Arguing Over Doctrine Might Be the Most Edifying Activity in Your Church!

Unfortunately, I find myself in the middle of yet another battle over wrong doctrine.

I am yet again contemplating never setting foot in a church again. It would take care of the problem in one way: I’d be blissfully ignorant of all church problems. At the same time, those churches would still have problems.

Running away and abandoning the church sure sounds like it would be lovely. I know some who have done it. Half have gone crazy into very strange doctrine, and the other half are busy justifying themselves by convincing me to do the same, not quite confident enough to actually go it alone, they must convince others to be alone with them.

I’m coming to consider whether all the battling over error in the church isn’t actually the thing that edifies us.

Simple truth should edify us, but since truth is apparently hard to keep hold of, battling error seems to pick up the slack in the edification department. Few things have gotten me to examine Scripture more than checking doctrines that sound off. Some aren’t, and boy howdy, some sure are.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:19 that “there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.” The presence of divisions over error is how we see who is legit.

Perhaps the way to advance in truth is by one step after another in combatting error. No conflict with error; no advance in truth. Churches who maintain happy outward unity are often the places with the shallowest doctrine.

I don’t like arguing. I avoid it as much as possible. I am by no means a people pleaser though. I will argue if I have to, and hopefully that is when the truth is under fire. However, just because I don’t agree with someone doesn’t mean they are in error. Sometimes I forget that. I’ve been wrong too.

Often it’s through disagreeing with people that truth can be seen. The truth will prevail, either through argument or through the test of time and observing fruit.

Would life be easier if I avoided church? Probably. Life might even be easier for churches if I avoided them!

The truth is worth fighting for. Everything within me wants to run away, just quietly slip into the fog and never be seen again. It’s just me and Elijah, the only ones left, and Elijah is dead.

But Elijah got rebuked for running from the fight. Jonah got swallowed by a big fish for running from the fight. Part of the fight of faith is contending for the truth.

Ezekiel says you at least give the warning. If they don’t listen, that’s on them, but if you fail to warn, that’s on you.

Humility is necessary. Knowledge puffs up. I have to examine myself at all times lest I also be tempted. Arguing with people can push you into more and more extreme beliefs.

If all you do is argue with Christians, you’re probably doing it wrong. If you never argue with Christians you’re probably doing it wrong. You have to fight at some point, and it’s a fight worth fighting. Holding others accountable. Iron sharpening iron.

Because the more we do this the right way, the more we will be held accountable and the more we will be sharpened.

Unfortunately, we bring emotions and feelings in and really make a mess of things.

Truth strikes me as being pretty calm. Oh, there are times to be emotional, Jesus and Paul both demonstrated that. But we have to be careful. One of the best ways to check how emotional you are is to see how well you’re listening to the other person. Emotions make deaf ears.

In the end, we live in a fallen world. In the new heavens and new earth, no one will have to be taught about the Lord because everyone will know Him.

I cannot wait for that day! To know Him and be surrounded by everyone else who knows Him. Until then, phew, it’s tough. People are pretty sloppy with Scripture and put a lot of other things in places of authority besides Jesus Christ and His Word.

Do we quit? Do we give up? You can, guess I can’t stop you, but I’ve found it’s in those moments of conflict, of contending, of working through doctrinal disagreements, that the most growth and reliance on God occurs.

I pray this is true for you. I pray it’s true for me. I pray for the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, because I am getting tired.

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If you’d like to hear more of my accumulated pastoral “wisdom,” I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

The Church and The World Like Different Stuff

I listened to a “secular” podcast where four guys, three of whom claimed to be religious (one was Jewish, one Muslim, and one Christian), said in this messed up world, our churches should be full.

I’ve heard this before. Jordan Peterson says something similar. The idea being that church should be upholding a different vision, one that is hopeful and helpful. In this dark world, the church should be shining bright.

I agree with the criticism that the church is not shining brightly in our day. We’ve watered down the Gospel and bought into many of the world’s lies. Our drift into immorality is all but a determined swim at this point.

At the same time, I think the churches should be full statement is based on a self-help understanding of Christianity. The idea is that churches and Christianity should help people achieve their dreams. People will come if they think it’s practical in helping them get what they want.

The real truth is that the more faithful to the Gospel the church becomes and the brighter its light, the more people will hate it. Men love the darkness and hate the light.

I think our churches are too full. Or rather, I think most of the fullest churches today have given in to the self-help version of Christianity.

