This blog is for all to read, but this particular blog is written for the folks at Urbana Yoke Parish.

I have known many pastors who have wanted their churches to suffer after they have left. Even if the relationship was good, they have wanted the church to have problems. This is because it would prove that the departed pastor was the one who had made the church successful and not the people or the Spirit. There is a satisfaction in feeling like you are indispensable. I have never felt this way, and now that my most recent church has called a new pastor, I am excited.

So, let me meddle one last time and offer up some advice on how to deal with a new, much younger, pastor.

First, do not think that it is the pastor's job to grow the church. In 1 Corinthians 3, the Apostle Paul is admonishing the people who are following various individuals for their Spiritual guidance rather than following the Lord. In verse one he says that he could not consider the people of Corinth a Spiritual people since they were fractured by following different teachers. That had become a great argument in the church at Corinth. Let's look at verses 5-9; 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. We are to work together to achieve God's purpose. The Greek word for 'pastor' is 'poimenas' and it means 'shepherd.' I know you know this but remember that the shepherd leads the flock. He doesn't cause them to add to the flock. That is the job of the flock. As a Christian, he is part of the greater flock and is therefore compelled to increase the flock, but it is not his job alone. 

Second, he does not know everything about the Bible. It is easy to assume that he does have great knowledge, but he is on the journey toward wisdom just as you are. The exact number would vary somewhat depending what version you are using, but there are somewhere around 783,000 words in the Bible. He has probably read them all at one time or another, but that does not mean they are all locked in his brain. Give the man a break.

Third, the new pastor has roughly the same experience level as you. I was called to the church because of my experience, but the new man has been active in church mostly as a good member. I could be asked in a Board meeting what I thought of something. I often started by say, "Well, in my experience..." That meant something. But here and now it is different. If you rely on one's experience alone, you will miss the joy of taking a path set for you by God. And, brothers and sisters, there is great joy in taking that step of faith where experience is set aside.

Fourth, the new pastor has emotions. Do not go to him on a Sunday morning before church and hit him with some issue. "Did you know that Winnie Bago has been taking toilet paper from the church?" If you set the emotions off, the preaching will suffer. Do not be the tool of Satan. Also know that the pastor and his wife will have disagreements, he will, at times, be angry with his children and he will also be dealing with a dozen different issues at once. Being a pastor is a hard, hard job. Let him work into it.

And, fifth and last, I love you all as only a pastor can. However, I am not your pastor. Begin to take things to him. Don't ask me to come back to do a funeral or a wedding or a dedication, because I will not. This young man can only be your pastor as long as you let him be your pastor. Give him room to grow.

Treat him at least as well as you treated me. It is Pastor Appreciation Month, so buy he and the wife a meal at Appleby's. Bless the family at Christmas. Don't snarl at his kids and say that they need to behave because they are the pastor's kids. That will just hurt the children. They are not the ones called to the ministry. Love the wife and treat her well. And pray for each and everyone of them as you pray for each other.

We all have our purpose. My purpose was to keep everyone on an even keel as we did things that could have caused hatred and ill feelings. The church turned that corner and is now ready to move onto something greater. That is the purpose of the new pastor and you, the Yoke folk. Let the Lord lead and make His will happen.

Blessings.