Recently the Director of the Pastor-Church Relations Services addressed the ministers and their wives of the classis in which I serve. The speaker discussed some of the problem situations with which the committee is dealing. The problems seem to be many in number. We were also told about some of the proposals which are being suggested as preventative measures. Following the presentation there was opportunity for questions and discussion.
One of the emeritus ministers attending the session had recently celebrated his forty-fifth year of ordination. He related that when he and his classmates get together they often talk about the various persons who have influenced their ministries. Invariably he said they have to acknowledge the influence of the professors under whom they received their training in seminary. He went on to say that he remembers well the advice given by one of his professors to the members of the senior class who were looking forward to candidacy and ordination.
The professor of an earlier day had three things in particular to say to his students as they prepared to leave the classroom to enter the ministry.
The first statement with which the professor confronted his students was: “You must remember the church belongs to them not to you.” He went on to elaborate that the church was there before the young minister arrived on the scene and hopefully would be there long after the minister has left.
The professor had a second word of advice for the aspiring ministers: “Don’t think you have to sweep the place clean. If you do you may choke in the dust which you make.” The newly arrived minister must not think that everything to which the congregation has grown accustomed over the years has to be changed simply because he thinks his way of doing things is better and therefore should be introduced and accepted.
Finally the professor had gone on to tell his students, “You must remember that the elders rule the church not you.” This fact is so obvious that it really should not have to be repeated but that is not the case. In far too many instances it is either forgotten or ignored.
As I listened to the senior pastor reflecting upon the advice given by his mentor so many years ago I couldn’t help but think how sorely the same advice is needed today. It would be revealing to know how many of the present crises in relationships between pastors and churches could have been avoided if the above mentioned advice had been followed.
The advice given in the seminary classroom nearly half a century ago is still of great value today and needed by ministers both young and old, whether in a first charge at the beginning of a ministry or in a last charge facing retirement. The welfare of the church is of such great importance that the advice must be heeded by all who are called to serve in the ministry of the Word and sacraments.
Arthur Besteman is the pastor of the North Street Christian Reformed Church of Zeeland, Michigan, and our Reformed Fellowship Secretary.
