Misunderstood Mission Of Ministry

When I heard the call of God to enter Ministry as a teenager, He asked me to go to a specific Bible School I had never heard of or knew anything about. I immediately enrolled. Looking back over my years of continuous education, I learned much, and continue to learn. Still, the one thing that stands out above all else was how to study the Bible using the rules of Hermeneutics and the fundamental principles of Christianity. At the time I entered Ministry, there were no classes available on how to start/run/operate a church, build and lead a team of people, or to be a great husband and father, so I had a lot of on-the-job training via trial(s) and mostly errors once I entered Ministry.

Two years before God brought the person I would marry into my life, I remember, as if it were yesterday, hearing His voice in my spirit say, "Your ministry is your wife and daughter, and everything else is just work!" Needless to say, that shook me up a bit. What really sealed the deal was when I got married a couple of years later and our first and only child, a girl, was born less than two years after that! I rebelled against His command for a few years afterward until a series of cataclysmic events brought me to my knees in surrender to His plan.

Decades later, after giving my heart to Jesus and falling in love with Him, my church 'work' is now in the rearview mirror as I have reached the age when churches don't feel they need you any longer as paid staff. That has been emotionally hard on me because when I fell in love with Jesus, I also fell in love with His Bride - the Church universal. I DON'T want to stop working in Ministry! Being at an age where church leaders see little to no intrinsic value has been heartbreaking, yet Moses didn't even start his 'ministry' until he was 80 years old!

As an ex-Executive Pastor with 45 years of both business and ministry experience, I thought the wisdom gained over decades would be welcomed with open arms in a new church. Instead, everything I tried to do was resisted. After completing the tasks (including a successful Capital Campaign) I was directed to do, I was given the right boot of Christian fellowship, put out to pasture, and 'transitioned' (church speak for 'fired') to find new opportunities. Could it be because I was seen as an intimidating threat to the younger and inexperienced leadership when I would at times gently question the way/how families in crisis were dealt with, their ever changing plans and methodology for implementing vision and ministry, or was I seen as too old to reach younger families - or was it simply because I just ticked off the young whippersnappers, which sealed my fate?

We have churches with youth becoming youth ministers because it is the 'stepping stone' to 'higher' leadership positions, so they must 'do the time' and pay their dues starting at the bottom and working their way up. Youth are the most vulnerable to the attack of the enemy and need the wisdom and experience of older Christians but are too often led by those still wet behind the ears themselves, fresh out of Bible school with heads full of mush. As a side bar, I have never understood why Junior and Senior High School kids are most often segregated from the primary life, worship, and teaching services of the church and meet separately from their families.

These decisions are often made by the Elders / Presbyters / Deacons / Bishops / Shepherds / Overseers, etc., with significant weight put on the input and recommendations from the Lead Pastor. [Please note that 'church boards' aren't on the list because they don't exist in the Bible, and nothing can be found to support them].

In this message, I will briefly address the position of Pastor and the role of Elders and Senior Citizens in church ministry.

THE POSITION OF PASTOR

My mission statement is "helping prepare the Bride to meet the Groom," and my focus has been on Discipleship training and Evangelism throughout my life. As a teenager, a 74-year-old Saint named Doris took me under her wing and discipled me. She taught me more about God's merciful goodness and love than all my years of formal education.

The Forgotten Role of Pastor

"Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, 'Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise answered, saying, 'Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.' And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.' But he answered, 'Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.' Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour." (Matthew 25:1-13 ESV)