Pastor's Handbook

Part 1

The Church

Chapter 1

God’s Glorious Church

Before the world was formed, God planned the church to be His instrument of redemption in the world. The word church is the Greek word ecclesia , meaning called out ones. The idea is a town hall meeting where issues were discussed and announcements made.

Jesus referenced Himself, when He said in Matthew 16:18, "On this rock I will build My church. Jesus is saying the church is My called out-ones, My town hall meeting" and is the only institution He established on earth.

The word church in the New Testament is used in two different ways. The first is the universal or invisible church. When you become a Christian, the Holy Spirit baptizes you into oneness, not only with Jesus but with all other believers everywhere. It is a church that exists beyond buildings, denominational lines, and international borders. It is the body of Christ, the family of God on earth.

Ninety percent of the time, however, the New Testament use of the word church refers to a visible, locally assembled body of baptized believers, honoring Him, worshipping together, edifying one another, and winning the lost.

The church is less than perfect. Naysayers and charlatans, like Simon the sorcerer, would buy the power of the Holy Spirit and use the church for their own selfish ends and financial gain. Let them be accursed.

Perhaps it is a just commentary on the failure of some of us within the church that so many extracurricular and parachurch organizations have developed in the kingdom. Most call themselves extensions of the church, or arms of the church, and I am grateful for each. But far too often, parachurch organizations give only lip service to their commitment to the local church.

When Christ came, He established the church. He died for the church. He loved the church. Today He continues to indwell the church, and one day He will come to receive His church. She is His bride, and He is her groom. The old spiritual song, Let the Church Roll On, says it well:

There’s a woman in the church,

and she talks too much.

Tell me, what we gonna do?

Let the church roll on.

There’s a singer in the church,

and he won’t sing right.

Tell me, what we gonna do?

Let the church roll on.

There’s a deacon in the church,

and he won’t deac right.

Tell me, what we gonna do?

Let the church roll on.

God’s church has grown and flourished and will do so until Jesus comes to take her to heaven. Let the church roll on.

Throughout your ministry you will be confronted with many avenues of service. Some may indeed be God’s perfect purpose for your life. You will seek His heart, hear His voice, and do His will. As you do, consider this: that which is not truly birthed of the church, emanates therein, extends there from, and culminates therein, is doomed to make little lasting impression for God and for good in this world.

Well over a century ago, the YMCA was born, a soul-winning organization to win young men to Christ and train them in the Word of God. Is that the purpose of the YMCA today?

The church is flawed, imperfect, wrinkled, and blemished, but her end is not yet. He is her unfailing strength, and you will do well to commit your life to serve through her.

Today God is greatly expanding His church. In spite of persecution from the Middle East to China, God is at work. The rate of the growth of the church in Brazil is three times faster than the birth rate. At the present rate of kingdom growth, the entire continent of Africa may be Christian by 2020. On a recent Sunday afternoon, 18,250 new believers were baptized in Red Square in Moscow.

For nearly sixty years I have loved Christ and His precious church. My ministry was always centered in His church. I’m so happy I did it that way and would do so again in a minute.

Missionary C. T. Studd said it well:

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

only what’s done for Christ will last.

Let me say it a bit differently:

Only one ministry, ’twill soon be past,

only what’s done through Christ’s church will last.

When Flight 92 went down in Pennsylvania on 9/11, Todd Beamer called his wife, Lisa, from the bathroom of the plane. Together they prayed the Lord’s Prayer. His last words to Lisa were, Let’s roll. Sounds good to me.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word. He did this to present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless. (Eph. 5:25–27)

To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Eph. 3:21)

Chapter 2

Great Growing Churches

In the mid-1970s, Adrian Rogers of Bellevue Baptist Church, Memphis, Tennessee, and Edwin Young of Second Baptist Church, Houston, Texas, independently of each other, and unknown to each other, conducted a study of the twenty-five largest, fastest growing churches in America to determine whether there were common ingredients in each.

