What Can Church People Do to Help Their Pastor?
We’ve discussed the fact of depression in pastoral ministry and outlined some of its causes, both from the nature of the task and from the weakness of the flesh that all men experience. Today, I want to look at ways in which God’s people can help bring encouragement to their pastors.
The prayers of God’s people can be a great source of strength. Paul admonished, “And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel.” The first thing the church must do is to recognize the reality of the spiritual warfare that their pastor faces and intercede on his behalf. This is a spiritual battle. The pastor who stands behind this pulpit is a man subject to temptation and discouragement just as you are. This battle is real. The Bible admonishes God’s people to pray. Paul asks that in that prayer, they pray that utterance may be given and that the preacher may open his mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel. It is significant that during the persecution described in Acts 4, after Peter’s and John’s release from prison after a beating, their prayer to God was not for relief. It was not for a better situation. It was for boldness to preach the Word. God’s people can pray that prayer for God’s man.
I Timothy 5:17 instructs the church to honor the pastor who is a faithful teacher of the Word. “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.” The word “elder” is a Jewish term for a leader of the church, the pastor. The pastor, the elder, the bishop were all different aspects of the same office in the New Testament. The apostle says that those pastors who are faithful and who labor well deserve double honor, especially those men who labor in the Word and in doctrine. These men study and prepare so that when you come to church, you have something fresh from God’s oven. They have been with the Lord. They have prepared their hearts. They are ready to preach. The Bible says the church to honor these men.
God has not called anyone to be an adversary to the faithful pastor. I knew a man who actually bragged that God sent him to the church to be the pastor’s thorn in the flesh. I wouldn’t want to stand by that man in a lightning storm
There are practical ways that the church can help. The Bible teaches, “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, the labourer is worthy of his reward.”
The church should make sure to meet the Pastor’s needs. Many faithful men do without necessities all their life willingly and happily in order to be in the ministry. Yet week after week, they do not have what they need for their family. Their children go without. That is one of the reasons some preacher’s kids do not want anything to do with the ministry. They have seen their parents suffer and struggle.1
Because of lack of forethought or lack of resources or both, there are men who pastor well into their seventies, who should not be pastoring. They have no other means of income and the churches that they served never provided for them any kind of retirement. They have nothing but confidence in God and trust in God’s people. They have no social security and they have no retirement. They must continue to pastor because they have nothing else to live on. When you’ve spent your life in the ministry, you cannot go out and get a job as a C.E.O. of General Motors. You have to try to do the best you can. The Bible commands that God’s people take care of the needs of the preacher.
God has also provided protection for the preacher against unnecessary criticism. “Against an elder, (the pastor), receive not an accusation but before two or three witnesses. Them that sin, rebuke before all that others may fear.” God forbids improper criticism of a pastor. Does this give a preacher license to do as he pleases? No, it does not. It merely prescribes how this necessary criticism be done. When someone comes to you with criticism of a pastor, the only way biblically that you can listen, is for you to be willing to go and to confront the pastor yourself, with these witnesses, if he is wrong.
One reason God provides protects the pastor like this is that criticism is seldom forgotten. Accusations, innuendos, suggestions have an indefinite shelf-life. If a pastor has done wrong, after confrontation, he should be willing to admit it, and do whatever is necessary to make it right. When the pastor is wrong, he must be required to correct that wrong biblically. If his failure was in front of a crowd, then his repentance should be in front of that same crowd. Public failure requires public repentance. At the same time, church members must held accountable for handling each situation in the way that the Bible prescribes. Careless criticism and petty gossip have ruined many a pastor’s ministry and have added great weight to the load a pastor already carries.
Hebrews 13:7 says, “Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.” Be a teachable and leadable person. As Psalm 38 says, “Don’t be as the horse and mule which have to be led about with the bridle.” Do not come into church saying, “He’s not going to convince me of anything. I’m not going to listen to him. Who does he think he is to tell me what to do?” The faithful man of God deserves to have his people follow him. At the end of the day, when we stand before God at the Judgment Seat of Christ, the pastor will give account for how he has led you. The church member will give account for how he has followed.
Danny Sweatt is Pastor Emeritus of Berean Baptist Church in Lilburn, GA. He writes from over forty years of ministry experience in Florida, Illinois and Georgia as well as itinerant ministry around the country.
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Photo by Sasha Freemind on Unsplash
Previously:
The Peculiar Pressures on the Pastor
The Unique Pressures of Pastoral Ministry
The Unique Nature of a Pastor’s Work
- To be sure, God grants grace for all necessities. Some churches are limited in their resources, but that should motivate innovation, prayer, and concern to meet the needs of their pastor as much as possible. [↩]