They’ve invented a gospel that appeals to people’s flesh.

People tend to forget that when God Himself lived on this earth, humanity killed Him.

Yes, I think the church should be doing better, I think it should be proclaiming the Gospel faithfully and plainly. But I do not believe for a second that this will result in filled churches.

Nothing in church history or the Bible leads me to think this. Yes, there were momentary crowds, but none of them were sustained over any length of time, and none of them were ever treated as the goal. Being popular in this world is rarely a good thing.

The world thinks religion is a crutch, it’s a thing you use to get where you’re going. I don’t like where the world is going and would prefer my church to not be a place that helps it get there!

The church proclaims the Gospel and the preaching of the word. Attendance is irrelevant. The judgments of the world upon the church are irrelevant since most don’t understand what the point of the church or the Gospel is—conformity to Christ, that one guy the world killed.

Preach the word, in season and out. That’s it. Do that. If you do that, don’t expect a full church.

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If you’d like to hear more of my accumulated pastoral “wisdom,” I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

How Pastors Should Handle the Church’s Money and Business

Recently I was asked for my advice about running the business side of church.

I’m not entirely sure what this means. I assume it has something to do with money and taxes and delegation and staff, etc.

Most of this stuff I didn’t deal with. I was the only “employee” of the church and our budget was small. We didn’t own a building, so I had none of those concerns.

The church I became pastor at was a little weird before I got there. The previous pastor ran the place. There was no board; he just had two guys who adored him backing him up.

When I became pastor, I took a look at “the books.” The largest expense category was “miscellaneous!” From what I knew of the place, “miscellaneous” meant all the times the pastor and the two fan boys went out to lunch.

The previous pastor self-published books. He gave money to the church and counted it as his tax deduction. Then the church paid for self-publishing the book. Then he sold those books to people in the church. It was quite the racket.

That’s the kind of stuff that was going on.

My first task was to get a board. I asked the two fan boys if they would be on it. They refused. They preferred to sit back and criticize everything I did rather than help, which was shockingly not at all helpful.

One of the guys I chose for the board had experience in banking and his accountant mind got to work on the books. The guy spent hours sorting through the books and getting things in order. This has always been appreciated by me and many others.

We established rules for who would handle the money with multiple eyes on every transaction. I never touched any of the church’s money.

So, there’s a couple tips right there.

1. Get good help. It does help to have someone with an accountant’s brain to do accounting! Don’t leave this to chance.

2. Put things in order and do everything above board. Have multiple people sign off on every transaction.

3. The pastor should never know who gives how much money. Nor should the pastor count or touch the money.

How many pastors have you heard of who got busted for doing weird money things? The above steps will eliminate all that temptation. I never wrote one check. I never bought anything with the church’s money.

The best way to be above board is to never do anything with the thing you want to be above board with!

As far as the day-to-day operation of the church, there were systems set up that took care of most things. I took care of a lot of “office work.” I did most of the copying, website stuff, mailings, and all that. Again, it was a small church with minimal levels of busy work.

I also am a person who hates busy work, and I was in a position to simply not do things that would require more busy work! If you eliminate busy work, you’ll be amazed at how little busy work you have to do!

Sure some people will get upset that you cut their thing they liked, but hey, if they aren’t doing the busy work of doing it, chop it. Most things that churches are doing that suck up time and other resources are not found in the Bible anyway. If you simplified your church to simply following the New Testament, boy howdy will your church be easier to run.

That’s my advice for the “business” side of running a church. It’s probably not helpful, but I also never thought the business side of the church was a big deal, and that’s why!

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If you’d like to hear more of my accumulated pastoral “wisdom,” I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

Pastoral Counseling is a Waste of Time

Lots of Christians want pastoral counseling to be a Christian version of therapy. The problem with most therapy techniques is that they never end; they want to keep you in therapy. Although this seems pointless, most people are content to be in therapy rather than solve their problems. A win-win where nothing is actually accomplished.

Through years of pastoral counseling I have concluded that it was a massive waste of time. People don’t want help; they want the feeling that they are being helped. They don’t want the problems to go away; they wouldn’t have anything to talk about then.

The Bible gives us answers. It tells us of a new life we can live, possible through the Gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit and being a partaker of the divine nature.