Some churches were in the north; some in the south. Some were African-American, some Anglo. Some were Hispanic, some Asian. Some were charismatic; most were not. Some facilities were modern; many were old. Each had five factors in common.

1. They were strongly pastorally led. Boards, sessions, deacons, elders, and committees abounded. There was a large variance in ecclesiastical structure. But in each case they reported, It didn’t take long, analyzing the inside workings of the church, until it became obvious where the power center was.

But it is essential to understand: Leadership is not demanded; it is deserved. Pastoral leadership is taught in Scripture and must be granted by the people but earned by the pastor. When you have to start telling them, "I’m the pastor," you no longer are.

God’s people are better led than driven. The wise pastor will seek counsel and work with his leaders while humbly assuming the position of leadership with which God has entrusted him.

2. They were strong Bible churches. Each pastor believed the Bible to be inerrant and infallible, the unflawed, perfect Word of God—not just a record of God’s Word but God’s Word itself. These men were not attempting to be apologists. They were not defending the Bible, debating it, or trying to prove it. They were preaching it. And it was happening throughout the entire life of the church.

3. They had celebration worship. This is not to say the Sunday services were a hootenanny or the atmosphere carnivalistic. It is to say, they were happy churches with bright, warm, friendly atmospheres. The people felt the freedom to laugh, to cry, and to respond. Remember, you can’t hatch eggs in a refrigerator. A warm, fluid service that allows for the freedom and spontaneity of the Spirit is conducive to tender response to the Spirit of God. Such services are often mistakenly considered to be only emotional, and decisions made therein naturally shallow. Such is not the case.

Jesus said to love the Lord our God with all our mind, heart, and soul.

In love we respond to His love with the totality of our being, including our emotions.

We thwart the stirring of the Lord when we stifle the freedom of the Spirit with stilted, overly formal services.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Cor. 3:17).

This is not, of course, to suggest an inherent lack of planning. An order of service can be directed by the Holy Spirit and still be printed in advance. But the freedom and ease with which it should be carried out can and must be allowed.

4. They were churches in unity. The people gave a high priority to their oneness in Christ. Racial, social, and economic diversity are a great plus in the church. Ideally your church will be a cross section of your city and one which celebrates its diversity in unity.

When a church is in harmony with itself, it becomes the beautiful body of Christ on earth, through which the Lord Jesus in heaven expresses His presence and person every time the people of God gather. Songwriter Lanny Wolfe said it well: I love the thrill that I feel when I get together with God’s wonderful people.¹

5. Each church had an indomitable spirit of conquest. There was a holy drivenness about the congregation. They would not be satisfied. Each pulsated with an atmosphere of more, more, more.

They must cross the next river, climb the next mountain, give the next dollar, build the next building, send the next missionary, and win the next soul. They would not be stopped.

The Nissan Motor Company, formerly the Datsun Motor Company, once had a marvelous PR slogan: We Are Driven.

Pastor friend, we, too, are driven.

God’s children are a driven people. We are driven to the ends of the earth by the Great Commission, driven to the end of ourselves by the love of Christ, driven to the end of time by His imminent return.

These many years later, the same five principles are consistently present in America’s great churches. Young pastors today get it, and more. And I’m grateful.

And never forget the tone of each of these five ingredients is clearly set by the pastor. It all starts in the pulpit. Keep your eyes on the Lord. Keep your ears open to the Great Commission. Keep your chin up, your knees down, and keep going. Never stop. The best is yet to come.

Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,

With the cross of Jesus going on before.

Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe;

Forward into battle see His banners go!²

I looked, and there was a white horse. The horseman on it had a bow; a crown was given to him, and he went out as a victor to conquer. (Rev. 6:2)

Endnotes

1. Larry Wolfe, God’s Wonderful People, © 1974.

2. Sabine Baring-Gould, Onward Christian Soldiers.

Chapter 3

The Offices of the Church

Every home needs a dad; every team, a coach; every nation, a president. Every church needs a leader, and leaders don’t have two heads, let alone five or ten. Church government by committee has no place in the biblical record. The purpose of committees is to offer counsel to the pastor and/or make decisions and implement projects as requested by the pastor. God calls one person to lead a local congregation, and that person is the pastor. But remember, leadership is never demanded. It is deserved and it is shared.

God has placed deep in the heart of every woman a desire for a man she can look up to as the head of the home and spiritual leader of the marriage. In the same way, He has put in the heart of every congregation the desire for an undershepherd to lead and for them to respect and follow.

Shepherds don’t follow the flock; they lead the flock. But that leadership must be deserved, earned, and won by integrity, faithful ministry, true humility, godliness, ministry, and feeding the flock the Word of God. And that takes time. The longer you pastor a congregation in that spirit, the more freedom you will be granted to lead.

The pastor may be called bishop, elder, rector, or some other title, but the purpose of leadership is to lead, and the function of leadership is to get things done.

Some New Testament churches may have had several pastors, but I am inclined to think there was a chief shepherd and others who participated with him, more in the vein of today’s executive pastor, staff, and deacons or elders.

Whatever else may be wrong about the way we do church, the concept of an earthly shepherd as pastor/leader is right. And, remember, we are talking about a concept, a position, an office, not just a person. The person may fail and even need to be removed by the congregation, but the office itself is always to be honored.

A delicate balance exists between pastor, deacons, committees, and congregation, but the office of pastor must be regarded as the ultimate position of leadership in the church.

A young private greatly disliked his sergeant and threatened not to salute. Soldier, the sergeant said, you’re not saluting the man; you’re saluting the office.

Deep in the heart of His people is a God-given desire to salute both the man and the office. I have found when we earn our leadership, God’s people are more than willing to grant it.

As I read the New Testament, while there are many gifts, there are only two offices in the local church: pastor or elder and deacon.

But a wise pastor will have a group around him on whom he depends for wise counsel in the decision-making process. Participatory leadership is biblical. Autocratic leadership is not. They might be called the trustees, the session, the deacons, the leadership team, or the elders, but a New Testament-minded pastor will embrace their help and counsel. The book of Proverbs says, In many counselors, there is much wisdom.

Unfortunately, conflict between pastor and deacons for leadership exists in far too many churches.

Large numbers of Baptist churches are named Unity, New Way, New Harmony, New Freedom, or New Fellowship, suggesting they came from a divided congregation.

Deacons too must earn their right to be part of the participatory leadership style of the pastor, not by demanding it but by serving the people, preserving the unity, and protecting their pastor.

Sadly, many Southern Baptist churches still haven’t figured out the issue of church governance. We can and must do better. We’ll try to get the process moving forward in subsequent chapters.

Chapter 4

God’s Gift to the Church

God gave three categories of spiritual gifts to the church: the gift of the gifted leader, the body-edifying gifts, and the evangelistic sign gifts for unbelievers.

As the gift of God to the local congregation and to the church at large, gifted persons not only have spiritual gifts; they themselves are the gift. They are the prophet/preacher, evangelist, pastor/teacher, or pastors who teach. Certainly pastors must be teachers, and the correct title may well be pastor-teacher.

And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ (Eph. 4:11–12).

New Testament apostles were personally commissioned by Christ and eyewitnesses to His bodily resurrection. No such persons exist today.

Regardless of the title, God gave pastors as gifts to the church first and foremost to be His undershepherds. Just as those who participate in the leadership of the pastor may have many different names—deacons, elders, trustees, the session, etc.—the pastor himself is called by five names: pastor, elder, bishop, overseer, and shepherd.

In the book of Revelation, God calls pastors His stars.

Jesus promises a special crown for faithful pastors: And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory (1 Pet. 5:4).

