Pastor,” the little committee said, “we thought you would want to know that some of the members are unhappy with you.” The minister, looking around at the six distinguished men and women who were standing in his office, said, “So?” “Well,” the speaker said, “We thought that would matter to you.” The shepherd said, “It does, but not much.” “Then we are under a misconception here,” said the spokesman. “Our understanding is that since a pastor serves at the pleasure of the people, if they are unhappy with him, he is failing at his job. And thus, his continued employment is in jeopardy.” The pastor said, “There is a misconception, but it’s on your part. The minister was not sent to make the congregation happy. He was sent to make you holy and spiritually healthy and to make the Heavenly Father happy. Those are two vastly different concepts.” There are not 10 members in a hundred who get this distinction. And we are paying a severe price in terms of pastoral turnover, church divisions, and ministerial illnesses. It is a rare congregation that can abide a minister who speaks the whole truth–”preaches the Word,” Scripture calls it–and upsets members from time to time. However, I will go so far as to say that any minister who does not offend or upset some of his people from time to time is probably playing at his assignment. A faithful minister keeps pushing his people toward the Lord’s goal for them. Pushing is uncomfortable. We want to push back.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 05:29:29 +0000
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