Comparing Pastors

Below is an article I read on Comparing Pastors from Church Answers/Thom S. Rainer on January 11, 2021. Worth posting. Worth reading. Worth evaluating.

Comparisons of pastors have been around since we’ve had pastors. Paul wrote about it in 1 Corinthians 1:12 “Some of you are saying, ‘I am a follower of Paul.’ Others are saying, ‘I follow Apollos,’ or ‘I follow Peter,’ or ‘I follow only Christ.’”

In the first part of the twentieth century, local church pastors were compared to well-known radio pastors. In the latter part of the twentieth century, they were compared to television pastors. Beginning in the twenty-first century, the comparisons were to podcast pastors.

The Idealized Pastor Versus Our Pastor

Church members can have idealized perceptions of pastors they don’t know. These platform personalities often have charisma and incredible communication abilities. It can be tempting for church members to believe their other pastoral skills are as gifted as their communication skills.

We see our own pastors, however, up close and personal. We see their gifts, but we also see their humanity. We see them when they lose patience. We see them when they stumble in their sermons. We see their family members who, like the rest of us, are not perfect. So we often criticize them for their imperfections.

Our Pastor Versus the Idealized Pastor

But those platform personalities will not be with you in your deepest of valleys. They will not be an embrace when your loved one dies. They will not be there for weddings, funerals, celebrations, and moments of deep pain.

Your pastor knows you. The platform pastor does not know you. Your pastor is there for you. The platform pastor does not know where you are. Your pastor loves you and prays for you. Platform pastors can’t pray for you by name, because they don’t know your name.

It Is Time to Rethink How We Treat Our Pastors

It is time.
It is time to be less critical and more prayerful.
It is time to be less judgmental and more forgiving.
It is time to be less expecting and more serving.

The beginning of a new year is a time to start fresh patterns and habits.

May some of those habits include loving your pastor more unconditionally, evaluating your pastor less harshly, and praying for your pastor more fervently.

“I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God” (Ephesians 1:16-17).

Your pastor is the one standing in the pulpit in your church.
He is the one that prays for your soul, your needs, your family, your requests.
He is the one that walks along side you when sorrow strikes or when joy comes in the morning.
He is the one that God called to lead, the church, you call home…and lest we forget, he is the one you voted for.
He is the one that Scripture clearly states we are to honor, provide for, obey and follow because he is the one shepherding and leading God’s flock called the church.
He is the one prayerfully, scripturely, leading you because he watches over your soul.
He is the one that losses sleep, weeps in distress, and cares more than he will ever tell because he is humble at heart.
He is the one that carries the load of burdens when no one else will because he takes his God-calling seriously.
He is the one that lives in loneliness, isolation, and questioned or critique because he is constantly second guessed.
He is not viewed as educated or acknowledged as professional because often times he is seen as a threat to the pride and ego of individuals who have purposely built a status or facade around themselves.
He is not looked at as a friend or someone who truly cares but rather detested or rejected because he is thought to have an agenda. He couldn’t possibly love freely.
He is the one that knows the intense freedom and power the Truth gives yet experiences the rejection of man, both believer and non-believer, which tears his soul into pieces.
He is the one that rejoices with you, watches your children succeed, learns your history and life, even though you reject his existence, time, effort, and love.
He is the one that loves you unconditionally because he cannot do anything less. He loves because he has been loved by His Father, God, first-handedly and it grips his soul in dedication to the One who placed this call on his life; he sees himself as a sinner saved by grace and nobody special.

So, how are you doing? What does your relationship with your pastor look like? Do you have a relationship with his wife, their children? Could you say you know him personally; you could name a few of his favorite foods or color. You know his birthday or anniversary. You know some of his life’s history or sorrows. If you don’t ask you will never find out.

When is last time you asked for his counsel or advice…and followed it?
When is the last time you showed him you cared?
When is the last time you told him what you learned from the preaching of God’s Word…from the sermon just preached? (or were you to busy critiquing him or just not interested?)
Do you know your pastor or do you think you know him? He knows where you stand.
Do you pray for him?
Do you like him?
Do you love him as another brother in Christ?
Don’t worry about putting on your Sunday front; the cloak is visible.
And don’t worry…your pastor will be the first to acknowledge he isn’t perfect. He too is a workmanship created in Christ Jesus, a progress in God’s hands that has said ‘yes’ to the God-call on his life.

We do well to evaluate are own hearts in how we act or react to the man we call, Pastor! God is watching (not because the man is special but because God said so).

Go. Do. Be an encouragement today.

In Christ I am SHE {Saved. Hopeful. Empowered.}

Thanks for Sharing this post:

Like this:

Related

Leave a Reply Cancel reply