The greatest joy you will know is to shepherd God’s flock among you (1 Pet. 5:2). Treasure each moment as a special gift and sacred trust. As God’s gift to your congregation, your pastorship is also God’s precious gift to you. Remember, it is at once valuable and fragile. Handle with care.

I am constantly amazed by pastors who confess how much they dislike what they do and can’t wait to get out of the ministry. Can you imagine how much our Heavenly Father, our Great Shepherd, the Lord Jesus, loved His sheep when He laid down His life for them? Can you comprehend the honor and the privilege that is yours in being entrusted by our Lord Jesus to shepherd His little flock?

A cross is an I crossed out and is the heart of the Christian faith. And certainly at the heart of ministry stands a life of selfless service and giving. It is often said, You can’t out give God. Neither can you out give the people of God. Pastoring a church is like looking into a mirror; it tends to give back what it gets. If you truly love your people, pour out your life for them and serve them with all your heart. They will love you back.

Yes, there will be some phony Simons along the way and some traitorous Judases and doubting Thomases. But the overwhelming majority of God’s people are good people. They will love you, bless you, support and follow you as they see the integrity and selflessness of your devoted service and ministry to Christ and to them.

I don’t know any congregations that despise Jesus. Why do some seem to despise their pastor? Is it because they do not see Jesus in him?

Unrelenting, unavailable, proud, ambitious, self-serving, unapproachable, unprepared—words used far too often in describing some pastors.

Some of you might be reading this book as a last hope. Perhaps you’re greatly discouraged, looking for a way out, and you’ve hoped to get enough encouragement within these pages to hang on just a little longer.

You’ve got to go back, way back, all the way to the cross. Go back to where the journey started and kneel before the Lord Jesus. Let the words of The Old Rugged Cross well up again within your soul. Ask our Lord once again to form His heart, His character, and His love within you.

If you can’t get there, you should probably get out of the ministry. It is not impossible that you have missed God’s call altogether. Something is desperately wrong when pastors hate the body of Christ that our Lord loves and calls us to serve.

Be the gift of God you truly are to your people. Don’t make them think they won the booby prize.

Herschel Hobbs was a patriarch of the faith. He served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastored the First Baptist Church of Oklahoma City for thirty years. He died at nearly ninety years of age, still preaching every day.

In his book, Preacher Talk he wrote, If I had 10,000 lives to live, I should want to spend every one of them as a pastor.¹ And I say, Me, too, Dr. Hobbs. Me, too.

May God grant us the faithfulness and integrity to be worthy gifts of His grace to His wonderful people.

Early in ministry I was often discouraged, speaking only before small congregations and living on tiny love offerings. One Sunday afternoon riding around in my car, I felt overwhelmed. I turned on the radio as Bev Shea began to sing,

I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold;

I’d rather be His than have riches untold.

I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause;

I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause.

Than to be the king of a vast domain,

And be held in sin’s dread sway.

I’d rather have Jesus than anything,

This world affords today.²

I kept driving.

Endnotes

1. Hershael Hobbs, Preacher Talk (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1979), 72.

2. Rhea F. Miller, I’d Rather Have Jesus.

Chapter 5

Elder Rule

There are two kinds of leadership: participatory and autocratic. Autocratic rule, with one person making all the decisions with the participation of no one else, is neither New Testament nor smart.

First, none of us are that smart. There is indeed much wisdom in many counselors. Where only one person holds autocratic leadership—or a tiny handful of two or three have all authority—you not only tend to cultism but also sacrifice the wisdom and counsel of your people.

Second, you forfeit buy-in spiritually, prayerfully, and financially from the people. What people have input into deciding, they support with their prayers, their presence, and their resources.

Third, you fail to train leaders. If you fail here, your church can fall apart when you leave. We pastors love to talk about what happened since I came. The test of your leadership is what happens when you leave.

Autocratic rule is fraught with much potential danger.

Fourth, participatory leadership is the New Testament way and is the best way.

