“Without Honor”

Saturday, August 16, 2014

I am having a difficult time with a situation at my church. It seems that there is so much honor for the pastor, but none for his wife. There are many of the members who don't care for the pastor's wife, and it is evident around the church. I feel that I should not participate in any of the activities they have because of the situation. Is there any Scripture that can help me with this?

Sincerely,
Sticky Situation

Dear Sticky Situation,

Have you considered that the problem is rooted in the fact that having only one pastor is outside of the Bible pattern? Pastors (also known as elders and bishops – Tit 1:5-7, Php 1:1) are the overseers of the church and should never be left to serve by themselves. The Bible never gives examples of lone pastors; there is always a plurality (Acts 14:23). 1 Tim 3:1-7 and Tit 1:5-9 give the qualities a man must have in order to serve as a pastor. We recommend you read “Elders” to see more scriptures on the topic. We often have people write into the site with problems similar to yours. We have found that the common thread is that when a man serves as a pastor and has that kind of authority without the checks and balances of other pastors – inevitably, there are problems. Sometimes he becomes power hungry, sometimes he becomes lazy, sometimes he simply becomes indifferent, sometimes he receives too much honor… no matter what, the root cause is the same. We would recommend your church adopt the Bible pattern of multiple pastors to lead the flock. The closer we adhere to the Bible’s model for the church, the fewer problems we have.

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