With a true spiritual conversion through the Gospel, new life is possible. But it requires knowing God’s Word and some zeal and energy pursuing and doing what it says. It also requires complete desperation, a whole body and soul longing for deliverance. If that isn’t there, then no help will ever arrive.

People like to talk about their problems. They like getting hugs and sympathy. It becomes a drug. If they solved their problems there wouldn’t be any more hugs and sympathy.

The peril of the Christian counselor is to turn biblical counsel into never ending therapy. The counselor feels good because they are busy and “serving the Lord” and “helping people,” and the counselee feels good because they get the hugs and sympathy and the feels of “doing something.”

There comes a point where a person must decide to shut up and get to work.

If this point never comes, then all the counsel and therapy is just wasting time.

Most want a magic solution that requires no effort or life change. If a person does not want to change their entire life, then they have no interest in new life in the Gospel.

Overcoming sin is not a magic trick. There are no secret formulas or buttons that make temptation disappear. Sin keeps coming. We’re told to fight. Not fight for a couple minutes and then take it easy for the rest of our lives; the fight is daily and hourly.

Battling is essential to New Testament concepts of Christian living. Fight the fight of faith. Put on the whole armor of God. Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

If you don’t want to fight sin, the Devil, the world, and your flesh then you are wasting everyone’s time, including your own, talking about your “struggles” with Christian counselors.

Do you want a new life or not? If you do, it’s right there, available through Jesus Christ. But as Jesus said, you must count the cost. Are you willing to do the necessary battle to get it, live it, and benefit from it?

If you don’t want new life, then leave the church and its people alone. Go do your weird stuff. Call up some therapist and whine for the rest of your life. Go for it. Skip all the repeating of happy verses and happy clichés, and keep your favorite sins and your worldly therapy. Just leave off your fake Christianity and be honest.

Enough is enough. The world is falling apart. It’s time to stand up and fight. The time for self-loathing, angsty whining is over. It is high time to wake out of sleep. Cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

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If you’d like to hear more of my accumulated pastoral “wisdom,” I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

The True Sorrow Of Ministry

One of the hardest parts of ministry was not about my sacrifice or suffering, but watching other people’s lives degenerate and explode.

I didn’t mind giving up my time and energy to help people. I didn’t mind the personal cost that much. Sure there were moments of frustration or self-pity, especially when I couldn’t afford to eat good food, but it was part of the gig, a thing I was resigned to. Plus I knew that on Judgment Day none of that stuff would loom large.

I did not resign from being a pastor because of my own suffering. I resigned because I couldn’t bear to know that much about so many people, give so much effort to help them hear God’s Word, yet see them reject it and do the exact opposite, and then watch their inevitable demise.

It broke my heart.

I watched devastating things happen to many people and families. I mean terrible, awful stuff.

In many cases it was stuff I preached and counseled about. Stuff I saw coming. Stuff I prayed about with anguish for hours. Stuff I warned individuals about. All for naught.

Any time I expressed this idea of the pain of watching people’s lives explode, people always lectured me about me. “Well, you can’t fix people. That was your mistake. You can’t take it personal.”

No. See, you’re missing my point.

I wasn’t taking it personal. I was mourning and weeping for people who didn’t even know any better to be weeping and mourning over their own messed up lives.

This isn’t some kind of arrogant, prideful, “If only they had listened to me they would have been saved” Messiah complex thing.

This is simply the absolute devastation I felt in the core of my being watching people slowly reject God and slip toward hell.

It wasn’t about me not getting props or respect or attention. I wouldn’t care who got that. I just hated watching more people desert the faith and wither away.

The one thing that consoled me was seeing so many faithful people in the Bible feel this same thing.

The Apostle Paul said he would rather be accursed from Christ if it meant his kindred Israelites would be saved. He said he had continual sorrow in his heart for them.

Isaiah cried out, “Woe is me, for I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips and live in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” I recognized my own inadequacy, my own struggle with sin, and then seeing so many others go down and lose the fight. Seeing it all fall apart. Watching the church disintegrate as a byproduct of lives disintegrating.

Jesus Christ wept over Jerusalem because how often He would have gathered them as a hen gathers her chicks, but they would not be gathered. Jesus was prophesied as a man of sorrows acquainted with grief.

Without this testimony of Scripture I would have felt alone. Elijah and I would be weeping by ourselves. But there are so many more who feel the pain and weep.

I wept for 20 years over people and prayed continually for them. Nothing seemed to matter. I faithfully did my job as best I could according to Biblical standards. I hung in there as long as I could.

