|
|
|
|
PastorJER 3:15 And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
Meaning of Pastor
The meaning of the word Pastor is then linked to that of a person who is responsible to tend to the flock, but as a friend. Tasks of the Pastor
The Pastor is one of the five-fold ministry, fulfilling a vital role in the caring for the children of God. They are not the head of the church, neither does the other ministries have to submit to them. If anybody has to submit to anybody else, the Pastors has to submit to Apostles. If the Lord appoints a pastor, He appoints somebody who is according to His heart. That will mean that they will be full of love. There is not much doubt as to what a Pastor should be doing:
But look at the position out of which they are doing this: They have been assigned the position of shepherd. This means they attend to the needs of the flock, they protect them against the enemy - but they do not own the flock. They are not farmers, they are shepherds. This means that it is their responsibility to know what the Owner wants the flock to do, and then assist them in doing it. The responsibility is awesome.
It often happens that people leave their secular job to start a church. One way to check whether God is doing the calling or whether one is seeking an easy way out, is to check what is happening at work. When the people at work want to give you an increase and a higher position and you then feel the urge to start a congregation, chances are that this is God. We have enough people in the ministry who should never have been there, and that is why there is so much confusion. There are those mercenaries that claim that Jesus was not really born from a virgin, that homo sexuality is acceptable to God and that sin is not really sin. These people are using our Lord's Name to make a living instead of using the Lord Name to equip the saints for their work in the ministry. Warnings
How sad it is when pastors become arrogant. When people are used by God, they sometimes get so used to their blessings that they start to think they are successful due to their own doings. Then they become arrogant. When you talk to them they say that they are the leaders in the church and the Lord will talk to them if something is wrong, they do not need advise from others.
Pastors are getting away with murder because the children of God are not mature enough to fend for themselves. They would rather worship man than get to know God. They feel comfortable when the Pastor gives them instructions even if that is not in line with God's Word. These Pastors learn well from the world. They study psychology and then use that to dominate the children of God. One example is when Pastors are trying to influence "their" church members to do something and then divide the church into categories: Early adopters, Later adopters etc. implicating that people who do not follow their new schemes are either Late Adopters or Backsliders. The worst of all is the children of God that actually listens to them and disregards every lesson ever told them by God. The pastors force the people into doing things by saying that they do not love God if they do not do this or that. They keep the people in such bondage that they are later no longer allowed to have any friends outside of the local congregation. They have taken the people, removed the call of God on their lives through their lies and replaced it with their own callings. Some even admit that openly and declare boldly that if you serve other people long enough, you will qualify for your own ministry! People do not qualify for ministries, they are called by God into them. The Restoration
The Lord will restore His flock all on His own, without involving the church and the Pastors if need be. We were in a church where I was kicked out of the leadership just because I supported the Christian political party in South Africa! I was so bitter that it took me two or three years to get over it. Only then did the Lord give me permission to "get off the dead horse" - as He put it and we got out of that church. Where the analogy of a shepherd and sheep does not work out, is that the children of God are not really sheep - they are temples of the Holy Ghost and each one of them are lead differently. So the Pastor cannot throw the whole congregation into a pot and try and control them all the same way. This normally happens because the Pastor is either too lazy to find out from God what each member of the congregation has to do, or they just cannot hear from God. In order to understand this role better, it would be a good idea to investigate the life of Jesus Christ. He kept on giving the people knowledge and understanding, showed them the right ways, but never ever forced them to stay with Him or follow a certain calling. He never once told them they were not allowed to go to other Christians and fellowship with them. He even when so far that He allowed Judas to carry the money bag although He knew that Judas did not have the integrity to handle it with diligence. Being a Pastor is a great privilege and honor. It is also a great responsibility - one that the pastor cannot carry alone. They need the assistance of all four the other five-fold ministers in order to get their congregations to the point where they can successfully flow into their own ministries. |
|
Send mail to
johan@maartenspro.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