INSIDE INFORMATION! It does not matter what you call them, you need a team to help you lead.

You may call them by different names. Some churches call them simply deacons, the board; others, elders; still others, trustees, the session, leadership team, or church council. It doesn’t matter what you call them. The important thing is that you are not supposed to do it by yourself.

He who does not practice participatory leadership, solicit the advice and opinion of others, and is not accountable will regret it.

Before you adopt or change any system of church governance, ask yourself some questions.

These are the leaders of our church. Says who? How are they dismissed? Are they self-perpetuating? Who appoints new leaders and for how long? Does the church never vote on anything? We shall clearly see that any governing system with just you, or you and two or three others holding all of the authority, is not the way the New Testament church did business.

Every church needs a constitution and bylaws. The bylaws must be well thought out and followed, and they must address the issue of how decisions are made. All of them being made by one or two people is neither New Testament nor smart.

There are some things about which we may not be certain regarding the structure of leadership in the New Testament. We do know that these names are used interchangeably: elder, pastor, shepherd, overseer, and bishop.

When the apostle Paul addressed the elders and sent Timothy to appoint elders, we cannot be certain whether it was one elder in each church or a plurality of elders in one church, but I think we can safely assume that because the Bible teaches there is much wisdom in many counselors—experience has borne out the fatal flaw of autocratic leadership—there were others who were elders, serving by whatever name in each church, while one—the pastor—served as chief elder.

The Dallas Theological Seminary-trained Bible church pastors have used the elder-led system for many decades. I recently spoke with three of their more prominent pastors and professors. They all agreed: it is essential that elders be elected by the church, are accountable to the church, rotate, and that the church votes on some things as we shall see in another chapter.

They all emphasized one word: balance—consisting of pastoral leadership, elder board, committees, and congregation.

The New Testament way is a group of leaders working together, with the pastor or chief elder making most decisions, with the congregation, the ultimate authority, voting on only some things not scripturally addressed and of significant importance.

Again remember, it doesn’t matter what you call them: deacons, elders, the session, trustees, or whatever. You need a group of people to help you who are elected by and accountable to the church, who do not serve in perpetuity.

So my fellow Baptist pastor, before you change your system of church government, throw out the deacons, dismiss congregational government, and move to a system you may call elder rule (and probably split your church in the process), I encourage you to think a long time. It’s far better to make the system work you already have, and you can.

As I write these words, I am preparing to preach in one of the great churches in the Convention, decimated by an ill-fated attempt by the pastor to move the church from deacon led to elder rule. It cost him three thousand members in six months.

There’s a better way.

For since there is envy among you, are you not fleshly and living like unbelievers? For whenever someone says, I’m with Paul, and another, I’m with Apollos, are you not unspiritual people? What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. Now the one planting and the one watering are one in purpose, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Cor. 3:3–9)

Chapter 6

Deacons and Their Ministry

In Acts 6, we have the first record of deacons. Though only actually called deacons in Philippians 1 and 2 Timothy 3, the seven men named in Acts 6 were the first to serve as such.

Simply stated, the preachers needed help. Overwhelmed with ministry needs, Peter and the other disciples were spending too much time meeting the physical demands of the people and too little time in preparation to teach and preach the Word.

God’s answer? Set aside deacons. The catalyst was the distribution of daily food to the widows. The Grecian widows complained that the Hebrew widows were getting priority while they were being neglected. Dr. Luke says it this way: There arose a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews (Acts 6:1).

Even a cursory reading of the text indicates the most important issue was not the food but the argument over the distribution of the food. The fellowship was divided. The church was split, and divided fellowships go nowhere. Perhaps Dr. Luke’s statement, Select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty (Acts 6:3) should be interpreted, "Find seven men whom we may appoint over this mess."

Clearly the apostles were disturbed over the division of the fellowship. The primary purpose of deacons was not to do the physical work of the church but to preserve the fellowship of the church that was being destroyed over the issue of the work.

