Escaping the Religious Bubble – The Leadership

Thanks to Pastor Stewart for teaching the correct role of a pastor.  Thanks need to go to other pastors for illustrating Pastor Stewart message.  I can still hear Pastor Stewart saying, “I am just the under shepherd!  There is only One Shepherd and his name is Jesus! He’s the head of the Church, not me!”  Warren was likely alluding to 1 Peter 5:3-5.  Peter gives strong warnings against lording and they will held accountable to the Chief Shepherd.

How did pastors like Morrison, Howard, Aulson, Brett, Ivan, Rod and a couple of others illustrate a message they could not have heard?  It is quite simple.  Being imperfect, they sought to follow Jesus’ example in John 13:3-15.  That is, these individuals sought to serve with humility.

I have some bad news, to give you.  All of these guys are human beings like you and I.  Each one has made their fair shares mistakes, each have put their foot in their mouths and each have made errors in judgment.  The same holds true for Bishop Loring and many other pastors and priests.  They are all imperfect fallible human beings.

It may sound like I am apologizing for the church leadership, I am not.  From Scriptures like 1 Peter 5:3-5 Ezekiel 34:9-11 and 1Timothy 3:8, it’s a safe bet, God will hold them accountable.   God does not like it, when His children are exploited.  To break off the hurts, I experienced at Loring’s church, I had to forgive them.

“I forgave once and am still hurting! How many times must I forgive?” you may ask.  Funny thing is, Peter asked Jesus the same question in Matt 18:20-22.  Jesus answer was “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”  How important is it we forgive our brothers? Jesus spells it out in Matt 18:22-35, Please read the last verse!

I can say with experience that it’s a process and worth it, in the end!  I have been there and know it’s not easy!  There have been times when I wanted to ram someone’s head through the church wall.  However, God helped me, through the healing process of “forgiveness”.  In Hebrews 13:5-6, it is stated “God will never leave  you or forsake you!”  The reader is also reminded that God is our Helper, in times of need.  The forgiving process qualifies as a time of need.

Sometimes, the show is on the other foot.  It is we, who need to ask the pastor to forgive us!  We’re not perfect, either.  At another church, there is a pastor who sometimes acts like I am totally blind and not able to do anything.  Though I forgave, I neglected to talk with him, about the situation when it happened.  When he found out, the pastor was hurt by my action.  “Why didn’t you say something then?”  In this case, I had to apologize to him or rather ask for forgiveness.