But I’m a guy who feels things. I wish I wouldn’t, but I did and still do. I still weep when I think of the church, the people, and the disasters I witnessed. I did it as long as I could.

Although the urge to go back into pastoral ministry pops up occasionally, the memories of the pain keep me unable to do so. Call me a wimp or a quitter. The Lord will judge me. I say with Paul, “for me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, I judge not my own self.”

The Lord will judge me at that Day. I imagine we’ll commiserate, and I look forward to a nice long talk while we walk on a trail through the woods and in the end, a snack, and a hug from my Lord and Savior.

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If you’d like to hear more of my accumulated pastoral “wisdom,” I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

Should Pastors Have Mentors?

When I started as a pastor the closest thing I had to a mentor was my father. My dad was a pastor for 30 some years. I’d call him for questions about certain Scripture passages, how to handle weird church people, what you’re supposed to say at weddings, and all sorts of stuff.

He usually answered. Sometimes without sarcasm. It was cool. We bonded quite a bit doing that.

Then he died.

Not only was this a shock to my system as a son, and also because it happened so quickly and soon, but I now had no one to answer my questions.

I asked the Lord that some older man would be available to help me out, give me counsel, and answer some questions. I prayed for years.

There were several men I felt would be good mentors. I approached them. It didn’t go well. One even used what I said in private as a reason to leave the church. I thought I could trust him, that he wanted to help me. I opened up. Guess I shouldn’t have. This does not help a guy seek a mentor.

I prayed for a mentor for years and nothing happened. I was bummed about it, but at the same time, something very cool happened.

Since I had no one to go to for answers to my questions, I figured I might as well go to the Lord! I began reading the Bible voraciously. In the 20 years of being a pastor I read the Bible over 40 times. I’m not saying this to brag (mostly), but as proof that I really began to read the Bible.

I didn’t just do it as a checklist effort either. I had questions and I sought answers. I studied and read and wrote and preached and counseled with what I saw in the Bible. Granted, my church shrunk because few others seemed to have interest in what the Bible said, but I got answers.

Is it good for a pastor to have a mentor? Probably. I’m certainly not against it. But there are two things to watch out for if you do have one:

1. You might not go to the Lord and His Word for answers as much and

2. You may tend to just listen to what they say.

Any good mentor will be aware of such things and will hopefully encourage you to go to the Word and not take their opinion as Gospel. But some who desire to be mentors often seek power or control.

I know some in ministry who have fairly standard doctrine, yet where they veer is where a mentor they respected steered them. Mentors, especially if they are respectable people and have gone through tough times with you, can have an oversized impact on your beliefs. This is something to watch out for.

There are also dangers of not having a mentor:

1. You have a lack of wise counsel and

2. You have no one for true support.

These can be terrible things, I know from experience. I felt very lonely and would have loved to talk to someone who knew the issues I was dealing with, who I was, and who I was trying to help.

Whether a pastor needs a mentor is often stated very affirmatively. I’m not convinced it’s necessary, but I do think it would help.

As in all things: it depends! Who is your mentor? Should they be? Why do you want one? Are you insecure so you need someone to make decisions for you? Do you just want a little help and insight? Is it a shortcut or laziness?

Either way, be careful out there. Jesus Christ is the ultimate mentor and His Word is indispensable. Never rely on any person more than Christ and His Word.

In the end, for me, I wish I had had a mentor, but I have also seen how the Lord helped me when I did not have one. As always, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and He’ll take care of you.

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If you’d like to hear more of my accumulated pastoral “wisdom,” I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it, perhaps it’s the mentoral guidance you’ve always wanted!

This is What Caused Me to Resign From Pastoral Ministry

Over 21 years of pastoral ministry I heard many criticisms and compliments. Some really hurt. Some were ridiculous. Some were right.

But the thing that wore me out, the thing that drove me to resign, was not the criticisms or compliments, it was the mundane apathetic silence.

I shared my heartfelt study of the word week after week largely to be ignored, or worse, people went the opposite direction. I counseled, warned, encouraged, did the things I thought I was supposed to do.

Nothing. Nothing followed by nothing followed by eventual destroyed lives.

There are depths of frustration and sorrow you get to when you know you’re bringing exactly what people need (the Gospel and God’s Word) to solve their problems and yet it gets rejected.

