Do you ever wonder what pastors and local ministers of the gospel do during the week? I mean we all know they preach their sermons on Sunday morning and Sunday night. But, what do they do the rest of the time? Well, I have to admit I hardly ever see a minister during the week. Since I spend most of my time behind a computer desk I hardly ever see anyone for that matter. So, maybe it’s just me. Maybe I am the one who is missing it. Either way, I think we should see more pastors and ministers of the gospel, out and about, doing the work of the Lord. But wait—it’s not that easy.
We expect them to visit but…
It’s not like it was in the good-ole-days when folks loved company. A pastor just can’t drop in on a church member for a visit. No, now everyone just wants to be left alone to reside in his or her own little corner of the world not to be messed with. For a pastor, or any minister for that matter, to drop in for a visit is just simply unthinkable nowadays.
So now what…
They could visit the hospitals couldn’t they?
Actually, many pastors have stopped their hospital visitations. Why is this? I am not totally sure accept to say I think the pastor is waiting to be asked to come and visit while the people who are in the hospital think he just needs to drop by. But, here we go again, a pastor don’t always feel at liberty to drop in to see someone. And, who can blame him? (I sure can’t. I don’t like to be dropped in on myself. I want you to visit but please call first.)
Note: While routine hospital visitations are almost extinct in some areas, some ministers do still actually visit hospitals regularly. But since we have made it so uncomfortable for them, there are still countless others who aren’t going anywhere without being asked.
And what about evangelism? Shouldn't our local pastors evangelize? Surely they can do that much.
Well, yes. But maybe we are expecting too much from our pastors on this one. Let’s face it. Many hold down regular jobs and are doing the best they can. Yet, we want more. We actually count on them to do our evangelizing for us. We church members have become so lazy in our work for the Lord that we will go through an entire day without telling someone about Jesus, while all the time expecting our local pastors to get out and get with it. Well, most of our pastors can’t get out and get with it because the church its self is in so much turmoil they spend most of their time on their knees praying. And, so many Christians have stopped giving to the local church that the pastor doesn’t have financial resources to evangelize with anyway.
Yes, we want the pastor to do it all and if he don’t, we criticize him and say he isn’t doing a very good job. I wonder sometimes if we could do his job any better? I doubt it.
You want to know what I think?
I think, the next time we start questioning why our pastors aren’t out and about, doing what we think they should be doing, we need to simply remember all the reasons we’ve given them just to stay home.
Until next month—remember, you’re in the army now. The army of the Lord that is.
