church