In other words, it wasn’t the personal attacks and criticisms that wore me out. It was watching lives implode while yelling the wisdom of God into the abyss they kept falling further into.

Criticize me all you want. Find fault with how I speak, spend money, dress, and all the other stuff. I don’t care. Not an issue. But please listen to the wisdom of God.

At the same time, some people thought simply complimenting me would have made me continue. Some have expressed regret, “We should have appreciated you more.”

I appreciate that, but it’s not the issue really. No amount of compliments will make up for watching lives implode on a regular basis despite efforts to help.

And yes, I know, God is the one that grows people and I can’t do anything. I know. I get that. It still hurts. As Paul said, “Knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men.” Yet people don’t respond, which is why Paul also said he had “continual sorrow in his heart” by watching his people resist the truth.

I knew where many people were headed and it wasn’t good. I called out to them, begged them, pleaded with them, warned them, comforted them, and I did all that as God by His Spirit worked through me.

I didn’t need a buzz from people to keep me going. I felt a burden from the Lord to serve and teach and pray and do all things for all men so that by all means I might win some.

Eternally I will be judged and rewarded (if deserved) for my ministry. Temporally, on this earth, it looked like it mostly went to waste.

I didn’t need more compliments and fewer criticisms. I learned to not take either one too seriously. What I wanted was to see spiritual life, growth, sanctification, and maturity. With a few exceptions, I mostly saw apathy and lots of sin.

Seeing people grow in Christ would have kept me in the ministry; not more compliments.

I will give an account to the Lord for my ministry. I wanted to do it with joy. Instead I will do it with grief (Hebrews 13:17). This will not be good for anyone involved.

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If you’d like to hear more of my accumulated pastoral “wisdom,” I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it, because that’ll make me feel better about myself!

What Is the Best Way to Help People Spiritually?

I was a pastor for 21 years and was continually around people I had a desire to help, people who were making unbiblical decisions and heading the wrong way. It was heart breaking.

One of the hardest aspects of pastoral ministry for me was the confusion over what I was supposed to do to help people doing crazy stuff.

Helping people spiritually is not easy. The best explanation of it was by Paul in Galatians 4:19, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,”

Giving birth is hard, so I’ve heard! Although I’ve never done it, I have watched it. It didn’t look fun. Getting people to grow in Christ feels like that! Perhaps not as intense into a moment, but it hurts.

Childbirth is natural, like, it’s going to happen whether you want it to or not if you’re pregnant. Getting people to grow in Christ is not natural. Many actively fight against it. Trying to get someone to do something they don’t want to do is gut wrenchingly difficult.

It would be nice if the Bible told us how to do it. It does, but you’ll find it’s not exact to specific situations and people.

The Bible presents a broad spectrum of possible ways you can help people. Here are some examples:

1 Corinthians 9:19-23—Paul says he becomes all things to all people so that by all means he might win some. This seems like he’s saying “do whatever you gotta do.”

Jude 22-23—some people you show compassion to and that works, others you actively go grab and drag them out of the fire. No time for compassion, you just gotta go get em.

1 Peter 3:14-16—be ready for when people ask you. If they aint askin, they probably don’t care to hear your opinion.

Matthew 15:11-14—Jesus tells the disciples that the Pharisees are blind leaders of the blind. He tells the disciples to “leave them alone!” That’s fascinating. They will fall into a ditch, so let em. Some people have to hit rock bottom and you should let em go do that.

Philippians 3:15-17—Paul says God will show people where they are off. It’s not always your job. Leave room for God to lead people.

1 Corinthians 5:5—some people you hand over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. This is primarily talking about church discipline.

So, on one end you do all things for all men to save some, show compassion on some, yank others out of the fire, leave them alone, wait for them to ask, let God show them, and on the opposite end is handing people over to Satan.

Those are quite the options!

So, after 21 years of accumulated pastoral experience and wisdom, what do I think you should do to help people spiritually?

I have no idea.

People and situations are different. I can’t answer specifics, but I’ve at least gained these general insights.

The one theme that runs through the New Testament is that you should pursue righteousness and holiness yourself. If you’re not, odds are they won’t listen to you anyway. And, if you’re not growing in righteousness, it’s debatable that you are the one who is equipped to help anyway.

Before getting all fussy about sawdust in your neighbor’s eye, take the beam out of your eye. Clean your own mess first. There are too many busybodies in Christianity trying to fix everyone.

