What Would You Do if This Was You?

[ChTatum]

Noah only convinced seven other people. Was he a failure?

If God has not lifted the burden, keep on keeping on......no telling what God has in the future!

[ILG]

This is a very hard situation...one that I can relate to, having been there to some degree. Only he can answer this question. He needs to consider that maybe his own desire to leave means something. He does need God to release him if he is to go but he also needs to understand that his own desires and perceptions could be God talking to him. I understand the heavy burden and toll this takes. His health, his family, his life is more important than this church unless he is absolutely convinced God wants him there. He may be confusing God's will with the church's will. It can be incredibly hard to leave.

[Neck]

Originally Posted by rgcraig

How long should a pastor stay at a church under these circumstances?

He's been pastor for almost a decade.

- Membership is 30.

- There is minimal compensation and he works a secular job fifty hours a week.

- The church building is an embarrassment, but paid for.

- Started the church from nothing.

- He pays some of the church bills out of his own pocket.

- The church members are apathetic.

I am not judging this man.

However many pastors stay to carry the title of pastor.

So to family and friends they have appearance of being a pastor...

When really it is nothing close to the truth...

[rgcraig]

Can this also be a time when God is trying to show the person something about themselves?

[berkeley]

he needs an assistant pastor to lighten the load. Someone young, fresh, vibrant....

[chseeads]

It could be a whole lot of things. It's hard to say what it is for somebody else without knowing lots more details.

I wish it was as easy to get assistants and stuff as these suggestions make it sound!

[Falla39]

Sis. Renda, I thought it would be interesting to look at these points
as if this was a family, a home instead of a church.

How long should a father stay at a home under these circumstances?

He's been a father for almost a decade.

- Family membership is 30. (Wow! This man means business. What
does his wife think. How many sets of twins, triplets, etc.)

There is minimal compensation and he works a secular job fifty hours a
week. (He is trying to provide for his family. My, 30 family members
in 10 yrs.)

- The home is an embarrassment, but paid for.

- Started the home from nothing.

- He pays the family bills out of his own pocket. Well that a man's
responsibility, to provide for his own.

- The family members are apathetic.

I would say this man, and most certainly his wife, need a lot of encourage-
ment from someone who has been there, done that. I believe I could provide
some encouragement to that father and mother! How! By telling them about
my father and my mother. And how their Heavenly Father brought them through.

When Dad started the church we attend, he started it with his wife and
eleven children. In ten years, I am sure there was not a huge crowd.

But 50 yrs later, there are a lot more members under the pastors that have
been there since Dad went to be with the Lord.

But I thank God that in that 50 yrs. my husband and I, our six children,
their spouses, their children, and one granddaughter in law, number 29
from this church that started with a family, a man and woman with a desire
and little else.
(one son and his family of 6 worship in a neighboring city a few miles away.)


The apostle Paul said though you may have ten thousand instructors in
Christ, yet you have not many fathers. Fathers beget sons and daughters.
Instructors instruct but fathers produce.

Just some thoughts,

Falla39

[RandyWayne]

No disrespect, but the analogy breaks down when comparing it to a family.
You can't "breed" a church.
It sounds like a lot of well meaning people are stuck in a rut. What is usually required in these situations is some sort of shake up. Another person starting a similar church in the same town will often get things going. Two or more churches are often greater than the sum of their parts -or members.

[berkeley]

Originally Posted by chseeads

I wish it was as easy to get assistants and stuff as these suggestions make it sound!

it's not??

[RandyWayne]

Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results.