That is quite the dilemma. There are a few things that are going on here that could cause a problem. First, if my employer was trying to force me to stop doing something I felt God was telling me to do, well I would trust God and try to find a solution with my employer or find new employment. I know this is easy to say from the safety of a blog. But I think we both believe that God can handle those situations.

There are more pieces to the puzzle though. For instance, most youth pastors I know do ALOT of work. It really is a “job.” But the question is, does it have to be? Can your father’s friend still minister to youth without doing the work of a youth pastor? From what I have witnessed many staff positions in a traditional church have a lot of “work.” But this work can also get in the way of actually ministering to youth.

I agree, it would be “extremely taxing for us to expect our ministers to volunteer full-time, work full-time, and also spend adequate time with their wife/children/family.” But let us consider these ideas. They are not “our” ministers… in fact, we are all ministers according to scripture. We should never expect anyone to work full-time for us… but we should all be working towards the same goals of discipleship, edification, etc.

I am not claiming to have all the answers. These are just some thoughts I have concerning this particular scenario (which I know little about). I think, ultimately, your father’s friend could probably fulfill his calling to minister to youth and maintain his secular job security.

You have brought up some very interesting things that I will continue to think through. Hopefully others who have more experience with this scenario will chime in. Until then, I hope what I wrote gives you some ideas to think about.

God’s Glory,
Lew

P.S. Forgive the rambling, it’s almost time for bed :).

~Michelle

Thanks for the comment and the short testimony. I am glad that you and your husband went into that direction and that things seem to be going well for you. I know it can be very hard to make such a transition. I personally have not had to make such a transition but have read others who are on the journey and am always very prayerful that they would remain encouraged as they try to best live according to their convictions.

Julie

Great comment, you have asked some very important questions. I obviously should not be hypocritical when it comes to these matters. Luckily, I sense that I am not being hypocritical, rather, I just have not been as percise in my writing as I could/should have been. First, let me deal with your first question; you asked, “Would you call it a luxury if a person did all those things at the local community center or would you just call it a job?”

To clarify my position, the “luxury” is not the pay a person is receiving for doing the work. The “luxury” is the service the people are receiving for paying a person to do the work. This works in a couple ways. First, I pay someone to do visitation, therefore I have fulfilled my obligation to visit the sick, poor, etc. Second, I pay someone to do visitation, therefore I can expect that person to visit me while I am sick, poor, etc. There are other similar examples regarding the studying/teaching aspects, etc.

There is also a major difference between paying someone to do a job as “community work” in a non-church environment and paying someone to do a job as “community work” and calling that job a “pastor.” As I said in my post, if you want to pay someone to do this work, than fine, but that job is not a “pastor.”

You asked, “would it get the stamp of approval if it wasn’t associated with church?” This is a little bit harder of a question to deal with. If I am supporting a local charity, for the sake of other people – that I can see no harm in that. But if I am supporting a local charity for my benefit, than I think I have a serious heart issue.

You asked, “What exactly makes it wrong for a person to hold that job within a church as compared to without?” I think you will be hard pressed to get me to say it is “wrong” for a person to hold such a job. I just do not think it is best. For some of the reasons I have already stated and other more secondary reasons.

I hope this helps clarify my position. If not, then I encourage you to reply with more questions and comments.

Thanks for commenting!

Rob

Thank you for the comments. You are absolutely right, we do need to rethink what it takes. That is probably the hardest thing to do. It is easy for me to sit in my ivory tower and talk about what is wrong… but it is very hard to think of solutions. Of course, I think the best solution is to just let the chips fall where they may. Doing this will force us to trust God and allow him to work best in our lives (in my opinion).

If I understand you correctly, I agree, the “biblical” thing can make me a little whoozy too. I have a difficulty time getting away from that mindset – even in light of my position on the Bible. I guess it is Christianese for me…

Thanks again everyone for commentings.

God’s Glory,
Lew

i enjoyed the post. i think it is time to really rethink what it takes to encourage people to come into a teacher-apprentice relationship with Jesus. so much of what we have inherited, and might think is necessarry, can likely be discarded.

the whole “biblical” thing makes me kind of whoozy these days. i am tired of the “what is more biblical” conversations – i wonder if that is what God intend for these writings in the first place.

blessings,
rob

This was a question that my husband and I struggled with for quite some time while he was a paid pastor. Because we were a small church, a large percentage of the weekly offerings went to his salary. That really bothered him.

He, too, began to believe that it was better if more people shared the responsibility together – for free. For him, being paid robbed him of the joy of serving people because helping was now his job and not a free gift that he could give. He also felt that by giving him a salary, people on tight budgets were restricted from being able to give financially to other people and places.

He is no longer a paid pastor, and while it’s been a little difficult vocationally, we haven’t regretted the decision.