I hardly ever go to church because I found out that the pastor is a liar…. I’m better off listening to sermons at home.
Dear Friend,
You bring up an interesting point that deserves to be discussed. We are so sorry that you have been disappointed by your pastor! Since we don’t know him and don’t know anything about what happened, we can’t be specific in our response, but we can respond in general terms.
These are facts that you can know for sure: The first fact is that pastors are sinners just like the rest of us. They have to constantly evaluate their actions based on the teachings of the Bible and on their personal communication with God. The second fact is that because pastors are sinners, just like the rest of us, they sometimes fail to meet the standards that they are expected to meet. The third fact is that when pastors or other ministers don’t meet the standard, they have the choice to repent, ask for God’s forgiveness, and take steps to avoid the same sin in the future. Or, if they continue in sin, failing to meet the standard on an ongoing basis, then they are no longer capable of leading others as a pastor or minister. And the fourth fact is that pastors who are living in ongoing sin should resign their position and not continue to deceive their congregation, but sadly many are not willing to resign, so they keep their position, thereby doing much harm to their parishioners.
What, then, should people like you do when they know that the pastor of their church is living in sin? Fortunately, most churches have board members or leadership councils who serve as representatives of the congregation when conducting church business with the pastor. In those cases, the first step would be to privately consult one of those representatives and ask for his or her advice.
Many members, however, know that they would not be comfortable being involved in a potential dispute in the church, so they quietly leave and find another church. In their case, it is important that they not complain or accuse the pastor to other congregants or members as they are leaving.
Why is it important to find another church and another pastor instead of just listening to sermons at home? The Biblical writer to the Hebrews answers this question by telling us, as followers of Christ, not to stop meeting together, but rather to encourage one another.(1) This use of the word encourage implies that when the members are together, they are much healthier and stronger than when they are on their own. Each member is like a thin piece of twine: by itself, it is very weak, but when all the twine is woven together, the resulting rope is strong and mighty.
We recommend that you find a church where the Bible is taught and the people are engaged in studying it together. You won’t find any perfect pastors, but you will find many who are getting closer to God one day at a time.
We wish you well,
Linda
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1 Heb 10:25 (CEV)