Bible – Chandler Warren

Counterintuitive Advice for Pastors

From the start of the summer, I have participated in a weekly online cohort for pastors. It has focused on areas of ministry faithfulness and fruitfulness that I don’t always think about or emphasize in my own ministry. If you’re interested in this cohort, you can find it here. My time in the cohort has led me to embrace some counterintuitive advice for pastors, some from the cohort and some from elsewhere, that really works.

In my experience, pastors often fall into one of two categories: workaholics or slackers. This article is for the former. Workaholic pastors can easily be misled—by themselves or by well-meaning church members—into believing their overwork is a sign of virtue. But if you’re in that camp, know this: you’re not just hurting yourself; you’re also doing harm to your church.

Do Less

God gave the church pastors “to equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12).

(If you want to learn more about this, you can watch a sermon that I preached on this passage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91qdGfcVzoI.)

Your church members need to learn to do the work of ministry. As the pastor, it is your responsibility to train them. If you can equip the saints for the ministry, their combined impact for God’s kingdom will be greater than yours ever could be on its own. You just have to delegate, train, empower, and encourage them. For pastors, figure out what only you can do in the church and then delegate everything else that is on your plate. The church members need to do the ministry; you can’t horde it all. If someone can do the work even 80% as good as you think you can after a year of training and encouragement, they are talented enough to do it.

Be Gone More

You don’t want your church to be built on you. You can’t handle the weight of it. As they say, out of sight, out of mind. If you’re gone, the church has room to breathe and minister without you. This is healthy for you and the church. Go to your denomination’s annual meetings. Take a week for a pastor’s retreat. Do that mission trip overseas. Preach a revival at a sister church or a camp. Take all your vacation days and enjoy them with your family. People will call you lazy. People will say you only work one day a week. We know they’re wrong. You are doing your job when you’re gone because your job is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. They are being equipped not only in your absence but by your absence.

Take Your Days Off

You are finite. You are mortal. You are limited. Take your days off. Aim for two every week. Weddings and funerals happen. They’ll take plenty of your days off. Get two on the weeks you can, and one on the weeks you can’t. If you plan for one, you’ll end up with zero. Your family will appreciate it. You will appreciate it. Your church will appreciate it because you’ll have something to talk about other than church. While I’m at it, make an appointment to get a full night’s sleep every night. Accept your limitations. Everything will go better when you do.

Preach Less

I hate this one. I love preaching. I rarely feel better than when I’m in the pulpit.

However, I can’t stay fresh in the pulpit if I never take breaks. When I preach around eight weeks or more in a row, I start feeling in the pulpit like Bilbo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring. He said, “I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” That’s how I start to get in the pulpit without a break.

I need to hear someone else preach a few Sundays a year, and I need to see them in my pulpit. My church needs Sundays to be exposed to solid, guest preachers and for us to develop new ones. Just this month, I had a church member preach his first sermon on a Sunday morning. He did excellent! So, I don’t feel bad about taking those Sundays off even if I get the occasional church member who gives me a hard time about it.

Conclusion

When you’re in a rut or your church’s attendance has plateaued, how many people would tell you to do less, be gone more, take your days off, and preach less? Sadly, not enough. Normally, you get this kind of advice when you’re close to burning out, but I hope that you see this advice doesn’t just benefit you, it benefits your church. Your church needs you to do less, so they can take on the work God has called them to do. They need you to be gone more because your presence casts a large shadow, and your absence requires them to step-up. You need to take your days off because you won’t give your church your best when you give them everything. You need to preach less because they need to hear someone else, and they need you to preach out of a full heart not an empty one.

Why Pastors Should Consider Side Hustles

side hustle | noun | work performed for income supplementary to one’s primary job
Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/side%20hustle

I recently saw a tweet from a Senior Pastor asking other pastors, “what side jobs do you do to make ends meet?” The replies displayed a mix of answers. Some shared that they were bivocational (having two jobs), and their primary job was outside the church. Others argued that churches should pay their pastors sufficiently, even to the point that their wives can stay home. Many shared some of the work they do to fill in the gaps in their budgets. I want to think through this issue biblically and prudentially to consider whether pastors, especially senior pastors, should have side hustles.

