True Love for Pastors

In the month of August, I watched on social media the downright evil that a church spewed out on two young pastors, one that was fired and another forced to resign because of philosophical differences, and if that wasn’t bad enough, it got worse.  Another young pastor here in California committed suicide leaving a young wife, two young children, and a congregation in a loss.  Some veteran pastors began to speak up for both incidents that the church needs to become a place of encouragement and restoration.  Our leaders need to build up our pastors and not tear them down so far that they drown.  They are people struggling their way on their own spiritual journey like everyone else.  They have flaws and they have great talents and gifts.  Most of the time, pastors are told only of their flaws. 

For over thirty years of my life, I believed the church was to be the one to monitor behavior and make sure everyone is in line with the leaders’ expectations and philosophical ideals of what the Bible says is righteous behavior and ideas. Even though I would teach young people to encourage one another, I didn’t believe that it would really occur in the church because encouragement was so rare, and not just for me, but also for my other pastors too.  This is a problem in our church and we need to resolve it. 

Don’t get me wrong, I had some amazing experiences and great times in my youth ministry career, but when I walked away from it, I was destroyed.  I had no self-esteem. I believed that God loved me, but why in the world would he like me? My theology was a mess.  My journey of overcoming the hurt of the church began, and I am a healthy person today.

Our world is suffering and the church has the answer.  If we cannot treat our leaders with the love of Jesus, how in the world do we expect to treat unbelievers with the love of Jesus?  “ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails.”  (1 Corinthians 13:5-8 NIV) The congregation and the leaders need to love everyone with this type of love.

Here is my breakdown of that passage.  We need to be patient.  It is difficult.  We need to be kind.  That is ridiculously hard, but when it is done, it is amazing.  We have to stop being jealous of other people’s successes, relationships, lives, etc.  Envy is the root to many evils.  Stop believing that you are so much smarter and better than those around you, and basically stop posting it on social media when you are right and everyone else is wrong. 

How do we dishonor our leaders?  Let me count the ways.  We gossip, do not support them, complain to them and about them about the same exact incident over and over again, and we are just plain rude to them and rejoice when they leave.  The church is not about you, so self-seeking needs to stop.  When the church makes a sudden change, we have to not get angry, but see the new changes as new opportunities to bring people to Jesus, which should be the main reason for church.  Please, please, please stop reminding our leaders of what they said wrong, or how they said it, or what they did ten years ago that was completely out of line.  It’s not love if you’re keeping a scorecard. 

Begin to seek the truth, and then rejoicing will be discovered.  Want to really help your church leaders?  Protect them.  Trust their decisions.  Hope and pray that their visions will be from God and that they will be beneficial for the entire church.  Never give up on your church leaders.  Pray for them. That’s my breakdown of that passage in 1 Corinthians 13.

When we love, it will not fail.  In our country today, the church has the best opportunity to lead people into love.  We have a choice.  Will we choose love or hurt? I hope and pray from this day forward our churches will choose love.