Has Your Pastor Emailed You Lately?

When was the last time your pastor sent you an email that looked like this:


From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, to Timothy, my genuine child in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord!


Instead, it probably looked like this:


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Oh, how we long for pastors to be shepherds of the flock once again. But take heart. If you ask Him, Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior, he'll mentor you personally through the Holy Spirit. No "pastor" is needed. Hallelujah!

Recently due to his concerns about my relationship with his son's family. I found it difficult to gauge his tone. But maybe it's easier than face to face. I didn't think that emails were used by many churches.

The word Pastor is mentioned twice in the NT. The role has been blown up out of all proportion. There are pastors for everything. It is true that Teacher/Pastor is one of the gifts to the church. But elders should be qualified to teach also. The idea of a paid professional contracted to live a Christian's life for him is just wrong. Congregations place too much of a burden on the pastor and many pastors are control freaks who are mini dictators. No wonder pastors burn out. They are carrying a load that God never intended for them to bear.

True shepherds lead, they do not drive. They feed the sheep, not fleece them. Sure, it cuts both ways. The shepherd relies on the flock for provision also. The greatest leader I ever knew worked full time when I first met him. He always had his hand in his pocket, looking to see if anyone had a financial need. He was a true giver. When he retired, his needs were met by the fellowship that he led. He was my friend and mentor for 30 years. Few people have heard of him, he never had more than 40 people in his group, no TV appearances and he wrote no books. Yet he was a spiritual giant. If you want to read some of his teaching (which I highly recommend) this is the web site: https://www.christianlife.org.au/

Ivor passed away at the age of 74. He'd run the race and finished the course. I'm looking forward to meeting him again one day.

Paul sent this to Timothy:
Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.

Timothy Chapter 4:
Prescribe and teach these things. Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you."


Now that is that is an excellent from a Pastor to his Apprentice!

Gideon, here's a video you might appreciate, at least the first part about pastors. It discusses the Association of Related Churches (ARC).

From a father to a son in the Lord, actually.

All 5 of the doma gifts are required for maturity: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher.

They're not. And the reason is clear. It takes time to e-mail someone. And most pastors feel like they have no time, not even for a lost sheep. It's sad, really.

Instead, you're directed to an online contact form. Just fill it out, and "someone" will get back to you. And since you don't really know who that someone is, you're probably not going to send it, especially if it's personal.

And that's the idea. It's designed to discourage you from taking time from those extremely important people at the top. It's meant to be yet another gatekeeper, a mechanical device— just like the worthless "prayer request form"— to keep you from the pastor.

After all, he's trying to save the world singlehandedly. And time vampires like you are in the way. Your spiritual needs are secondary to those in Uganda.

Amen! And I think the reason is clear why they aren't allowed to. We're all looking to the pastor to do everything. What I would love to see is pastors mentoring two people and those two people mentor two people, and so on, and so on.

However, pastors are typically afraid to let others "less qualified" teach. They seem to think we'll all become Satan worshipers if we're somehow led astray. Regardless of the risk, we need to be turned loose to disciple each other.

Thanks for the supportive response.

Kinda lost "Instead, it probably looked like this:" So was that what you got? Not every believer is selling all they have and giving it to them so.. they need money. Be nice if believers were faithful cheerful givers I can't speak for ANY preachers or churches.. no never got anything like that.

There's typically a misconception when someone like me calls out the church leadership for not ministering to the flock. Immediately, we think that the church is stingy, and not willing to offer from their benevolent fund.

However, that's usually not the case at all. Most churches are extremely generous when it comes to monetary support for those in need.

But that's not what I'm talking about here. I crave something much more valuable than money. I desire more than anything to be trained up in the ways of the Lord. Unfortunately, there's no one in the church willing to do that.

Everyone is just too busy saving the world. And stranded sheep like me remain lost on a battlefield where Satan's Howitzers pummel my spirit into a fine pulp.

But to my original point, we don't really need pastors, elders, and mentors. We have the Holy Spirit guiding us through the Word of God daily while leading us into battle.

I dont think I ever got an email from a pastor

Because I had a church library, we didnt sell the books just shared them.

however, one of my former church mates wrote a book and tried to sell it to me for 50% off. I was doing a bookathon at the time and she said if you donate the rest in my name to the cause (blind and low vision) I will sell you my book for half the price.

I was like ok. So I thought I would do it just for her. I finally got round to reading her book last week.

It was like a memoir with lots of Bible quotes in it. I think she was meant to be encouraging but I couldnt really relate to it. It was how she had grown up in the church and was blessed because her parents were ministers and she obeyed them and was a good girl. She had the best of everything and her family were important people like mayors of the town etc.
she got invited to a church thing where she got the holy spirit and then things got even better for her. The only really sad thing she ever had to handle was her dad dying.

She did get married and divorced but never explained or mentioned any reason for the divorce, but then she got married again. I mean it was kinda interesting cos I know her and shes a lovely cheery person but I couldnt really relate when she glossed over everything with a Bible quote.

Maybe the book wasnt really for me. I decide to put in the book fridge library and hope it will bless someone else who picks it up.

I have NEVER seen such an email from ANY PASTOR such as you are displaying......going out on a limb here and thinking you got a problem with Pastors?

Just another, in a very, very, very long line of Posts trying to demonize Pastors. You know, those people who have dedicated their lives to the service of God and the service of His Children. Yeah, they make good targets don't they.............sigh

I agree and thank you for the response.

Good point.
---
The issue/problem is..
- Too much focus..on 'pastoral ministry'..nowadays.
- There are other 'ministry gifts'.

I watched this all the way through, an excellent point the moderator was making. Are we worshiping pastors instead of Christ?

Yeah, I've never seen an email from a pastor, either. They were probably too busy writing books.

I often wonder how some pastors can give an account for the 10k+ souls in their gatherings. Jesus had only to give an account for 12 souls.

Thank you for your reply.

Unfortunately, pastors no longer give out their email addresses. They view emails from their parishioners as being spam.

And I am truly saddened by that.

In fact, today's pastor is so inaccessible, most people only get to see them when they're behind the podium.