Modern day pastors are a mixed bag of characteristic traits and personalities. It almost seems as if many of them portray traits of a salesman. A salesman is not going to look at you and tell you the hard truth for fear of losing a sale. They want to appeal to you; make you smile and feel good so that you’ll say “yes” and continue to do business with them. Because our society has become more feeling centric, it has influenced the way pastors manage their flock.
There is a difference in a pastor, preacher, and teacher. What I’ve seen happen is lots of preaching and less pastoring and teaching. A pastor is more like a shepherd. They care for, take responsibility for, and oversee their flock. Anyone can be a preacher simply because a preacher is a person who takes a public stage and lectures on a given subject. A teacher is, or should be, a subject matter expert in the area they are giving instructions. The problem I’m seeing in modern “church leaders” is less teaching and pastoring and more preaching. More so, preaching in the way of stand-up comedy. This goes back to the car salesman bit. Smile, make jokes, say things about themselves in an effort to connect. We are not the same people and we cannot connect with everyone. The purpose is not to connect with the audience. The purpose is to inform the audience. One of the greatest bits of advice I try to live by is to “Say what I mean, mean what I say and don’t say it mean.” In short, be honest and curt. Be frank with a bit of tact. Not everyone is going to agree with what I say or how I say it because it may go against their personal belief. If I am speaking truth, sometimes that hurts. That is not a me problem, that is a listener problem. They choose how they respond to hard truths.
It’s frustrating to me to see the decline in quality church teachers and pastors. Hosting fun events to target kids to encourage them to want to attend a church is defended by stating, “The children are the future. We must focus on them.” It’s not the church’s responsibility to shepherd the children. It’s the parents’ responsibility to “train a child in the way they should go.” If we’re not teaching and equipping the parents, how are they supposed to train their children? Yes, children were in attendance when Jesus and his disciples spoke, and the sermons were not focused on the children. The children watched the adults and how they responded to the sermons and it was the parents’ job to teach and explain to the children what the sermon was about. Not ever have I read about events held by the church to focus on the children. Nowadays, people often feel empty when they leave their church on Sunday morning. They are getting milk, not meat. They are not getting fed.
Church service has become a production with lights, smoke, music, and theatrical acts. Many pastors incorporate props and conduct demonstrations on stage to keep people engaged. That’s not necessary if what if being taught has meat. People go to church to be fed, not entertained. I rebuke church leaders who focus on production over teaching. I also rebuke church leaders who try to connect with their congregation through political and current trends. A pastor who attempts to water down hot topics in our society in an attempt to build a bridge with those on the other side is wrong. I don’t ever remember reading about bending biblical truths and teachings in an effort to make people feel good. Conviction is key. People need to feel convicted so that they know the error of their ways in order to seek repentance of their wrongfulness thru Jesus. Just recently, a local church leader did a sermon on “Social Injustice.” In this sermon his focus was racism. I watched an interview with Morgan Freeman once on racism. When asked how to end racism he simply stated, “Stop talking about it.” The church leader had a couple guest speakers and one of them used the phrase “Right Privilege,” hinting to white privilege. I watched bits of the sermon later because as soon as he opened up his sermon with “racial injustice,” I got up and walked out. I won’t sit their and listen to a man whose opinions are not rooted in biblical teachings, rather in personal feelings. The Bible speaks on ethnicities and tribes not different races. Furthermore, the Bible joins us all in the beginning in Genesis 1:27 when Moses wrote “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them”. That verse alone negates any man-made argument implying differences in race. Reflect, not focus on, the past and thrive forward in the name of God. When a church leader gives a sermon based on personal beliefs, that’s a major red flag.
A church leader who speaks more about themselves and their life experiences, tells stories and talks for thirty minutes or more only using two or three Bible verses is a lazy speaker. Sermons should be rooted in the Bible, then use modern day experiences as a reference. Not the other way around. Churches should be Bible preaching and teaching, not societal preaching, and teaching. We are warned in the Bible about false teachers in the end days. The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to sense when something doesn’t seem right with biblical teaching. It is up to us to recognize it and do something about it. We are charged to stand firm in biblical teaching and not stray from it. The Bible gives us a boundary to not “stray” from and keep us inside truthful teachings and ways of living.
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