Chapter 7

Cheap Churches

Whatever the cash salary or total compensation package being offered to a pastor it contains a hidden message. Your hidden message says that you appreciate the work of your pastor, that you want your pastor to stay with you for a long time, or that you are ready for a new pastor. Most church leaders I know take seriously their God given responsibility to provide for their pastors, but there are many who financially hold hostage the shepherd of God.

Firmly established in the New Testament is the principle of paying these people for their service in the work of the Lord. Could it be we have placed unspiritual people in spiritual positions in the church. Most people really don't know. Just what is a pastor anyway? What does a pastor do? Many will testify of how lucky we are that we only have to work on Sundays.  But there’s a lot more to it than that.

"Pastor” is a Latin word that means "shepherd.”  The ancient Hebrews Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were a sheep and goat herding people who moved from place to place to find fresh pasture. Consequently, the Israelites understood responsibility for sheep. They called their leaders "shepherds of the nation."

Shepherds are a flock's first line of defense against danger. David in the Bible once risked his life by taking on a lion and a bear single-handed to protect his sheep and won. When a sheep gets lost, the shepherd will scour the hills to find it. Shepherds care for the injured, assist at lambing, and constantly watch for strays. Shepherds lead their flocks to fresh grasslands and water to keep them well nourished.

David, whom God promoted from hillside flocks to Israel's throne, applied this image to God himself. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want, He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul.... Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, For You are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Jesus said, "I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."

That's what the cross is all about. Local church pastors are under-shepherds of God's smaller flocks, but you can see they have pretty big shoes to fill. Just what do pastors do in today's world?

The most visible part of a pastor's job is leading the church in worship on Sunday mornings. Designing worship that lifts people towards God involves several hours each week. To give a provocative and helpful message entails another six to ten hours of careful preparation; if preaching looks easy it's due to long hours spent in study. The typical pastor is called on to preach or teach at least twice more each week, with several hours needed to prepare each time. Unlike school teachers who can reuse lesson plans year after year, a pastor's material has to be fresh, up-to-date, and tailored for the particular needs of people.

You've seen pastors conduct weddings. While the service may last twenty minutes, the pre-marital counseling takes a minimum of six to eight hours. Funerals often involve lots of time in comforting and counseling the bereaved.  Pastors are also no strangers to hospital rooms and intensive care units. We spend a good deal of time with those facing surgery or serious illnesses. Pastors are representatives of the God who says, "I will never leave your or forsake you."

Pastors are sometimes called the "poor man's psychiatrist." Counseling is part of our professional training, and we get plenty of practice, though we don't charge $60 to $90 per fifty minutes. In fact, we don't charge at all. We're called on to help wives and husbands patch together troubled marriages, and to counsel families whose children are in trouble. We do a good bit of career and job counseling for people between positions and we're often used as a sounding board when people are trying to sort through a particularly tough decision.

Pastors are organizers, too, especially when a new church starts from scratch. We're entrepreneurs for God, if you will. If you've ever managed a business or been president of an organization, you have some idea of what's involved. Groups accomplish a lot more with a structure of tasks and responsibilities and careful planning.

But our role doesn't stop at organizational management. Pastors seek to discover the unique and special gifts of each member, and then endeavor to help that person recognize and develop these gifts. We see you as God's minister; it's as if we're working ourselves out of a job. Teaching, coaching, modeling, and on-the- job training are all part of this. Corporations call it human resources development.

As churches grow, they add staff both volunteer and paid to meet the increasing needs of the congregation: custodians, secretaries, youth ministers, music directors, childcare workers. Then we're involved in the personnel functions of interviewing, hiring, supervising, etc.