{"id":31275,"date":"2022-09-10T15:23:57","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:23:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/whose-church-is-it-anyway\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:23:57","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:23:57","slug":"whose-church-is-it-anyway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/whose-church-is-it-anyway\/","title":{"rendered":"Whose Church Is It Anyway?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By Josh King<\/em><\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, I was at a gathering of local pastors\u2014you know, the kind where we stand around eating grocery-store baked goods and drinking church-kitchen coffee.<\/p>\n

While there, I heard another pastor make the statement that he told “his<\/em> people<\/em>” (a reference to the congregation of the church he pastors) a certain piece of information.<\/p>\n

That pastor is a good pastor. I know his heart. But his choice of pronouns did spark a thought in my mind which, after reflection, turned into a warning.<\/p>\n

I want to share this warning with you: We have to be careful we don\u2019t take the ownership of the church away from God in an attempt to show love and dedication to God’s people.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Stewardship, Not Ownership<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I understand that in many (maybe most) cases when a pastor refers to the church, people, resources, or even pulpit as being “his,” he\u2019s saying he identifies with the church and the people he serves through ministry.<\/p>\n

He considers it a close personal relationship, much like saying \u201cmy kids\u201d or \u201cmy team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem is that we\u2019re broken, and while we may start with communicating a relationship, we often stray toward feeling a sense of possession. Our calling is one of stewardship, not ownership.<\/p>\n

When we feel we own the church and the people, they and the church’s resources become objects that serve us instead of us serving God.<\/p>\n

You can see examples of this take root when the church van is used without discretion by the student pastor and his family. Or when children\u2019s ministry resources, like a bounce house, are used at the worship minister\u2019s house just to entertain his children.<\/p>\n

Seemingly trivial examples like this can be a slippery slope.<\/p>\n

The people and resources of the church shouldn’t be used by the pastor and ministers as if these things were their own. If we possess the people we\u2019ll use them for our<\/em> purposes.<\/p>\n

Displaying Humility as a Leader<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When we call the church \u201cour people\u201d we will also feel personally attacked if they don\u2019t fall in line with our wishes and our direction. And we\u2019ll be unreasonably hurt when they choose another church.<\/p>\n

If you serve in a congregational setting with this mindset you\u2019ll dictate the direction and decisions instead of informing the smart adults who make up the church\u2014facilitating them to come to decisions together.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen this express itself in clergy putting members in a difficult spot by asking them for recreational resources like a pool, lake house, or game tickets. My advice is to always avoid that because it\u2019s an abuse of your position.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
See also  The Group Most Likely to Still Be Missing From Your Church<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

If we possess the resources, we\u2019ll acquire them with our interest in mind.<\/p>\n

For example, I\u2019ve always had a problem with pastoral offices that look and feel more like luxury suites at professional sport stadiums, complete with private parking, bathrooms, exits, and lounge areas.<\/p>\n

The work we do as pastors doesn\u2019t need twice the space everyone else needs. I\u2019ve seen remodeling projects turn into expressions of how the pastor\u2019s wife wants her small-group room to feel, including a fireplace and expensive molding.<\/p>\n

Those resources don\u2019t belong to the pastor and his family or to any other staff member. They belong to the church (and of course, ultimately belong to God) and should only be used when they benefit the church as a body.<\/p>\n

Watching the Time<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Likewise, if we feel we possess the clock, the time can be spent on me<\/em> instead of us<\/em>. One of my go-to phrases is, \u201cIf you wouldn\u2019t try to do that while working at a bank, don\u2019t try to do it working at a church.\u201d<\/p>\n

If I worked for a bank, a law office, or a school I couldn\u2019t just walk out three hours early so my wife can go to the grocery store without my kids.<\/p>\n

There are always exceptions and extenuating circumstances, and there should be allowances for that. But I\u2019m paid with an expectation that I\u2019ll work hard for the duration of the workday.<\/p>\n

I know there are times when our calling feels (and is) more like a 24-hour, on-call job than a 9-to-5. For the vast majority of the pastors and ministers I know, however, that\u2019s the exception and not the rule.<\/p>\n

The truth is, some of us have become lazy\u2014and it shows.<\/p>\n

God’s Church and His Glory<\/strong><\/h3>\n

No doubt about it: Most ministers truly love the church and serve her and Christ well. My goal isn\u2019t to split hairs on words and discourage church leaders. It’s not necessarily a sin to reference the church with a possessive pronoun.<\/p>\n

My only caution is that we should be careful to not lose sight on Whose church it is, and in doing so, give God the glory He\u2019s due.<\/p>\n

JOSH KING (@JoWiKi)<\/strong> is the pastor of Second Baptist Church in Conway, Arkansas, husband of Jacki, and father of three boys<\/em>. He\u2019s also a co-host of the EST.church podcast.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
Dig Deeper at Lifeway.com<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n

Essential Habits of Relational Leaders: Building a Culture of Trust<\/h2>\n

Boyd Bailey<\/p>\n

FIND OUT MORE <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Related posts:<\/h3>\n
What Do Pastors Believe About the End Times? What Do Pastors Believe About the Book of Revelation? 3 Ways to Reach Non-Religious People in Your Community <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Josh King A few weeks ago, I was at a gathering of local pastors\u2014you know, the kind where we stand around eating grocery-store baked goods and drinking church-kitchen coffee. While there, I heard another pastor make the statement that he told “his people” (a reference to the congregation of the church he pastors) a … Continue reading “Whose Church Is It Anyway?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31275\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}