You’re not everyone’s mom. It’s not your job to fix everyone.

If you are in a place where you think you can help someone, then pay attention. Listen to them. Don’t just judge and lecture without knowing what’s truly going on. Study the Bible. Look at the contexts above to see why they acted this way toward certain people, because there are reasons!

Pray. Really think this over with the Lord. There are no cookie cutter approaches to helping people spiritually. You really need to pay attention to them, you, the Word, and prayer.

Also remember Paul’s warning to consider yourself when dealing with other people and their sin lest you also be tempted. If you struggled with addiction of any sort, maybe you’re not the one to try and deliver others from addiction if you feel tempted to relapse.

Leave room for people to respond to God Himself. Cult leaders make everyone listen to them. God is the enemy at that point. Don’t do that!

Many people obsessed with fixing others actually just like power and the feeling of being needed. It has little to do with helping others and much to do with inflating their pride.

One of the urges to help people or to fixate on the sins of others is to keep you distracted from your own sins. If you’re always the fixer, you convince yourself you don’t need fixing. A guilty conscience often makes people obsess about other people’s problems.

Helping people spiritually is very difficult. If people don’t listen to God very well, I can’t imagine they’d listen to you very well either!

I don’t know how to fix people, but I have figured out this: pray, study the Word, pay attention, listen, pursue righteousness, and consider your own condition first. If you do these things, there’s an off chance you might actually be helpful to someone at some point. But don’t hold your breath!

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If you’d like to hear more of my accumulated pastoral “wisdom,” I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it, because that’ll make me feel better about myself!

5 Reasons Why People Ask Their Pastors Questions

“There’s no such thing as a dumb question” is a popular quote. I’m not sure why, because it’s incredibly wrong.

As a pastor, you might think it’s a good thing that people ask you questions. It might be. It might mean you are approachable and humble enough to be questioned. It might even mean that people value your answers.

It might.

It doesn’t, but it might.

In my pastoral experience I have found most questions have other motives besides getting an answer. Here are some popular reasons why people ask pastors questions:

1. Tests and traps
Some of these questions almost sound sincere, like they are really thinking about theology, maybe even your sermon, but really they’re trapping you. Taking a page out of the Pharisee’s playbook, they are trying to corner you and pounce on you when you unwittingly answer their carefully crafted trap question. These people will keep coming at you and they start with a question every time. When they approach, your heart drops because you know they’re ready to brawl.

2. For permission
Having a question is a nice way to get the pastor to approve the thing you want to do. “Do you think people should get tattoos/smoke weed/drink alcohol/get divorced?” It’s never “me” or “I,” it’s always “people.” They don’t care about your answer, they’re looking for permission. And if they don’t like your answer, no worries, they’ll keep asking the question until they find someone who will give them the answer/permission they want. You might be flattered that they cared to ask you. Don’t be, you’re the seventh person they’ve asked.

3. They were too stupid to listen earlier
If people would simply listen most questions would disappear. If they had listened to the 43 announcements or the previous eight times you preached on that very topic, they wouldn’t have to waste their breath and your time asking questions. If they’da been listening they’d already know.

4. Doubts, angst, and uncertainty
Some people can’t stop asking questions. They think having questions is the height of spirituality. If they knew the answers, then they’d be accountable to change and behave better. Easier to be stuck in angsty, questioning doubts. It’s all about the journey, not the destination, don’t ya know. If I knew where I was going I’d have to take steps to get there. Too hard. I’ll just keep asking directions to nowhere I’ll get.

5. Segue into their spiel
These people want “equal time.” You just preached for 38 minutes, they heard your side, now they want to set you straight. But they open easy. They’ll pretend they have a concern, a true question, when in reality it’s just how they’ve chosen to open the conversation. They ask a question and you give a two sentence answer, and then they set into their four point outline they prepared while you were preaching instead of listening to your context for whatever statement they are now railing against. They especially like to do this when there are eight other people waiting to talk to you.

So, those are the five kinds of questioners. And, yes, as I said before, there are people in your church who will ask you good questions so they can think a subject through more intelligently. They exist, all three of them.

But the rest? They’re in one of these groups above.

How should you handle these questiony people? I recommend doing what Jesus did: flip their tables over and curse their trees. No, not yet.

Ask them a question in return. Figure out why they are asking. Throw them off a little bit. Get them to think, get them to consider the answer themselves; most people only listen to themselves anyway. This is a great tactic used by our Master, it would be good if we disciples of His wouldn’t take questions as flattery, but rather as an opportunity to reveal hearts.

