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Thom Ranier: 15 Reasons Pastors SHOULD NOT Visit
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Post skinnybishop
I have found that many people have a misguided view of what pastors are supposed to do. They know pastor means "shepherd" and they construct a job description solely based on that image, and not on Scripture.

Like it or not....the only New Testament use of "pastor", as a position in the church has a specific description. That description is far removed from the typical concept of a shepherd.

The truth is, "pastor" isn't the only term used to describe a local church leader. Elder, Bishop, Overseer, etc. are all used to describe such an individual. In short, people get hung up on the idea that a modern day pastor is a "shepherd" and create responsibilities based on that idea.
A modern day pastor IS a shepherd...but he/she is more than that.

The problem is, people use the idea of "You are supposed to be a shepherd" as a rationale for the local pastor to do any and everything that local church expects.
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8/31/16 3:06 pm


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Post Nature Boy Florida
What would Jesus do?

Would he preach only - and let other folks do the menial tasks like visiting?

I guess that stuff about "sticketh closer than a brother" and "cast your cares upon him" was just advertising to grow his church.
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Post skinnybishop
Nature Boy Florida wrote:
What would Jesus do?

Would he preach only - and let other folks do the menial tasks like visiting?

I guess that stuff about "sticketh closer than a brother" and "cast your cares upon him" was just advertising to grow his church.


Is that what the article suggested?
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8/31/16 3:16 pm


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Post Pastoral roles Clint Wills
This isn't to say what is right or wrong, but if a pastor has to be hands on with every member, then a church will never grow beyond what that pastor can individually handle...on average, that's around 100. If a church only does what the lead pastor can do, then the church will only ever be as effective as the lead pastor (alone) can lead. Is it effective ministry for the lead pastor to do everything? If we are saying that visitation = significance, then what about worship leading? Isn't that significant also? Maybe the pastor needs to lead the music. Or the youth group, or children's ministry........
Even Jesus didn't meet EVERY sick person he could have. In fact, when He healed the man at the pool of Bethesda, He - no doubt - passed several other sick or lame people....but He only stopped to talk to [and heal] one. I don't know why that is, but it is. Jesus sent out 72 of His followers to minister because it wouldn't have been the best use of His time and effort to go to all those places himself.
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Post Da Sheik
Article makes some good points. But as they say in the South, "it is what it is". Pastors are expected to visit. I don't drop in on my parishioners at random for coffee or tea, but if I'm aware they're in the hospital I try to be there with them. Especially if they're having any kind of inpatient surgery.

Granted, I don't pastor a church of 3,000 people. But in a church that size, I doubt that individual members expect that the senior pastor is going to visit everyone. He would practically live at the hospital.

Most church members won't remember any particular sermon that you've preached. But they will remember that you held their hand and prayed with them when they were sick.
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Post bonnie knox
Quote:
If you point to where I said a pastor should get someone else to do his OR HER job, I'll eat my hat. What I have advocated is a team approach to ministry.....whether it is a pastor, ministry leader, apostle, or whatever you want to split hairs over.

Further I can't help how many times a word is used in the Scripture. ...or how it is described in that limited reference.

I didn't write it.


If I said "he," I'm talking about Rainer. If I addressed you personally, I said, "you."
As far as splitting hairs, I don't mean to be tedious, but I do mean to be specific and accurate.
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8/31/16 3:29 pm


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Post skinnybishop
bonnie knox wrote:
Quote:
If you point to where I said a pastor should get someone else to do his OR HER job, I'll eat my hat. What I have advocated is a team approach to ministry.....whether it is a pastor, ministry leader, apostle, or whatever you want to split hairs over.

Further I can't help how many times a word is used in the Scripture. ...or how it is described in that limited reference.

I didn't write it.


If I said "he," I'm talking about Rainer. If I addressed you personally, I said, "you."
As far as splitting hairs, I don't mean to be tedious, but I do mean to be specific and accurate.


Thanks for the clarification
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8/31/16 3:35 pm


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Post bonnie knox
It stirs the pot better, though, with the word left off, lol.

Patrick Harris wrote:
You left off a word in the title of the article written, which changes the dynamic.

The actual title is: Fifteen Reasons Why Your Pastor Should Not Visit Much
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8/31/16 3:40 pm


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Post Cojak
Da Sheik wrote:
Article makes some good points. But as they say in the South, "it is what it is". Pastors are expected to visit. I don't drop in on my parishioners at random for coffee or tea, but if I'm aware they're in the hospital I try to be there with them. Especially if they're having any kind of inpatient surgery.

Granted, I don't pastor a church of 3,000 people. But in a church that size, I doubt that individual members expect that the senior pastor is going to visit everyone. He would practically live at the hospital.

