"A good pastor comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable. A bad pastor does just the opposite, and will be much more popular for it."
I was taught the above quote when I was a young seminary student in the late 90's. Little did I know that following it would get me as close to being fired as I ever would come.
I was in a church that was very comfortable. I loved it. I loved the people and I loved the students. I had never seen a church that loved each other like this church. They loved me and my family and we loved them.
But the above quote stuck in my mind and allowed me no sleep.
So I began to afflict the comfortable students that were in my ministry by challenging them to move outside of their upper-middle class, popular, status-quo keeping lifestyle. I challenged them to move from lukewarmness to laying down their lives for the glory of God. They didn't like it. Neither did their parents- many of whom were elders. There were at that time many afflicted kids that were a part of the youth ministry. Many were from drug-addicted homes, many were into the whole emo/cutting thing, others were simply uncool and unpopular. I began to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, and became pretty unpopular for it.
I was summoned to elders meetings where I was told, "We hired you to reach OUR kids, not THEM" (them referring to the black-clad, smoking, profane, disrespectful kids that I would preach to on Wednesday nights and sit in court with them on Thursday morning).
I had never been so discouraged in all my life. I thought to myself, "If I was to comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted, I would probably be hailed as the greatest pastor that ever lived, at least from these folks. I would be Mr Popular, Mr Everything."
But I wouldn't have been a good pastor. Nor would I have done anything to further the kingdom of God, which is the only thing that really matters.
To the pastors that read this blog, it is very tempting to comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted. You will be much more popular in your church and probably have much smoother sailing. But that's not our calling. We are supposed to do the opposite. We are to challenge complacent and comfortable Christians to sacrifice all for the Kingdom.
We are also to comfort those people who life has kicked in the teeth. Comfort them with your presence, with Scripture, with prayer, with love, and with guidance.
And maybe you will get fired for the glory of God.
To the non-pastors who read this blog, realize that your pastor's job is not to keep you comfortable. Realize that your pastor is doing his job when he challenges you. Realize that a good pastor has no desire to "make your road to hell as comfortable as possible." Only a bad pastor wants that. Your pastor SHOULD be making you uncomfortable. Instead of resenting him, accept the challenge and thank him for it.
Or fire him. Either way, it's to the glory of God.
I was taught the above quote when I was a young seminary student in the late 90's. Little did I know that following it would get me as close to being fired as I ever would come.
I was in a church that was very comfortable. I loved it. I loved the people and I loved the students. I had never seen a church that loved each other like this church. They loved me and my family and we loved them.
But the above quote stuck in my mind and allowed me no sleep.
So I began to afflict the comfortable students that were in my ministry by challenging them to move outside of their upper-middle class, popular, status-quo keeping lifestyle. I challenged them to move from lukewarmness to laying down their lives for the glory of God. They didn't like it. Neither did their parents- many of whom were elders. There were at that time many afflicted kids that were a part of the youth ministry. Many were from drug-addicted homes, many were into the whole emo/cutting thing, others were simply uncool and unpopular. I began to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, and became pretty unpopular for it.
I was summoned to elders meetings where I was told, "We hired you to reach OUR kids, not THEM" (them referring to the black-clad, smoking, profane, disrespectful kids that I would preach to on Wednesday nights and sit in court with them on Thursday morning).
I had never been so discouraged in all my life. I thought to myself, "If I was to comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted, I would probably be hailed as the greatest pastor that ever lived, at least from these folks. I would be Mr Popular, Mr Everything."
But I wouldn't have been a good pastor. Nor would I have done anything to further the kingdom of God, which is the only thing that really matters.
To the pastors that read this blog, it is very tempting to comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted. You will be much more popular in your church and probably have much smoother sailing. But that's not our calling. We are supposed to do the opposite. We are to challenge complacent and comfortable Christians to sacrifice all for the Kingdom.
We are also to comfort those people who life has kicked in the teeth. Comfort them with your presence, with Scripture, with prayer, with love, and with guidance.
And maybe you will get fired for the glory of God.
To the non-pastors who read this blog, realize that your pastor's job is not to keep you comfortable. Realize that your pastor is doing his job when he challenges you. Realize that a good pastor has no desire to "make your road to hell as comfortable as possible." Only a bad pastor wants that. Your pastor SHOULD be making you uncomfortable. Instead of resenting him, accept the challenge and thank him for it.
Or fire him. Either way, it's to the glory of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment