Pitfalls
With these parameters of
a practical and biblical sort in place then let's begin to think of
positives and pitfalls. I would like to start with the pitfalls. We
will come on to the positives later.
1. The church often gets
to be known as pastor so-and-so's church
Long pastorate or not we
often fall into the short hand method of referring to Barry King's
church or Gary Brady's church. Of course, we also say “my auntie's
church” or “Tony's church” and they are not pastors so we
must not be too hard on ourselves. I think “my church” is okay
from a member but less so from a pastor. With a pastor it can be
dangerous.
People still refer to
Spurgeon's Tabernacle. If you go to Port Talbot in South Wales they
may say to you, innocently, “this was Lloyd-Jones's church”. This
is all the more likely if a man stays in one place any length of
time. If you google “John Macarthur's church” you will get Grace
Community Church, California. If you google “John Piper's church”
you will get Bethlehem, Minneapolis. I am not sure exactly why but you
see the danger. The church is Christ's and to call it by anyone
else's name raises a danger that we ought to beware of.
2. There is the danger of
being a dictator
Geoff Thomas quotes the autobiography of an old Strict Baptist
minister now with the Lord, Bernard Honeysett. Bernard wrote
John
Kemp was one of five pastors I knew personally who held pastorates
for more than 50 years. In the case of Stanley Delves of Crowborough,
his predecessor was also in the office for over fifty years, so that
the two spanned over a century. It has been my observation that when
men have continued so long, they can unwittingly become dictators. A
generation grows up under their ministry and pastoral care, and their
word can become law. I knew of one case where a church meeting was
mentioned and the pastor said, 'I will say when we are to have a
church meeting.' Sometimes such leaders make no provision for the
future when they are taken, in some cases with very sad results. (The
Sound of His Name, B of T, 1995, 51).
There are some situations
where it is hard to imagine a dictatorship ever arising so firm is
the grip of the church meeting and there are such strong
personalities around. One can see the danger, however, especially
where the minister is a strong personality and when it gets to the
stage when he can remember many of the congregation when they were
in nappies.
3. There is the danger of
creating the church in your own image
A similar though a
different danger is that of creating a church in one's own image, the
church becomes a mirror of the pastor. One writer speaks of
co-dependency.
Obviously, a minister
wants to have an impact on the church he is serving. He wants them to
believe what he believes, live the way he lives and to a certain
extent to show an interest in the things that he is interested in.
However, given that no man is perfect, a mere reproduction of one
minister is not going to be an unmitigated blessing to a church. They
are likely to pick up his weaknesses as well as his strengths. In
many cases this can be mitigated by a plural eldership, by a
leadership style that does not centre on one person and his
personality and by being aware of the danger from the outset. Another
help is the use of sabbaticals – regular (ideally seven yearly)
periods of a few months away from regular ministry. (Having said that
I have more than once observed men leaving their pastorates after a
sabbatical – yet one more thing to put churches off the idea.
Perhaps a contract can be drawn up. Few churches will give a man a
sabbatical after less than seven years.) There is also the impact of
various visiting preachers. Further, the sheer variety in a properly
taught congregation will also make a difference. As God's Word goes
home and is lived out in them what variety should be seen.
4. There is the danger of
complacency
We are all warned against
complacency in the Bible. In Zephaniah 1:12 God says At
that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who are
complacent, who are like wine left on its dregs, who think, 'The LORD
will do nothing, either good or bad.'
Leaders in particular are
warned against this sin in Amos 6:1 Woe to you who
are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria,
you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel
come!
It is one of the dangers
of a long term pastorate, where things have been fairly successful
and where the situation is quiet. One can get into a routine, doing
the same things that have always been done and with no expectancy of
any great change. A drowsiness settles and zeal begins to flag.
5. There
is the danger of a “we've tried that before” mentality
Again
similar but slightly different, it doesn't take so very long before
no-one can suggest a new idea without the minister saying “we've
tried that before” and either “it doesn't work” or “we're not
trying it again anyway”. It doesn't matter whether it's children's
meetings, mums and toddlers, tract giving, door to door, meal and
message, open day, family services, etc, the average church tends to
try most of the available options – some work and are retained,
others are tried and found wanting. When a new generation comes along
they sometimes come up with something new but it is usually only a
variation on what has been done in the past. It is the easiest thing
in the world to say (and it is not always in so many words) “we've
tried that before”.
I
was reading a piece by an advisor to sales people. He writes
I
spend most of my time with extremely experienced sales executives and
professionals. Largely, they have been selling for years, most have
been very successful They bear the scars one gets from experience.