Most church members won't remember any particular sermon that you've preached. But they will remember that you held their hand and prayed with them when they were sick.
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8/31/16 5:24 pm


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Post Ventureforth
Some thoughts:
I can see points on both sides of this issue. A pastor is only one man and can only do so much. And so which ones do I visit? I would not want to seen as showing favoritism.
But I think it would be difficult to pastor people and not visit any of them. Caring about those I would pastor is just part of the calling. I know this is not necessarily about caring and not caring. But if I were to try to tell people they need to go out and visit but do none of it myself, then would I be an effective leader? I do know part of my leadership is leading the congregation in acts of service. Growth would be lacking if otherwise. And that leadership would involve leading by example to some degree. I would hope those doing visitation in a congregation I would pastor would come to be regarded as sent by me and well sufficient for the ministry.
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Post When we first planted... Jamie Noel
you didn't want to see me walk into the room. The first 5 people I visited.....died.

My record is a bit better now... Laughing
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Post Ventureforth
Ventureforth wrote:
Some thoughts:
I can see points on both sides of this issue. A pastor is only one man and can only do so much. And so which ones do I visit? I would not want to seen as showing favoritism.
But I think it would be difficult to pastor people and not visit any of them. Caring about those I would pastor is just part of the calling. I know this is not necessarily about caring and not caring. But if I were to try to tell people they need to go out and visit but do none of it myself, then would I be an effective leader? I do know part of my leadership is leading the congregation in acts of service. Growth would be lacking if otherwise. And that leadership would involve leading by example to some degree. I would hope those doing visitation in a congregation I would pastor would come to be regarded as sent by me and well sufficient for the ministry.

I should make it clear I don't currently have a congregation but this is what I feel and what I believe I would do and feel. That's why I find discussions like these beneficial because they bring a variety of perspectives including those with experiences in pastoring.


Last edited by Ventureforth on 9/4/16 8:33 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Post Re: When we first planted... Cojak
Jamie Noel wrote:
you didn't want to see me walk into the room. The first 5 people I visited.....died.

My record is a bit better now... Laughing


Confession is good for the soul. Very Happy Very Happy Good one Jamie, Good one. Smile
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Post Link
If other members of the body of Christ are supposed to minister, does that mean pastors aren't supposed to? Peter tells the elders to be ensamples to the flock. Shouldnt' they model visiting ministry.

What kind of visiting are we talking about? If the visits are for the sick, James says of the sick, "...let him call for the elders of the church....'
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Post Re: When we first planted... Nature Boy Florida
Jamie Noel wrote:
you didn't want to see me walk into the room. The first 5 people I visited.....died.

My record is a bit better now... Laughing


Nicely done.

btw - don't call me - I'll call you - when at the hospital.
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Post Re: When we first planted... Old Time Country Preacher
Jamie Noel wrote:
you didn't want to see me walk into the room. The first 5 people I visited.....died.

My record is a bit better now... Laughing


I done learned at ever single person I visit is gonna end up dyin at some point, even the woffies.
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Post Excuses Methocostal
While I do agree that "visiting" should not be solely the responsibility of the pastor and I understand that if the pastor does all the visiting, they are limited in the size the congregation can grow, I believe most so called "pastors" or "shepherds" merely use that rationale to justify their lack of visiting. I also agree the congregation is missing out on a blessing by also visiting.

However, where I GREATLY disagree with what I have seen in practice is that SOMEBODY needs to visit the sick and discouraged! We were highly active in a Church of some 700 people, I was in Choir, was a frequent soloist and my wife was involved by teaching and a variety of areas. When my mother died, we received NOT ONE phone call, card or flower. The excuse was they couldn't visit everyone. The excuse was they couldn't send flowers for everyone, ad nausem. That $30 flower "savings" cost that church untold THOUSANDS in our leaving and no longer paying tithe there! That folks is penny wise and dollar foolish. No, we didn't leave for that sole reason. I almost left, but a good friend who was on the board "encouraged" the pastor to visit. The pastors response, "you have to forgive me", NOT that they would work to ensure it never happened again. Rather, I had to forgive him cause he asked, not that he was "repenting" from his failure to visit. I MUST EMPHASISE, I was not expecting a personal visit from the SENIOR pastor, rather from SOMEONE. A phone call, a card SOMETHING! And NO it wasn't cause they didn't know it happened, I had called to request prayer, then I called to let them know she died. The pastor did say they were starting cell groups to help with visitation, etc. A few months later, my wife was VERY sick for about a month. NOT ONE CALL from the person over our cell group. After that, we quit.

If this were the only case, one could say we simply slipped through the cracks, but I've seen it from others at that church and others, both small and large churches.