Division within the church is devastating. The unity of the body of Christ is everything. The unbeliever may disbelieve God and doubt the Bible, but when he comes into the presence of Jesus, created through the lives of a unified people, something wonderful happens. And in that presence, there is life. People are drawn to Christ and receive Him. Unity in the church must be preserved at all costs. Unity attracts. Disunity repels.

And to whom is the responsibility given of preserving the unity of the congregation? That responsibility is placed squarely on the shoulders of the deacons. Never forget, deacons were ordained not just to meet the physical needs of the congregation—serving tables—but primarily to preserve the fellowship that had been broken over the issue of serving tables.

Unfortunately, in some churches the deacons, far from maintaining the fellowship of the church, however, are themselves the cause of disharmony within the church. I speak bluntly here, perhaps even harshly, but I do so in the context of honoring the deacons of the churches I served as pastor. They were masters at maintaining the fellowship.

But I must say, the most consistent problem with which I have helped young pastors deal through the years has been deacons creating a power struggle with the pastor. They were actually dividing the church rather than unifying it. Running off pastors, administering budgets, fighting over secondary issues, and creating power struggles are not what being a deacon is about.

Frankly, in far too many churches, the whole issue is indeed a mess, and churches are desperately hurt, going nowhere, even declining because of it. But where deacons do what deacons are supposed to do, the church prospers and the deacons are happy. The deacons should protect the fellowship, assist the pastor, minister to the congregation, and consult with the pastor as requested.

The word deacon is the Greek word dia-kanos, which means servant. He is not primarily one who leads; he is one who serves. And through that service he earns the privilege of participation in the leadership of his pastor. Nothing is more biblical than the concept of participatory leadership.

First Timothy 3:5 says, If anyone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of God’s church? But the deacon, as well as the pastor, is in a place of earned leadership. He leads only because he serves. If I do not serve, I cannot lead—nor can he.

Too often deacons think they can participate in leadership without participating in service. Deacon, seize the initiative! Find a problem and fix it. Find a need and meet it. Go to the hospital. Win the lost. Mow the yard. Empty the trash. Take food to the widows. Say to the pastor, I’ll do this. Here, I’ll handle that. Let me . . . Don’t worry about it. We’ll take care of it. That is to be the attitude of the deacon.

Deacons who don’t serve, but want to lead, are unhappy deacons, and their churches are dying. Deacons who protect the fellowship, honor their pastor, have a humble servant’s heart, and love to work are deacons who are happy and whose churches are alive and well.

My best friends are deacons. I have worked with the best deacons in the world. They supported me, and I supported them. For thirty years Houston’s First worked in harmony and went forward.

And I say to the credit of my deacons and the glory of my God, "Thank the Lord for deacons who understand the ministry to which God has called them, serve and protect the fellowship of the congregation, and have their pastor’s back." Make your deacons your best friends. You’ll need them.

Chapter 7

Deacons and Divorce

Let’s talk first about the oldest controversy surrounding the positions of pastor and deacon. I speak, of course, of the issue of divorce.

First Timothy 3 lists qualifications for bishops and deacons, among them the controversial verse 12, Deacons must be husbands of one wife.

The issue of the ordination of divorced church leaders has been greatly debated through the years. The general assumption has been that it simply means one may never have been divorced. Others have suggested it is a reference to bigamy—one wife at a time. We do speak, do we not, of a former wife as an ex-wife? Then there is the question, must a deacon be married? Is this a prohibition against a single deacon? The answer, of course, is no.

Other problems abound. What of the man who remains married to a woman who is a practicing lesbian? Is he qualified under this obvious exception if he divorces her? If he divorces his wife, does he then denounce his pastorate or his deaconship? And what of the grace of God?

Are we or are we not new creatures in Christ Jesus? Are old things passed away, or are they not? And what if the divorce occurred before a man became a Christian, or he is the classic innocent party? On and on goes the controversy.