They’ve “been there, done that.”
In
many cases, though, these grizzled veterans struggle to improve
performance, but they are stuck in a rut. They are both prisoners of
their own experience, and somewhat jaded by their experience. They
know they have to change, but fear change. As an advisor to these
companies and individuals, it’s often a struggle to overcome the
resistance. The resistance is understandable, but getting them to
move is often a challenge.
He then talks about new
sales staff and their willingness to try new things or often old
things they are too inexperienced to know are old. I'm sure that we
have similar stereotypes in the ministry. Older men, a bit jaded, a
bit “been there, done that” and younger men full of enthusiasm.
There are also, thankfully, older men who stay fresh. Those are the
sort who are a blessing in a long ministry.
6. There is the danger of
taking life easy
In the ministry you
really are very much your own boss and if you have no conscience it
is not that difficult, after you've been in the role for a few years,
to start making it easy for yourself. You have to be out on Sunday
and at the midweek meeting, of course, but if you get yourself
organised you can make sure that any other evening meetings are taken
by others and avoid doing too many visits at night. After a while
sermon preparation becomes easier and with a little effort you can
squeeze all your preparation in to a day or even half a day at a
push. Avoid any commitments outside the local church. Your church
will be keen for you to take a day off. Keep it fastidiously and take
Saturday and bank holidays too. If you don't work yourself too hard
on Sundays you will then only really be available four days in the
week and much of that time can be taken up with reading what you
fancy or pursuing some other hobby. Perhaps I exaggerate a little but
you must beware of this danger for it can grow ever more strong the
longer you are settled in the same place.
7. There is the danger of
going on too long
If you recall learning to
ride a bicycle, you will remember that there are two main
difficulties to be overcome. First, there is getting on the bike in
the first place. Then, when you are finally up and running, there is
the important matter of how to stop and get off. Something similar
pertains with the ministry. They used to say of the Welsh rugby team
it was harder to get out of the team than to get into it and that is
probably true of the ministry too.
There is a story of John Gill's niece saying of Gill near the end “My
uncle still keeps in Deuteronomy, and I don't know when he will be
out of it.” In those last years Gill's voice grew weak and there
was restlessness in the congregation, some of the young people going
elsewhere. But when the church suggested a co-pastor he did not like
it at all.
“that
Christ gives pastors
is
certain, but that he gives co-pastors
is
not so certain.” He even went the length of comparing a church with
a co-pastor to a woman who should marry another man while her first
husband lived, and call him a co-husband! The church was only trying
to be kind. Benjamin Beddome's final years when he struggled with
gout and had to sit to preach were also rather unhappy in many ways
and that was at least in part probably he went on too long.
There have been a few
disasters in living memory. Sometimes the problem is that the
minister does not believe in retirement. “There is no such thing”
they say. And yet the Bible clearly tells us that the Levites were to
retire at 50 (Numbers 8). You may come back at me and say that the
priests didn't retire. There may be something in that but my point is
simply that retiring is a biblical idea. For a man to step down then
at 60 or 65 or 70 or 75 from a pastorate is not wrong.
There is an expression in
English “to die in harness”. It means literally to die with your
armour on and by analogy to die before retiring. Some ministers speak
of it admiringly. I think, however, that the man who said “but it's
no good for the harness” had a point. On rare occasions men
actually die in the pulpit. It gives people a sense of eternity no
doubt but there is not much to be said for it otherwise.
If a man refuses to
retire then he is in danger of going on too long. If dementia should
strike that can cause major problems.
8. There is the danger of
not preparing for the future
A similar issue is the
matter of making preparations for the future. Transition is always
difficult, never more so than at the end of a long ministry.
Dr
Martyn Lloyd-Jones famously announced his retirement from Westminster
Chapel rather suddenly in 1969. Some heard the news with great sadness. There had been no preparation for what has been called "so
important, delicate and mysterious an event" as the change of pastor There
is some evidence that Lloyd-Jones later regretted this as the church
went into steep numerical decline. His later efforts to put things
right probably did more harm than good.
I
am aware of another case where the minister basically
wanted to appoint his own successor. The congregation
was not happy with the idea and so an otherwise often friendly
relationship between pastor and church ended on a rather sour note
that has not entirely faded even to this day.
No man can know exactly
when his ministry is going to come to an end but some thought for the
future is probably wise. At the very least the congregation can be
reminded of the fact that the ministry will end at some point and
they can even be given teaching on what to do at the time.
Obviously where an
assistant or a co-pastor can be brought in then the way can be
smoothed but there are no guarantees even with that approach.
