Sunday, November 26, 2006

6.4.06 "Paying Your Pastors" 1 Corinthians 9:1-18

I ran across this tonight, and found it to be a very good message on Pastoring and ministry.

This is a video clip of an excellent sermon preached by Pastor Mark Driscoll for Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington.
"For some reason, pastoral ministry remains for some a glowing, naive, dreamy life idealized as hours of Bible reading, prayer walks with Jesus, and days spent singing worship songs and smiling. But statistically, being a pastor is the spiritual equivalent of being a kamikaze pilot..."
Although it's rewarding work to be in church ministry, it's not for the faint at heart. I'm sure most pastors and staff members would echo my next statement... If you can do anything else other than be in ministry - DO IT! RUN NOW WHILE YOU HAVE A CHANCE! Just kidding! If you are called, you're called. God doesn't repent for calling you. Always remember, what you are doing for the Body of Christ is a calling, not a job. If you are contemplating church ministry, and you remember that, you'll do just fine.

1 comment:

Mark W. said...

Call me crazy, but I love those old English stories of Anglican reverends who did live a bookish, contemplative life and were also respected and counted on for "life advice" by their parishoners.

Of course, those reverends were paid through tax money collected by force of law. In the American protestant church today, where pastors must live off of congregational tithes, I'm not convinced it's the best way to be. We only do it this way because we are Americans - with no national religion and no respect for scholarly pastors - only pastors who can entertain.

Personally, I'd like to be able to go back, in some ways, to the kind of parish reverends who spent their lives becoming Christian sages, not mega-superstar stage presences like Driscoll or the unfortunate Ted Haggard. I do not envy the schizophrenic expectations placed upon today's American pastors at all.

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