First, I will explain why pastors need a vocation (a job with a source of income). Second, I will discuss the real need for bivocational or multi-vocational ministers. Third, I will share some thoughts on the need for full-time, vocational ministers where possible. Finally, I will give five reasons that churches should allow their pastors to pursue side hustles. As I conclude, I will answer two lingering questions and give one final warning.

The Need for Pastors to Have a Vocation

The Pastoral Epistles are written to two of Paul’s proteges: Timothy, who has two letters in the New Testament bearing his name, and Titus, who has one. These letters are intended to guide them as shepherds in their respective churches.

In 1 Timothy 5:8, Paul writes, “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul says that even a Christian is worse than a non-believer when they fail to provide for the members of their household. This includes pastors.

Pastors (read also, “overseers” and “elders”) are expected to be an example for their flock (Hebrews 13:7), especially regarding the management of their households (1 Timothy 3:4-5; Titus 1:6). If they don’t have a vocation (that is, some means of making a living), they will fail in this command to provide for their families and in the command to manage their households well. Therefore, pastors must have some means of working for an income.

Paul addresses the matter of paying pastors in 1 Timothy 5:17-18: “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.For the Scripture says, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,’ and, ‘The laborer deserves his wages.'” This implies that not all elders receive pay, but some do. In 1 Corinthians 9:14, he writes, “In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.” It is certainly appropriate for some pastors to receive an income for their work, and the church should provide compensation for those elders who are given to the task of preaching and teaching.

The Need for Bivocational

Some local churches will need bivocational pastors to lead their church. They are unable to support a full-time pastor financially. Bivocational pastors are employed, typically full-time, outside the local church. This work and its income provides the primary income and benefits to provide for the pastor’s family.

This arrangement allows the church to fulfill Paul’s teaching that a “‘laborer deserves his wages'” and that an elder who rules well and labors in preaching and teaching is considered “worthy of double-honor.” It also allows the pastor to provide what his family needs.

The Need for Full-time Pastors

In my experience, if a church can afford to pay a pastor full-time (a salary that provides for him and his family), it is worth the investment. There are certianly benefits to bivocational ministers. For example, churches who have bivocational senior pastors are often forced to do more ministry since he cannot fill in the gaps for them. There are also benefits to the pastor. By necessity, he cannot be at every church member’s beck and call. However, typically, if a church has enough income to reasonably support a pastor full-time, they will benefit from his ability to study the Scripture deeper, pray with fewer distractions, lead the church and its other leaders, and show up in times of spiritual need and suffering.

Why Full-time Pastors Should Consider Side Hustles

I am not going to argue that senior pastors should pursue side hustles to build-up a potential path outside the church. Frankly, if the Lord is calling you to leave the church, you should be honest with your leaders and pursue a path out sooner rather than later. Ask for generosity in giving you time to find a new career, and put your best effort into fulfilling your responsibilities until that time. Don’t be upset if they decide that your departure should be quicker than you do. It is completely fair for them to want a man whose work displays the passion and faithfulness of a God-given calling instead of the lackluster efforts of someone who is not called to pastoral ministry. You may feel that you can give them enough, but you may not be in a position to decide that.

I am not going to argue that side hustles are necessary because churches don’t pay enough. This may be true in some cases, but if you need a side hustle to make ends meet, it might be a shortcoming in your church’s budget priorities or their ability to pay a full-time minister.

I do think pastors can have side hustles, and these can be helpful. Side hustles should:

Not take away from the time their church deserves as a full-time pastor. (If you want me to write an article on time management and work expectations for full-time ministry, feel free to comment below!)
Not take away from the flexibility of a pastor’s schedule.
Not take away from the urgency to lead the church to fulfill the Great Commission.

I want to use the rest of this article to give five reasons that churches should allow their pastors to pursue side hustles. They should not expect this of their pastors. Some men won’t want to do it. They should allow it, though, even when his income is sufficient to provide for his family and retirement. Here are five reasons why.

1. Side hustles can allow him to unplug from ministry.

Pastoral ministry is hard to leave “at the office.” Everyone struggles to keep work from interfering with things home. This is especially true for jobs that deal with conflict, trauma, and leadership. Unfortunately, the pastor is often a counselor, chaplain, and leader. He carries the stress of conflict within the church. He feels the pain of being there when people die and when families cry. He carries the weight of leading a church and all that entails. Ask any pastor you know. Some days it is difficult to come home with a smile and play with your kids.

Many pastors find hobbies. They find time for something that brings them joy and distracts them long enough that they can unplug from church stress. Hobbies are an essential part of any pastor’s life, and side hustles can often serve that same purpose. For some, their side hustle might be a hobby. I’ve known pastors who got into carpentry only to start a small business to sell their works. I’ve known others who started repairing and rebinding Bibles only to make that a part-time job. In some cases, a side hustle can be a way to provide funds for hobbies and family vacations that make ministry survivable.

Pastoral ministry is a marathon, not a sprint. Oftentimes, pastors who are self-motivated, self-starters, and entrepreneurial struggle with the reality that working harder doesn’t always result in anything tangible. They need to learn to set a good pace to endure for the long haul.

2. Side hustles can allow pastors to be competitive.

On a similar note, many pastors want to compete. This is a pretty natural human instinct for most people, but it can be damaging to pastors and churches. The only time that Scripture commands us to compete with one another is in Romans 12:10 where it says to “Outdo one another in showing honor.” Competition among Christians isn’t meant to be the norm.

Pastors who have an urge to compete will find themselves competing with other churches instead of celebrating their kingdom work. Side hustles may provide an opportunity for pastors to compete outside the church.

Eugene Peterson, well known for his slow and steady presence as a pastor, confessed that he had a great need to compete. He satisfied this by running in races rather than competing with other churches.

I know many pastors who hunt because of this same urge to compete. If the side hustle allows the pastor to compete, it can provide a release valve that will keep him from competing with the other staff, other leaders, and other churches in the community.

3. Side hustles can provide a sense of accomplishment.

Most pastors die without seeing the results of their labors. They may see some tangible results after years and decades of work, but they are working on the human heart and those days are rarer than one would hope. Side hustles can provide work that has immediate results, an immediate feeling of success.

4. Side hustles can supplement his family’s income.

Even at churches that can provide housing, income, healthcare, and retirement, they may not be able to provide enough for a second vehicle for his wife or older child, retirement that will allow him to live when he doesn’t have a church providing a parsonage or housing allowance, or healthcare for a child with difficult pre-existing conditions. The church may not be able to provide enough for him to save an emergency fund, to save for a child’s college tuition, or many other important but not “necessary” things.

Side hustles allow pastors to put a little extra away. Personally, I would encourage pastors to designate their income from side hustles to expenses outside their normal budget. Don’t become dependent on your side hustle. Allow it to bless you, but don’t let it begin to control you. You want the flexibility to walk away from it when a funeral comes up or when extra weddings happen in the church. You want the freedom to walk away without it hurting your ability to pay your bills and feed your family. If you become dependent on it, you may need to consider moving to a bivocational role at the church.

5. Side hustles can expand his ministry outreach.

For pastors, we sometimes work double-duty just to put ourselves in positions to engage the community and the lost. I’ve known youth pastors who coach on the side or substitute teach. They are given access to the schools through this extra work. Others may do service-oriented work that allows them to meet lots of people. They may do work that helps them connect with community leaders and organizations. These side hustles may give the inroad to meaningful ministry outside the walls of the church.

Two Questions

Is a church being unfaithful if their pastor pursues a side hustle?

If he’s doing it to cover necessary expenses (food, shelter, health care, transportation, etc.), yes. If he’s doing it to cover expenses the church shouldn’t be expected to manage, no.

Churches should not consider the pastor’s side hustle when considering his pay package. If the Senior Pastor still works full-time, still makes himself available for taks like weddings, funerals, visiting the sick, pastoral care, leading staff and ministry teams, preaching, etc., then he is worthy of his wages. The church should give him annual cost-of-living adjustments. The church should give him merit-based raises if he has earned them. The church should continue to be fair and generous to their pastor. They should also allow him this other work that may be helpful to his mental or physical health and allow his spouse to stay home with the kids.

Is a pastor being unfaithful if he pursues a side hustle?

If the pastor neglects his responsibilities to do this side hustle, treats it as an opportunity to get out of ministry with a back-up plan, pushes out family time, or begins to make him greedy, then yes. He would be unfaithful to his responsibilities as a vocational pastor and possibly as a husband, father, and Christian. If the pastor fits the work into time outside of his church responsibilities, continues to make meaningful time for his family, remains content with the financial means that God has given him, and continues to faithfully serve, then no. He is free to take on something else without it being considered unfaithful.

Final Word

I hope this has helped you as a church member or pastor think about this topic more. Pastors are people too. In this economy, more people are taking on extra work outside their primary job to make ends meet, allow their spouse to stay home with kids, or provide for second vehicles, savings, family vacations, and other things. We shouldn’t be surprised that pastors may need to do the same.

5 Tips to Start Reading the Bible Daily

You want to read the Bible, but you don’t know where to start. These five tips for reading the Bible will help you read the entire Bible more consistently for longer. I won’t recommend a reading plan. I’ll simply give some advice to get started.

1. Don’t read too much.

It may sound counterintuitive. But many well laid plans for regular Bible reading are ruined by ambitious goals. Slow and steady wins the race. Make Bible reading a habit, not an event. For most people, one chapter per day is the best starting place.

2. Read through books.

I would avoid reading just one or two verses at a time. There are benefits to studying and meditating on one verse, but the Bible wasn’t originally written in verses. We need to read longer texts to understand the meaning of the verses. As others have said, “A text without a context is a con.”

3. Alternate between the Old and New Testaments.

I would encourage reading a book in the New Testament and following this with one in the Old. I mainly recommend doing this because most people find the New Testament easier to read. Reading through books of the New Testament helps maintain momentum.

4. Start smaller.

Choose a book of the Bible that you can read in one week or less (seven chapters or less). If you start with a short New Testament book, as I recommend, you may want to follow that with another New Testament book like one of the gospels before jumping into the Old Testament. Even when you do jump into the Old Testament, you may want to start with one of the smaller books like Ruth or Esther. Reading some shorter books first will build momentum to a long-term habit.

5. Connect your reading time to another habit.

You should try reading at the same time each day. I would even recommend the same location. Why do you brush your teeth every day? It has become a habit that you don’t even have to think about or make a choice to do. You can connect your Bible reading to other daily habits like drinking your morning coffee.

Bonus: Use helps when you need them.

To get started, use a good study Bible. I recommend the ESV Study Bible. I would also recommend the Old Testament and New Testament overview videos from BibleProject (you can find the Old Testament videos here and the New Testament ones here). I also have found David Guzik’s free online Bible commentary helpful (https://enduringword.com/). These resources can answer questions as you read that could confuse you so much that you get discouraged.

Disclaimer: Although I recommend these resources, I don’t endorse everything in them.

Getting Started

If you follow these tips, you can develop a habit of Bible reading. Once you have an enduring habit, you can then read more chapters each day, add more time to pray for Scripture, or add additional in-depth study of specific books.

And don’t forget: The best plan for reading Scripture is the one you use.

Spiritual Fatherhood

Yesterday was Father’s Day. At our church, we use Father’s Day and Mother’s Day to honor the godly men and women in our congregation. We honor all men and women because, even without biological or adopted children, every Christian can be a spiritual parent to someone else.

Most Christians that I regularly engage with are Protestants. They belong to a church affiliated with the Reformation or some post-Reformation denomination. Of those folks, most are theologically evangelicals. Therefore, most don’t like referring to ministers with the honorific of “Father.”

Roman Catholics often call their parish priests Father. Occasionally, I hear some Anglican friends do the same; some Orthodox traditions do this too. To these, I sometimes hear people cite the words of Jesus in Matthew 23:9, “And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.”

Call No Man Father?

Without getting into a full essay on Matthew 23:9, we must understand three things: (1) the purpose of this pushback, (2) the inconsistent application of this critique, and (3) the larger biblical witness.

But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Matthew 23:8-12).

Jesus pushes back on those who would elevate themselves with titles. The final verse says, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” The issue is with the scribes and Pharisees, the people Jesus was addressing (see 23:2), elevating themselves with titles like “rabbi,” “father,” and “instructors.” The issue wasn’t those particular words. The issue was the prideful hearts that those words represented. This does not mean that titles are unhelpful, but it does mean that people shouldn’t bestow titles on themselves. We can’t avoid these titles. Even outside the church, we have teachers and fathers. The heart was the issue, not necessarily the labels.

Furthermore, many Christians who would use Matthew 23:9 to push back against calling a priest/pastor “Father” would be fine calling some people in the church teacher. For example, they may call their pastor or Sunday School instructor “teacher.” Throughout Paul’s letters, we are faced with the reality that some are called to specific offices and thereby called to bear specific titles (see Ephesians 4, 1 Timothy 3, and Titus 1).

Finally, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul calls himself a father in a spiritual sense. As far as we can tell, Paul had no children of his own. At the time of his gospel ministry, he was single and committed to singleness (1 Corinthians 7:8). To the Christians in Corinth, he wrote,”For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:15 ). In the church traditions that I have been a part of, we often call fellow Christians “brothers-in-Christ” or “sisters-in-Christ.” Paul identifies himself here as serving the Corinthians as a “father-in-Christ.” They are not his biological children. They are not his adopted children. They are his spiritual children, in a sense.

Paul similarly calls Timothy his son and refers to himself as Timothy’s father. In Philippians 2:22, he writes, “But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.” Again, Paul is not Timothy’s biological or adoptive father, but he identifies Timothy as a spiritual son and himself as a spiritual father, as they work together in the gospel ministry.

For these reasons, although we may not choose to call ministers or mentors “Father” as a title, we can acknowledge the deeper reality of spiritual fatherhood or, to put use more biblical language, “fatherhood-in-Christ.”

The Pastor as Father-in-Christ

Yes, every Christian man is our brother-in-Christ, but some men play a special role in mentoring, guiding, instructing, training, and disciplining others for the sake of following Christ well. Of course, pastors/elders can take this role. Those whom God has specifically called to the work of gospel ministry are particularly able to function as father figures.

The men who are called to “shepherd the flock of God that is among you” (1 Peter 5:2a) often serve as fathers-in-Christ to the congregation. They cannot minister in an unrestricted sense to the women of the church, but they can publicly teach, encourage, and pastor the women of the church. With proper accountability, they can provide great spiritual care for women. Even more so, they can pastor, lead, teach, love, and disciple the men of the congregation. In directly ministering to the men, they can indirectly minister to many women who are married to these godly men who are called to be husbands and fathers to their families.

Many people grow up with absent, estranged, or outright abusive fathers. They struggle to see the love and goodness of God because of this personal hang-up. Men are given the title of father, so that they can see that their fathering mirrors the fatherhood of God. Unfortunately, they fail and are sometimes unrepentant; instead of benefitting their children by following the example of our Heavenly Father, they project a poor image of fatherhood onto God. Pastors can play a key role in giving another person, an imperfect example of fatherhood which, while still fallible, better exemplifies God’s character and admits where he falls short and seeks forgiveness and change in the face of it.

Embracing Fatherhood-in-Christ

Every man, whether he has fathered biological or adopted children before, can be someone else’s father-in-Christ. They don’t need to be ordained or called to ministry to play this important role. Sometimes the simplest and most humble men play this role for myriads of men throughout their lives. They lead men to trust in Christ. They teach them how to follow him. They help them to abide in him. They send them out to do the same for others. All the while, they teach no adult Sunday School class, lead no men’s Bible study, and bear no title. They simply do what a father does for his children.

If you are a Christian man, I want to challenge you to seriously consider the opportunity before you. You can have a generational impact for Christ. You can change the trajectory of men and families for lifetimes simply by being like a dad for kids who aren’t your own. You may only have Jesus in common with them, but you can use that common union to advance a deeper relationship of encouragement, accountability, love, and discipline.

I’ve focused on the idea of a father-in-Christ, but I want to acknowledge the biblical reality of a mother-in-Christ (see Titus 2). We honor women for the spiritual mothering that they can provide in our lives. Because of this, if you are a Christian woman, you can also take on this challenge to provide the kind of mother some people have never had. Even if they have a great relationship with their mom, you can still provide a care for them that helps them to know Christ, trust Christ, follow Christ, abide in Christ, and share Christ with others. What a gift!

In Scripture, children are a blessing. For example, Psalm 127:3-5a says:

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
    the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
    are the children of one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
    who fills his quiver with them!

Even if God hasn’t blessed you with children in your home, he can bless you with children in your heart. He can bless you with brothers and sisters-in-Christ who also call you, even if just in their minds, father or mother.

How Tom Wright Changed My Life

Yesterday (7 February 2020), St. Mary’s College of Divinity at St. Andrews had an event to honor and remember Tom Wright (a.k.a., N.T. Wright) for his tenure at the university. Professor Wright held a distinguished chair in New Testament for nearly a decade (a chair previously held by Richard Bauckham). As Professor Alan Torrance mentioned yesterday evening, he was responsible for millions of pounds being poured into St. Mary’s via student enrollment and grants. He was also instrumental in Logos (the program I study in) starting and being developed at St. Andrews. But I want to point out a few other ways that I have benefitted from his lifetime of scholarship.

When I was a high school student, I first heard the name N.T. Wright when my pastor and worship pastor wanted to take a group from the church to Oklahoma Christian University where he was speaking. The trip ended up being cancelled, and I didn’t get to go. (I would then meet him New Orleans some years later where he signed every book I had by him at the time, and then I would have classes with him some years after that.) Instead, I wouldn’t interact with Wright’s work for another couple years until I picked up the book Simply Christian and then Simply Jesus after that. Again, I wouldn’t interact with his work in any meaningful way until my undergraduate years.

The two primary things I learned from N.T. Wright which I should have known, but never did, were: the Jewishness of Jesus and the New Testament, and the Christian hope of future resurrection. I grew up in Christian communities that never spent much time thinking about how deeply Jewish Jesus was or the four gospel accounts which talk about him or Paul’s letters or any of it. Jesus is Jewish—not formerly or temporarily Jewish. Jesus continues to be Jewish, as does the New Testament. How are we to read the gospel accounts, Acts, Paul’s writings, the letter to the Hebrews, or the letters from Peter or John or Jude if not as profoundly Jewish texts? Yes, they often write to a wider audience—especially Paul’s letters, but they do so from a religious background and history of thought which is profoundly Jewish.

Finally, Tom Wright taught me the Christian hope. I always imagined death to be the end. I don’t mean that I thought we would just die and that there would be nothing. But I did imagine that we would die and go to heaven—some would go to hell—and that everything would just be disembodied and ethereal. However, in reading Wright’s works, I realized that the New Testament teaches something profoundly different. It teaches that God will raise us bodily from the dead in the end and bring heaven to earth. It teaches that if God doesn’t raise us like Jesus, then we ought to be the most pitied because we are wasting our lives. I can’t even recount the experience of reading The Resurrection of the Son of God for the first time. If I could get everyone to wade through its hundreds of pages, I would want every Christian to read it.

In summary, Tom Wright changed my life. His teaching impacted how my professors read the New Testament. In reading his work, I realized how profoundly he impacted my own professors. In reading his work, I realized essential truths of the Christian faith for the first time. In reading his work, I realized the Christian hope, and in reading his work, I realized that the story of Jesus is the climax of the story of Israel. I, like many, am forever indebted to the life and scholarship of N.T. Wright. May God bless him abundantly in his retirement (even if, it’s just “in name only”)!