Future Shepherds are found in the Living Room (3)

"If anyone aspires to the office of overseer...he must manage his own household well...for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?" 1 Timothy 3:2, 4-5
                                                                                        

        In post number two I wrote of how in becoming a shepherd a man needs to be a recognized, proven, faithful leader of his own home first, but also one who has the desire and ability to disciple people in the Word.  What though, does this all mean ultimately, and how does it work out in our congregations?

        In my judgment, we need to return to recognizing men within our own sacred communities and personal relationships who fit these qualifications, and by that I don’t just mean ‘ruling’ elders and deacons either, I mean pastors as well.  Trust me, these men are among us and they (eureka!) didn’t even go and spend $70,000 on seminary!  Sadly though we’ve been so indoctrinated with the propaganda that a man can only be a pastor if he first goes to seminary that we literally can’t even fathom the opposite happening. 

          So what I propose...

...is that when a pastor is needed in a congregation we need to stop “shopping” for one by flying them in for the weekend, or interviewing them over the phone because, let’s be honest here, it is impossible to know with any certainty if the man being considered is above reproach, temperate, prudent, hospitable, gentle, free from avarice, not a drunkard, able to teach, has an agreeable reputation outside the body of believers, and his family is orderly and loves Jesus.  Is anyone really gonna find that out in a couple weekend visits and some phone interviews, or even in a month of those?  No, and yet this is how we keep doing “business” and the Church  “strangely” continues to be impotent and unfaithful.

        Instead I submit that we need to appoint elders and pastors from among us that we know to be fruitful, hospitable, and zealous just as Paul, Silas, Titus, Barnabas and Timothy did throughout the Roman Empire.  We need to look for, mentor and cultivate indigenous pastors who actually know and love the people in their fellowships.  This calls for smaller congregations of no more than 8 to 12 families so these men can actually shepherd the sheep under their care, and smaller paychecks for pastors which would quickly and naturally reveal which men are truly and irresistibly being called by the Spirit to the position of pastor as opposed to those who are only in it for the money and an indoor, no-heavy-lifting life.   

        We need to identify and encourage these future shepherds to fulfill their calling so that the Church is equipped to do the ministry of the Gospel so that it will spread and grow in the hearts and works of all people.  This activity of identifying young men should be enthusiastically, organically and constantly be happening among the sacred communities of God so that when a leader is needed there is always one ready to step in from among the local fellowship. 

        This will certainly take some retraining on our parts     no doubt about it      but we need to get away from importing a teacher into a local church body every time one is needed.  Hard to fathom doing isn't it?  But Paul and Timothy didn't seem to have a problem finding godly, capable elders in every city and community, and neither should we.

        The bottom line though, in all of this, is that we need to first look for men who have proven to love, serve and direct their own households before they are to shepherd and disciple God's local gospel-family. 

        This, I pray, will help the Church of Jesus to tear away from the pernicious, pay-to-become-a-pastor seminary model that has so shaped our churches in the West now for a hundred plus years, and is the root cause of why they look like they do today.  As I've related elsewhere: our sacred communities always come to look like their leaders eventually, and this unbiblical, professional model of "come teach us, and gee, we hope you end up being godly" has really jus' gots ta go.