I absolutely understand that in a large church, the senior pastor may not be able to visit, but it IS his responsibility to ensure that SOMEBODY does. I wish what I experienced was an aberration, but it is NOT. And I really think Pentecostals are worse than the traditional churches. My criticism of Pentecostals is they emphasise a moving of the spirit so much they ignore everything else. As long as we sway to the pounding of strobe lights and rock concert so called "WORSHIP" music on Sunday morning, everything is fine and dandy. As long as people are essentially put to a trance by repeating the same hollow 7 words repeated 70 times, people are mislead into thinking that was a move of the spirit. If it were the spirit, there would be an end result in changed LIVES. Swaying on Sunday with no concern for others on Monday, does not constitute a real move of God, in my opinion. Yes, I do know some in the audience are indeed moved. Unfortunately, most have merely experienced an emotional attachment to the music not too terribly unlike the dancing of the rhythm in Africa. DONT GET ME WRONG, I do know there are TRUE moves of God, TRUE moves of the SPIRIT. But I think we know which is which by the end result.

Back on topic. Far too many PREACHERS (not pastors and shepherds) buy into this garbage to use it as EXCUSES so they don't have to dirty their hands by actual visitiation. In theory, I can possibly agree it is OK for pastors not to visit, in practice, it doesn't normally work! The Church in EXTREMELY sick and the ministry is blissfully unaware.

In either case, SO WHAT, if the church can only grow to 100 or so if the pastor is heavily involved? Is the issue how many people can transfer to your church so you can have a megachurch, or do you want to affect people's lives! I wholeheartedly agree that the membership is part of the problem as well when they expect the pastor to clean the church, mow the lawn, print the bulletins, visit and preach. That isn't right either. '

What is wrong with splitting the church into different services when they reach a 100 or so and can no longer be effective in ministry? 1000 people sitting in church listening to a sermon, swaying to the music, and nobody knows whether you are in church or not may be economically more feasible than small churches. I'd rather go "where everyone knows my name" than to be lost in the masses and nobody has a clue as to who I am. The obligatory turning around to shake somebody's hand does NOTHING to create true fellow ship. Can the mega churches also minister to individuals -- Possibly, but I've attended a half dozen mega churches over the last 30 years from my moves across country, NOT ONE has been effective at MINISTRY.

OK, load your musket and fire at me.
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Post Quiet Wyatt
Methocostal,

Your sad experience is incomprehensible to me. While I have said before that I do not care for 'visiting' when it amounts basically to just dropping by for tea, if someone calls and asks for a visit, simple common courtesy would require a visit.

I agree completely with you about smaller churches that actually care and fellowship and minister beyond the Sunday morning show! In my view, 10 spiritually healthy churches of 100 in a city would be far better than one 1000-member church in that same city.
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Post Re: Excuses Cojak
Methocostal wrote:
While I do agree that "visiting" should.................... Can the mega churches also minister to individuals -- Possibly, but I've attended a half dozen mega churches over the last 30 years from my moves across country, NOT ONE has been effective at MINISTRY.

OK, load your musket and fire at me.


A very timely comment my friend. There times a pastor or assistant is needed. If a church is too big to comfort the family that has lost a close loved one, it is too big. Just my humble opinion.

I also liked QW's comment of 10 solid churches of 100 are best. Christian Brothers and Sisters seldom need attention, BUT WHEN THEY DO.............. THEY DO and deserve it.

It is probably my age and upbringing, but pastoral visitation has actually worked in the past to increase attendance and the salvation of souls.

Again that is a personal opinion. Cool
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9/9/16 9:13 pm


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Post Re: Excuses Methocostal
Thank you sir. I've not been on acts for a while, but sadly ministry is sorely lacking today, unless it occurs from the pulpit. Somehow, I think there is a difference in an exhorter and a pastor. The best pastor I ever had was not a good "preacher" at all. But, I would take the love he demonstrated for people any day of the week over the best preacher on earth.

Cojak wrote:
Methocostal wrote:
While I do agree that "visiting" should.................... Can the mega churches also minister to individuals -- Possibly, but I've attended a half dozen mega churches over the last 30 years from my moves across country, NOT ONE has been effective at MINISTRY.

OK, load your musket and fire at me.


A very timely comment my friend. There times a pastor or assistant is needed. If a church is too big to comfort the family that has lost a close loved one, it is too big. Just my humble opinion.

I also liked QW's comment of 10 solid churches of 100 are best. Christian Brothers and Sisters seldom need attention, BUT WHEN THEY DO.............. THEY DO and deserve it.

It is probably my age and upbringing, but pastoral visitation has actually worked in the past to increase attendance and the salvation of souls.

Again that is a personal opinion. Cool
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9/22/16 4:03 pm


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