Articles
Preachers and Churches
Disclaimer #1: I am writing this article from a place of extreme joy and appreciation for the brethren who support me at Centreville. There are no hidden messages or ulterior motives.
Disclaimer #2: Any preacher is probably biased toward his role, but something needs to be said once in a while about this God-given aspect of spiritual work. So here goes …
1) Preaching isn’t “just a job,” but there are many job-like features associated with it. This confuses some people. A preacher works; he gets paid. A preacher takes vacations and gets sick like everyone else. A preacher’s family has the same needs as others. But preaching is also a labor of love, a lifestyle and a vocational aspect of one’s faith. Opportunities are unpredictable; you can’t just put in your “eight hours” and clock out.
2) There are advantages and disadvantages to supporting oneself by “secular work” as opposed to being fully supported by a church or churches. This is something to be addressed between the preacher and a congregation he works among.
3) Perhaps one of the biggest misunderstandings about the role of the preacher is that he is the “employee of the local church.” Brethren support preachers to do the things that preachers do. Granted, there are “local” goals and work to be accomplished, and the congregation rightly hires a man to help them fulfill their collective duties. But some work of a preacher is not confined to a singular locality. There are doors that open beyond the city limits.
4) Many have misunderstandings about the preacher’s salary and his taxes, expenses, etc. The publishing of his gross income without a working knowledge of his overall financial situation can lead to envy and slander.
5) Another misunderstanding is that a preacher’s main goal is “converting the lost” while elders and others teach the saved. That, in my view, is a distinction not sustained by Scripture. First, there are so many more people to be reached and taught than the preacher will ever contact. Second, Paul has a lot to say to Timothy and Titus about their roles among churches in Ephesus and Crete but hardly a word addresses “evangelizing.” This is a matter of balance. Yes, the preacher teaches the lost, but so do (should) the members. The preacher also teaches the saved so that they are equipped to teach others (2 Tim 2:2). A strong, well-taught congregation is the key to the spread of the gospel in a given locale, not a dynamic, “on-fire-for-the-Lord” pulpit personality. Remember, it’s about the message, not the messenger.
6) The preacher lives and works in the “real world.” Some people have a utopic view of the preacher’s work (“I wish I could spend all day reading the Bible and doing research and not rub elbows with worldly people!”). Granted, I believe some preachers have a shallow or ill-informed view of their work. But most men are conscientious, and their efforts are focused upon people who are often petty, slanderous, harsh, stingy, indolent – and I’m talking about the brethren. Yes, God calls His church to a higher standard, but do you think saints always live it? Work among the brethren is not rewarding on the basis that they are always lovely. As my mother-in-law has observed, “Some of the most hateful people I have ever known have been Christians” (and that’s from a preacher’s/elder’s wife of over 60 years).
7) And why is there occasional antagonism between the preacher and the congregation? So much of what the preacher does is in the public eye. Preachers talk a lot; sometimes I get tired of hearing myself talk. And the preacher’s job is not merely to make everyone feel comfortable where they are; he must “reprove, rebuke and exhort” (2 Tim 4:1), all of which involve pushing people out of their comfort zone. And some resent that. Also, some brethren think that hearing sermons for years makes them more qualified to say how it should be done than the man who is actually living the experience. We all tend to watch a “performance” and think we could have done it better (sing; throw a football; drive the race car; etc.). But there’s a world of difference between spectating from one’s recliner and being the one who has actually devoted their life to making it happen, whether “it” is sports or politics or entertainment or preaching. No, the preacher is not above constructive criticism. But as noted, it isn’t “just a job,” and you will be speaking about a man’s soul, not just his performance, when you tell him how you think he could have done better.
8) But the preacher also does many things unpublicized. When some joke about the preacher working “only on Sunday” (and it’s OK to do that, provided there’s not a barb in it), they need to be aware that they didn’t see him take a phone call from a discouraged fellow preacher or a Christian who needed advice in a personal crisis. They didn’t see him researching answers for an internet study with an overseas brother who had a complicated Scriptural question. They didn’t see him in one-on-one studies various times throughout the week. They may not have seen him at the hospital or the funeral. They weren’t sitting with him when he spent two months hammering out another 13 week curriculum, trying to make sure he’s arranged it well, covered all the pertinent bases and worked out the difficult passages so that his teaching will be edifying. They didn’t accompany him when he held a week-long series of lessons in a place he’s never been, among people he’s never met – who are mostly gracious and appreciative yet sometimes brash and critical.
9) From my perspective, after 34 years of preaching, it appears that some brethren have a love/hate relationship with preachers. On the one hand they seem to be valued, and a congregation begins to panic if they’ve gone several months without one. On the other hand, some live to criticize the preacher and are even derogatory toward preaching in general. Let us remember that while individual preachers have their strengths and weaknesses, the role itself is from the Lord (Eph 4:11ff). Our main goal should be to encourage them, nurture more of them, and adequately provide for them financially and otherwise.
10) In closing let me reemphasize that this is not a criticism of Centreville. All preachers should be so blessed and fortunate to work with a group a supportive and encouraging as this church! However, a preacher/congregation is an important partnership. I hope this article will encourage a deeper appreciation of that mutual work and help you be the preacher’s advocate wherever you may worship in the future.
