What Do You Pay the Pastor For?

By Kent Hunter

oo many churches are like a football game. There are 22 people on the field desperately in need of rest and 80,000 people in the stands desperately in need of exercise. It's a sporting event.

It's not the way God organized the church.

Do you have a worldview that reflects the way God intends to accomplish ministry? Do you believe the minister is hired to do the work? Is that why there is staff?

Many churches, if they can find the money, add more staff. But this causes them to operate far below their capacity to impact their communities. It's like a general pumping up his troops for battle-only to have him fight the war with a couple of assistants while the troops go home for chicken dinner. It doesn't make any sense! It's an unbiblical window through which many people evaluate the pastor-and it leads to pastoral burnout, ineffective ministry, and a spectator point of view.

Ephesians 4 says that God has given special gifts to the church. Some of those gifts are called pastors and teachers. Others are called apostles, prophets, and evangelists. These gifts to the church are "to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up." These special gifts are given to the church to equip God's people-not just do ministry. It's God's strategy for multiplication. It's what moves the church from growth to explosion. It's the biblical key to the church's potential. It's what makes Christianity a movement, and it's why the Christian church has expanded globally. Unfortunately, it's not the way many Christians see the role of the pastor. Somewhere, the idea has developed that the pastor is there to serve them. After all, that's what they're paid for-right?

The worldview by which you see your pastor's role is extremely important, because the way you see your pastor determines the exponential potential of your church. If you expect your pastor to do it all in your church, then your church is probably well beneath its potential for Kingdom impact. The potential is limited because the pastor is constantly performing maintenance tasks instead of leading the church.

God didn't call pastors alone to reach people for Christ-He called all Christians. But He gives gifts as He sees fit to get everyone involved. It's God's blueprint for organizing the church. Churches that are moving forward and have a clear direction are the ones who have a church-wide ministry-not just the ministry of the pastor.

The story is told of a man who went into a store and asked for a compass. The proprietor responded, "What kind of compass do you want? One that draws a circle or one that points the way?"

There are really two kinds of churches and two kinds of pastors. Some are going around in circles, while others point the way. In what direction is your church headed?