This is another one of my rants that started from a question but evolved into a soapbox message that may upset some people but then what can I say but what I feel. So if you find this hash and unloving look at it a coming from someone who can see the future of the church and this nation. If we as Americas fail to turn our country around in the next five years there will be no turning around. Yes, I know the LORD is in control, but he also has commanded us to carry out His mission and we are not doing what he has commanded. So we are complicit in bring about the destruction of this nation by sitting back and letting things just happen. Oh well, here is the question that started this rant. What is a Quaker minister? The impression is given that all Quakers do is sit around on the 1st day waiting for the Spirit to direct who will speak. That may have been the case over 100 years ago, but that changed with the influence of John Gurney. Gurney embraced the Methodist concept of evangelism through revivals. This led to the fundamental change to the pastoral system. By the early 1800’s evangelical Quakers were preaching the Wesleyan doctrine of Christian perfection. By this time many evangelical Quakers were accepting the idea of pastoral ministry as one means of leadership within the local congregation. With the pastoral meetings a single individual became responsible for the spiritual leadership of the meeting. The evangelical Quaker pastor is now a permanent fixture among many Friends congregations. Pastors do much more than preach, visit, marry, and bury! They help individuals form their religious beliefs systems and spiritual values. However, this does not deny the priesthood of all believers. It is our belief that individuals are chosen among us by God to exercise a gift in ministry. Evangelical Quakers make no requirement that such ministry be exercised only by persons who hold a professional office or appointment in the church. Nor do we expect that persons with a particular gift in ministry must show evidence of many or all the other gifts in ministry in order to be a minister. Quakers have traditionally resisted the notion of a single minister be competent to exercise most or all the apostolic gifts of ministry in a community of believers the same is with evangelical Quakers. Evangelical Quakers insist on being open to the gifts in ministry with which God endows other members. Evangelical Quakers believe that no church can make a minister. God alone makes ministers by endowing some members of the church with the gifts in ministry as listed in Scripture. However, when a person has exercised a gift repeatedly and over a period of time, evangelical Quakers may choose to record that gift. Doings so shows our recognition of the gift, our desire to nurture it, our desire to establish a relationship of accountability for the minister who exercises his or her gift, and to register our confidence that the minister speaks not only for herself or himself, but for the community of evangelical Quakers. Quakers may choose to rescind this recording for various reasons, or God may choose to withdraw the gift; but we are clear that these are two different processes. Evangelical Quakers are also clear that a person called by a meeting to be a pastor need not be a recorded minister, since such a person may not yet have been properly experienced in the exercise of the gift, and the membership may not have had sufficient time to discern whether they are called by God to record the ministering Friend’s gift. So, to answer the question what do Quaker pastors do? The same duties are carried out by the Quaker pastor as are carried out by the Methodist, Wesleyan, Baptist, and Presbyterian, Nazarene or Christian pastor. Let me do a little ranting at this point. A Quaker pastor needs the same dedicated people standing behind him in prayer that any other pastor would have in their ministry. The spiritual battles and pressure he faces are unprecedented. That’s why Paul urges believers to pray for all in positions of authority (1 Timothy 2:1-2). This includes all pastors. This is not only applicable to leaders praying for their people but also the people praying for their leader. It’s a sin not to pray for your pastor. You have no reason to ever complain or criticize when you see a leader go through a difficulty or failure if you haven’t been praying for them regularly. Those who say the most are usually those who have almost never lifted up a prayer for their pastor. Many talk a good talk but aren’t there when you really need them. They are like the man who prepared a dinner and sent out invitations only to have excuses as why people could not attend. One bought a field, one bought a team of oxen and one just got married everyone was to busy to attend. There are few people you can really depend upon. Solomon understood this when he wrote, “You might call many people your “friends,” but it is hard to find someone who can really be trusted.“ Then there are those who say they will support the pastor but are not there when needed. Solomon also understood this when he wrote, “ Think carefully before you promise to give something to God. Later, you might wish you had not made that promise.” Prov 20:25 How often have you vocalized a commitment to something and afterwards ran into some difficulties and failed to follow through on what you said. This becomes a snare to you. God takes it serious when we commit to something and your pastor does too. He’s depending on you and when you don’t follow through, he wonders what happened. This can produce a since of hopelessness, thinking there’s no one he can depend upon. Let’s be men and women of our word. “Let your Yeas be Yea, and your Nays, Nay” James 5:12. If anything, a pastor needs to know that he can trust and depend upon his people. Be known as a people who can be depended upon in your attendance, involvement, finances, and fulfillment of all you say. Most people will never know the many sacrifices their pastor has made for them and the church. They will never know the hardships that have been placed on the pastor’s family by helping those within the church. Often, the church members forget that the pastor is more than a paid employee, they are the spiritual leaders called by the LORD to oversee the needs of the church. This lack of consideration could be the reason the average length of a pastoral stay is from two to three years. It could also be the reason there are very few entering the ministry. An individual who feels the call of the LORD and prepares themselves for the ministry has years of education and sacrifice to get to the place they can be effective ministers. Pastors are expected to be teachers, counselors, financial consultants, administrator, and managers by many churches today without the authority to actually lead the people. Is it any wonder many are leaving the ministry for secular employment? Each month there are over 1,400 pastors leaving the ministry in America! In the last five years over 10,000 churches has closed their doors for good. While I am on this rant let me add some more things to consider. Only about 17% of the people in America attend church even though 85% of Americans identify themselves as Christian. There has been a decline in church attendance for the last decade. In our small town there are five churches. The oldest church in town will be closing its doors in December of this year. Two churches are struggling with large losses in attendance over the past ten years. Some have financial burdens that are having a major impact on the mission of the church. Only one church has had the same minister for over twenty years. Why is this? The population of the town has not changed in over 100 years. What has changed is that people no longer view the church as an important part of their lives. People in America talk about being “Christian” but they will not support the mission of the church with their attendance or money. Yet, it is the church that is the first place they go to get help paying their utility bills, medicine for their children, clothes, food, gas and any other aid they can sponge from the church. These are also the same people that would never attend church or support the mission of the church. They are also the same people who will miss the chimes that are played every day in our town but have never attended a church service or supported the local mission of that church. In five more years how many churches will be left on our town? The very institution that has been the wall of protection for the freedoms and liberties of this country has been the church. When that wall is gone where will America stand? If you are not supporting a local church you are contributing to the decline of this nation. You can choose to disagree and be wrong if you like, but that will not change the condition of our town or nation.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 18:45:15 +0000
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