Church Is Not an Extension of the Pastor’s Ego

You cannot serve God and mammon. We are to set our affections on things above, not on things of this earth. We are to put our treasure in heaven.

Typically we reserve this for talks about money and the dangers of materialism, which is no doubt true. But there are other facets of life that fit here too.

Including your church.

People count what they see. Then we compare our numbers with other people’s numbers. The guy with the big, growing church is being blessed; the guy with the small, struggling church is clearly doing something wrong.

Some are blunt about this judgment, others cloak it in humble talk, but essentially this idea emerges.

As a pastor, I felt this all the time. When visitors came on Sundays when lots of people were gone. When family visited from out of town and commented how small our church was. When other pastors would drop how their new building expansion was going, while my church met in the junior high.

My ego took a hit. My self-esteem, well, after 21 years pastoring in a church that never broke out of struggle, I basically had no self-esteem.

Breaking out of this pattern of thinking is hard, even harder when seemingly everyone you talk to about church reminds you of how terrible and pathetic your church is and by default, you are as a pastor.

People claim all the time that God is the builder of the church, “we just plant and water and God gives the increase.” A growing church is getting the increase, so God is obviously blessing the planting and watering. A struggling church, well, God has pretty much given up on that thing.

Much discouragement, embarrassment, depression, justifications, and self-loathing overwhelmed my soul. My planting and watering must have all been on stony ground, because I got nothing.

In my moments of despair, I’d cry out to God, why no blessing? Why no growth? Why just pain? Can I get a break? I’d lay it out before Him.

I kept coming back to 1 Corinthians 4:1-5. Paul says it was a small thing to be judged by the Corinthians who doubted his apostleship and belittled his ministry. Paul said he didn’t even judge himself! Even if he thought he was completely justified in everything he did, it still didn’t matter.

The only thing that mattered was God’s judgment.

It doesn’t matter what human judgment is upon you or your ministry, not even your own judgment.

This isn’t jerkish pride either, that “I’m better than others so don’t tell me what to do,” nor is this some sort of cosmic, “Get off my back while I take it easy” kind of thing. This is a serious, you alone before God, judgment.

God will judge your ministry. As he says in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15, which is the same context by the way, all we do on the foundation will be tested with fire.

Lots of people do visibly impressive things that get attention, accolades, and genuinely looks like big things are happening, and maybe there are. Other guys have hardly anything. The amount before the fire isn’t what matters!

What’s left after the fire matters.

I know pastors who are determined to leave a legacy, a visible proof of their effectiveness. Their desire to grow the church doesn’t seem to be out of a desire for spiritual growth in individuals, but a visible growth of externals so they look and feel like a man.

False teachers are in the church. Their bellies are their motivation. They are always talking about money and always have incredible appetites to spend that money, rarely on anything spiritually helpful, often on a physical thing that proves their effectiveness.

God will judge that. He will judge the pastor who sincerely cares about people’s spiritual growth too, with the exact same fire.

It’s possible to have an impressive amount before the fire and after, this is my desire, but I fear for how much is left after.

That’s the only thing that matters.

Yet it’s so easy to get caught up in ego and pride, the desire to have impressive things going on so we feel better about ourselves.

What are we doing ministry for, to impress people, or to have something survive the fire of God’s judgment? Is your church an extension of your ego, or is it Christ’s Body?

If you struggle with pastoral depression like I did, it’s mostly because of comparison with others. It’s mostly an ego hit.

Yes, I did have sorrow in my heart for how many were rejecting God’s word, perverting His Gospel, and leaving, what I felt, was a place that could help them.

I know that was sincerely in there. I also know I was a mopey, whiny pastor who desperately wanted validation.

Examine what gets you bummed out as a pastor. What stirred it up? Was it external comparison, or divine concern for souls? Examine that before the Lord.

Keep planting and watering. God takes care of the increase. It’s true, let Him worry about that part. Be faithful to the Word, in season and out, preach, teach, exhort, rebuke with all authority, and do all of it in light of you standing alone before God.

Only His opinion matters.

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If you want to know more of my experiences as a pastor of a small church, I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. It includes 9 tested and true tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

Why Does Your Church do Church Membership?

Church membership was invented to keep track of who can do what in the church. It helps a church judge who is committed to the church.

It sounds good in theory, but unfortunately, church membership has become a tool churches use to manipulate people, in my humble-ish opinion!

Church membership is not in the Bible. Yes, believers are members of the body of Christ, but that’s not the same thing. Verses listed to prove church membership, do not say anything about modern church membership practice.

Church membership typically requires some sort of class, meeting with someone to check out your testimony, and typically requires a person to be baptized.

Church membership is now a number churches track to see how well they are doing. Thus, in order to boost that number, new people are encouraged to “get involved.” In order to “get involved,” a person has to become an official church member.

This also locks in the new person, so they are “forced” to attend church to do their thing they “got involved” in. If the new person is not baptized, many churches use the church membership carrot to manipulate people into baptism.

I find this to be the most troubling part of modern church membership practices.

Churches have a hard time dealing with the fact that if you don’t have any mature believers to do a ministry, then don’t do that ministry. Instead, churches get pumped up to do all their programs and just need warm bodies to fill slots. In order to fill slots, people are rushed through church membership. This misses the entire point of the whole thing!