Good luck out there. Fight the fight. Be ready always to give an answer, just don’t be shocked if your answer is not why they’re questioning.  

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For more overly cynical takes on pastoral ministry, CLICK HERE to get a copy of the book I wrote, because it will show you why I’m overly cynical about pastoral ministry!

“Some Plant, Some Water, God Gives the Increase” Has Nothing to do With How Big Your Church Is

Many times over the years of pastoring a small, rural church that never really grew, I was told that “some plant, some water, but God gives the increase.”

This was told to me by people with larger churches, and the idea behind the quote is that large churches got large because God gave them the increase, implying that God likes them better, approves of their doctrine more, likes the pastor more, etc.

“Increase,” in most people’s minds, means numerical growth. This is why anytime a church grows people will say that “God has blessed them.” People also assume “increase” means larger buildings. Again I’ve been told, “God is really blessing us, we just built a new addition to the church.”

Although it’s possible “increase” means physical things (number of people, bank balance, square footage, etc.), I find it unlikely.

“Increase” is used here as an agricultural term. If you plant and water, a plant will grow. The point of a plant growing is not to see how big it can get, but to bring forth fruit. In fact, the bigger the plant the less energy goes into fruit production, that’s why pruning is a thing. The point of the farmer in planting and watering is to have something to eat. The New Testament emphasizes spiritual fruit quite a bit and rarely mentions physical fruit (number of people, bank balances, square footage, etc.).

Paul was the first one in Corinth. Apollos came next and watered the seeds that Paul put in the ground. Any spiritual growth that occurred from the efforts of these two men was credited to God. It wasn’t a competition between Paul and Apollos.

Many in Corinth thought it was a competition and took sides. “I’m of Apollos,” “I’m of Paul,” “I’m of Cephas.” They were loyal to the man who brought them to faith. Paul told them to knock it off! They were all on the same team and God gets the credit for anything spiritually beneficial.

Several verses after talking about God giving the increase, Paul says everyone will build on the foundation of the church laid by the apostles. All will give an account before God for how they built on it.

I take this passage not to be about our general stand before the Lord as a believer and our personal conduct (every man will give an account for every deed done in the body whether good or bad), but specifically about what they did in the church.

Lots of stuff goes on in churches. Many people think they did or are doing a great thing for the Lord. But after the fire of judgment, lots of this work will be burned up.

This has to mean that there will be many people who will do many worthless things in the church. Now, what would those worthless things be? What would be the things that won’t last for eternity?

Here are a couple things it might mean—number of people sitting in pews, bank balances, square footage, etc.

The fact that your church is bigger in people or square footage and busier and richer, doesn’t mean you did anything that will pass the test of God’s judgment.

Growth in the Bible always refers to spiritual growth. In fact, Paul is not happy with the church in Corinth. They brag because they are big and rich and yet Paul has a problem with pretty much everything they are doing.

The church in Corinth sounds a lot like the American church. We’re rich and proud and loyal to “our guys,” but we are also adulterous, immoral, spiritually illiterate, and carnal babes in Christ that are next to impossible to get spiritual things across to.

But they were sure proud of their awesomeness! Look how big and impressive we are! God has surely blessed us.

Paul disagreed and feared for their souls.

Some plant, some water, and God gives the increase. God, through the work of the Holy Spirit, the Gospel, and the preaching of the Word, causes people to grow in Christ and bring forth spiritual fruit.

The church in Corinth majored on the wrong things and took sides. They lost sight of the supremacy of Christ and instead gloried in the efforts of people and the material, countable results they saw.

But all that would be burned up. Growth in Christ lasts for eternity.

God gives the increase and the increase He gives is always spiritual growth into Christ. The New Testament is pretty clear that the more we grow into Christ-likeness, the more the world will hate us. Don’t count on Christ-likeness to draw in crowds and increased bank balances and square footage.

When God gives the increase people become like Christ. That’s what happens. Material or countable results are never mentioned in the New Testament as a thing a church should worry about. They are irrelevant.

Christ is the head. We all serve Him. Serve Him well as He is the Judge. Don’t have a ministry that ends up as an ash heap.

If you want to hear more about my ideas to not worry about growing your church, I wrote a book about it. CLICK HERE to get a copy, because I went through the trouble of writing it!