Did our Lord intend such confusion when he inspired these words through the apostle Paul? I think not. No New Testament issue has racked Baptist churches with more confusion than this, and our Lord is not the author of confusion.

The apostle Paul said we are to correctly teaching the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15). The Greek word means cutting it straight. Paul was a tent maker. He knew the importance of cutting it straight. If each piece is not cut to the original pattern, each successive piece becomes more deformed than the last. The issue has become more bizarre today because we have failed to see the original pattern correctly.

The best thinking today of Greek scholars is that it is impossible in the Greek, for the expression husband of one wife, to refer to a status. It is not a status. It is a trait. It is not what one is (i.e., married or divorced); it is what one is like (i.e., faithful to his wife).

Commentator John MacArthur writes:

The overseer or elder must first be above reproach in relation to women. He must be the husband of one wife. The Greek text literally reads a one-woman man. Paul is not referring to a leader’s marital status, as the absence of the definite article in the original indicates. Rather, the issue is his moral, sexual behavior. Many men who are married only once are not one-woman men. Many with one wife are unfaithful to their wives. While remaining married to one woman is commendable, it is no indication or guarantee of moral purity.¹

Nor is it a reference to a mistake made in high school when a boy got married for six weeks and then divorced. God never intended that we split the hair that finely.

And what, after all, is marriage? Some people have taken vows that were never sexually consummated and then signed divorce papers. Does this apply to them? What about the bigamist? What about the man who was divorced before he became a believer? What about the innocent party? What about homosexuality? What about a man who never legally divorced but whose wife left him a week after they got married, never to see her again?

Or one who lives in pornography? Is he qualified to be a pastor or a deacon? Bizarre to the point of the ridiculous are the extremes to which we may go when we don’t cut it straight.

The Greek does indeed mean a one-woman man. Not only the Greek but also the simple principles of hermeneutics demand such an interpretation.

Contextualizing the passage, you find that every other qualification is an inclination toward, not a hard and fast state. Each is not a status but a character trait of which Paul writes.

The text doesn’t say the prospective deacon never once failed to be watchful; it says he is vigilant. It doesn’t say he never once had a belly laugh at a good joke; it says he is sober or serious. It doesn’t say he never once misbehaved; it says he is of good behavior. It doesn’t say he never once turned down a request to let the visiting preacher spend the night in his home; it says he is inclined to hospitality. It doesn’t say he never once messed up a Sunday school lesson; it says he is apt to teach. It doesn’t say he never once had a drink at the senior prom; it says he is not given to wine. It doesn’t say he never once demonstrated impatience; it says he is patient. It doesn’t say he never once got into a fight in grade school; it says he is not a brawler. It does not say he never once really wanted his neighbor’s new Lexus; it says he is not characterized by a covetous spirit.

A good hermeneutic demands that, in context, the husband of one wife qualification must also be an inclination or tendency, not a fixed status.

In my denomination and probably yours, traditions die hard. We hear sermons on the Tradition of the Elders and the Immovability of the Pharisees, whom Jesus criticized because they set tradition above truth, and say Amen. But when our traditions are challenged, it can be most difficult for us.

Far too often, unqualified deacons and other church leaders remain in office while good and godly men who have proven their faithfulness to their wives for thirty and forty years are excluded from service. Try to transform the thinking of your people at this point from tradition to truth.

Endnotes

1. John MacArthur, 1 Timothy in The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody, 1995), 104.

Chapter 8

The Church Committees

Church committees, teams, or groups (it doesn’t matter what you call them) are a vital part of a healthy church. A wise pastor will respect and appreciate official groups in the church, commissioned to help him do the work of the ministry.

Various teams or committees to implement the many facets of a growing church are most important. Varying degrees of authority/leadership are assigned to five different entities within the church: pastor, staff, deacons, committees, and congregation. There is an important place for each in the life of the church, and each should consider the other more important than itself.

The pastor must be the vision caster. This means he must have a vision