This also means that many church positions are filled by new believers, or at least new people in the church who the church has no idea who they really are, but hey, go watch these stranger’s kids for an hour since child molesting has never been a problem in churches before.

Obviously you can read my cynicism on the issue quite clearly.

The reason New Testament churches didn’t do official church membership is probably because churches were smaller. You knew the people better. There was also probably more cost to attend since persecution was more prevalent. Only serious people would even bother showing up.

In the little church I was pastor of for 21 years, we did not have church membership. I knew who came, so did anyone else who came. I knew them, they knew me. No relative strangers were plopped into positions of leadership in the church. The elders and deacons of the church paid attention and asked the people who they felt were ready to go do things.

I think that’s the NT model.

Church membership is fine if you want to do it as it’s also not forbidden in the Bible. Go for it. Don’t try to prove it’s a biblical concept though, just do it and say you feel this is the best way for your church in its present shape to do things.

But avoid the trap of making Church Membership this big thing that you rush people into. Don’t use it to manipulate people into being baptized.

If your church does church membership, examine the place it has. How is the church using it? Are people getting baptized because they are identifying with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, or are they jumping through a hoop so they can do a thing in the church? Is it just a non-helpful formality at this point, or is it actually achieving its purpose?

I’m not saying not to do church membership. I am saying churches should think about what it truly is and how it’s being used and implemented.

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If you want to know more of my fascinating thoughts about church, I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. It includes 9 tested and true tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

A Theory About People Thinking My Sermons are Angry

I’ve had opportunities to preach in a couple churches steeped in Easy Believism (apparently the Lord will only allow me to preach in such churches). They think people are saved by “saying the prayer,” and as long as a person said The Prayer, they are saved and don’t have to bother with any growth.

The latest church I’ve preached at have several church leaders that have said multiple times that you can be saved and then murder people every day for the rest of your life and still be saved.

I’m no advocate for people losing their salvation. I am an advocate for salvation is being crucified with Christ, buried with Him, and raised up with Him to newness of life. No longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me.

Murderers will not inherit the Kingdom of God (Galatians 5:21). We know that no murderer has eternal life in him (1 John 3:15). Seems pretty straight forward.

Anyway, that’s one example of many of this church’s teaching.

Teaching Easy Believism leads to massive apathy. There is no energy directed at spiritual growth. Why would there be? The church leaders tell everyone they are saved and fine, take it easy. No worries.

So, when I get my shot to preach in these places, I endeavor to stir them up a little. Philippians 3 and the last part of 1 Corinthians 9 have been my texts the last few times. Run to win. Reach forward to the prize of the high calling in Christ.

While preaching such things, I get a little excited. I want people to see the depth of the Gospel’s provision, the Lord’s love, and the way awesomer life following Christ rather than following the flesh.

It gears me up because realizing such things transformed my life and faith. I want others transformed by the Gospel as well.

Without fail, after my imploring, beseeching, and stirring people up to follow Christ with some zeal, my emotions will be interpreted as anger.

I can confess that anger is not the emotion I’m going with. Yes, there is some frustration preaching in a church overrun with bad teaching and apathy, but frustration is not my main emotion either.

It’s a desire to call them to something better, something that’s sitting right there, been fully provided by Jesus Christ. Just go get what He offers, people!

Typically, the people who think I’m angry are often the ones I’m most concerned for. It’s like they have no idea what to do with such emotion in a sermon. They think everyone is saved, what’s the big deal? “There’s nothing wrong with us, must be something wrong with that guy preaching.”

My emotions are interpreted as anger; when in reality I’m begging and imploring that very person to use the Gospel’s provision.

After a half hour of explaining how they should forget the things that are behind and press toward the mark, run to win, etc. all they come up with is, “What’s wrong with that guy?”

They have no place in their theology for impassioned pleas. They’ve already concluded they’re saved. There is nothing more. They said The Prayer, when they die they go to heaven, take it easy, man!

If you have no concern for your soul, you don’t know how to react to someone who is concerned for your soul.

It reminds me of Ezekiel crying out to the people to obey the Lord. No one listens. Instead they listen to the false prophet’s message of “peace, peace. You’re all fine, don’t worry about it.”

Ezekiel begs them, implores them, beseeches them, no doubt using emotion, and no one hears, leaving Ezekiel to cry out to the Lord, “Then said I, Ah Lord God! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?” (Ezekiel 20:49).

For me, this was the hardest part of being a pastor—having more concern for peoples’ souls than they appeared to. They are already done. They are good to go. “Why are you so worked up, don’t you know we’re already saved?”

You hang around a church long enough you see the end of these people and you see the fruit their lives produce, and it isn’t spiritual fruit. You beg and plead and preach and convince and do whatever you can to help them wake up.

“What’s wrong with that guy? Why’s he so angry?”

Sigh. It’s the burden of the Lord. All day long His hand is stretched out to a disobedient and gainsaying people. Those same people look at God and say, “Why’s He so angry all the time?”

It is frustrating, but it’s also nice to know I’m in good company.

Either that or I’m angry, I guess.

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If you’d like to hear more of my experience pastoring a church in what I thought was a biblical manner, 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!