Good Morning Pastor!
Rejoice in the Lord always, and again, I say REJOICE!
Many pastor’s passion for ministry is not in question. But their common sense, that may be another issue.
When pastors look around and see the empty pews on Sunday mornings and ask themselves “why?” perhaps there is a much simpler answer than one may think. Most pastors are familiar with various church growth and evangelism programs. Their churches have used them over the years but their average attendance is about the same or declining from where it was twenty, fifteen or even ten years ago. And the question is asked, “What can be done to get this church on track?” Again, the answer may be simpler than one may think!
When I first started pastoring a southern pastor who made a habit of being hard on his congregation from the pulpit enamored me. But I soon realized that he was extremely independent and unkind. Although what he said to his church was perhaps correct and needed to be said, it didn’t need to be said all the time!!!
A turning point in my ministry came through a lesson from a precious saint some time later. This dear former pastor in my congregation came to me one Sunday after one of my less than kind sermons and said, “Pastor, God called you to feed the sheep, not beat the sheep!” I’ve never forgotten that.
Recently I had someone come to me and tell me they were thinking about leaving their church. When I asked them why they said, “We are tired of hearing the same old thing from the pulpit. We are tired of being beat up on every Sunday. We are tired of feeling bad every when we leave church every Sunday. We are tired of not feeling like we don’t want to go to church on Sunday morning. We want to go to church someplace where we can enjoy the sermons, learn and be excited about going to church again.
You see, church growth may be nothing more than being kind to people where they are, preaching challenging sermons with the love of Christ and encouraging people so they leave church with hope through grace not the inadequacy of judgment. Remember, Jesus told Peter to feed the sheep. In my study of the scriptures I don’t think he meant for Peter to poison them! Pastors who poison their sheep from the pulpit only have a few left who have had so much of the poison that they are immune to it! That’s why new people come to churches and leave in a few short months, starved or poisoned.
Church growth depends upon how and what you feed the sheep!
In His Delight,
Lyn Sahr
Prov. 3:13
P.S. This letter isn’t intended to be a pastoral beating but rather to remind you that most people just want to listen to sermons that are relevant to their life, their relationship to Christ and eternity. And they want that to come from the depth of the pastors love for Christ.
