Pastors are not called to be CEOs – 1 Thessalonians 5:12–13, Part 4

Editor’s Note: This week we welcome guest blogger, Emily Marks. Emily is an adult & community educator. She and her husband Sean live in Lancaster, PA, with their dog Corvus. Emily grew up as a pastor’s kid, and therefore she brings a wealth of experience and a unique perspective to this week’s passage.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:12–13, Paul says churches are to “hold their leaders in the highest regard,” so Paul is talking about respecting pastors and church leaders.

I think it goes without saying that we should respect those in authority; that’s probably been drilled into us since we were young.

But two things make Paul’s teaching different.

First, Paul isn’t suggesting to respect pastors or leaders solely because they have the title, but to respect them out of this deep love that I mentioned in the previous post.

But the second idea here is to respect the calling that has been placed on a pastor’s life.

We all have callings, not just pastors, leaders, or missionaries. We ALL have callings.

But we do also understand the calling of a pastor to be a bit different in a few crucial ways.

Pastors are not called to be CEOs.

Maybe you’re thinking, “No duh, Emily. A pastor and a CEO are obviously two very different things.”

But I’d like to share some scenarios with you that happen in the church that can begin to distort a pastor’s calling.

“There weren’t enough people at the Christmas Eve service.”

“There wasn’t enough money collected during that special offering.”

“Our VBS wasn’t as big as the VBS of the church down the road.”

“We should start looking for a different CEO.”

See churches are not businesses, and their goal is not to create happy customers.

Now don’t get me wrong: there are business principles that relate to churches.

A church might rent our space to other communities. There’s payroll. There are contracts.

There are business elements to church that sometimes a pastor needs to handle and take care of.

In terms of “happy customers,” it’s true that we want to be attractive to the outside world: we want people to want to come to church so that we can share the redeeming and life-changing love of Christ with them. In John 17, Jesus prays for “those who will believe in me through their message.” No doubt that part of our responsibility as Christians is to share the Gospel with people. And we certainly want to offer programs and activities that support families and the life of the church. None of those are inherently bad things.

But let’s not forget the base calling that we have been given: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:18–20)

Jesus didn’t say, therefore, “Go into your community and fill the pews with butts in seats and have the most attractive programs in town.”

Jesus didn’t even say to have the most “converts” or “the most people that ask Jesus into their hearts.”

No, he said “Make disciples, TEACHING them to obey.”

That’s a relational commitment, not a butt in a pew who might put money in the offering plate.

If you’re thinking, “Emily, you said this was about respect, and I don’t see that here,” but see the two are related. How so? We’ll find out in the next post.

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash