John Thomas FWB churches without a Pastor: The subject was raised at the Ministers Conference last night and I have been thinking on this subject. The question was raised that could the Ministers Conference in some way help those churches that are having problems finding a Pastor? The suggestions that circulated was, or how I understood it, that it really was the churches responsibility. It was said that the Conference had no authority in telling or sending a temporary Pastor to a church because it was not fair to the Minister or the Church to dictate such an order. The point also raised was, If the Conference could remove a church from the Conference because of the lack of a Pastor, then there should be some sort of safety net in place to rescue a Church if they request such help from the Conference.. After some experience in this regard, I have a few ideas on the subject to offer for consideration by the ministers body.
We do form committees, IE..Pulpit Committees..Scholarship Committees and others. To address this problem we could do this.
Form a Temporary Pastoral Committee Pool of a determined number from our qualified Ministers only on a volunteer basics. If then any church having problems acquiring a suitable Pastor, do REQUEST help from the Conference, Then a Minister who is in that Pool could be sought who resides close to the church in need. This is to minimize the expense occurred of the volunteer Minister. If that Minister is suitable to the problem church, then he could serve as Pastor on a temporary basics only and in condition, that the problem church is actively perusing a permanent Pastor.
All of this would solve a number of problems for churches that are having difficulty locating a Pastor for their church. It would also remove the stress involved on the problem church and give them breathing room to pray and choose a good Pastor. In closing I will add. I have recently (less than a year now) became a Pastor at Light House Church. I first went there just to preach and help because they were having trouble finding Ministers willing to do the preaching on a regular basis. After being there for a while I fell in love with the people and their Church and became very concerned about the future of Light House. I now serve as their Pastor and feel that my God has put me there for His purpose. Some of our Ministers may find they could be used of God in a similar way.