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All Christians need to see the warning signs of a man who has not been truly called by God to the office of pastor. Here are five to consider:
1. No Formal Theological Training
Some churchgoers avoid asking or even caring whether or not their pastors have been properly trained for pastoral ministry. It sometimes happens in churches that anyone who says that he feels called to do ministry does it. We wouldn’t, of course, do this in any other calling. I would be negligent at best if I sent my sick loved one to a self-proclaimed medical doctor who said that he felt called but who also skipped the MCAT and an accredited medical school. But in some churches this hasn’t stopped us. As long as a person feels led, has a big heart, and can motivate the people, he may be given the title of pastor. Here are a series of questions you should ask your pastor:
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From which reputable seminary did you receive your Master of Divinity degree?
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Which faithful church body confirmed your internal calling?
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When were you ordained to the office and hands laid upon you?
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Have you learned the word of God in the original languages?
If the pastor took some classes from some Bible college or other religious university and skirted the hard work of obtaining a Divinitatis Magistrvm (Master of Divinity), why would you expect him to labor faithfully every week in the Word to rightly divide the truth to the glory of God and the profit of your soul?
2. No Creed
What your pastor believes is crucial to the well-being of your soul. I Timothy 4:16 commands a pastor to take heed to himself and to the doctrine, for in doing this he will save both himself and those who hear him. So what is your pastor’s doctrine? Since no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation, to which historical and collective expression of what Scripture teaches has he promised to honor?
This is why Protestants produced creeds and confessions. The Holy Spirit has worked powerfully in Christians who have gone before us. If a pastor has no desire to formally commit himself to some expression of the historic Christian faith, he is making a strong statement that the truth is irrelevant to what he is doing. In that case, run.
3. No Preaching
Is your pastor committed to preach the Word as it is in truth, the word of God? How central is the Word to what he is doing? Does he confront sin? Is there a proper balance of the law and the gospel in his preaching? Or are you getting sermon series like the following: “Living on Empty?” “Going Off-Roading with God,” “Church Is a Verb,” “Life Is a Marathon,” etc.? If the Word is being used like a giant fortune cookie from which the pastor pulls a few verses to support his topic, that is exactly the kind of ear-tickling the apostle Paul warned against (see 2 Tim. 4:1-5).
The assumption is being made today that the most Spirit-filled churches are led by pastors who can best determine for the people what they need. In this way the pastor thinks he is being relevant to a post-modern culture, when in reality he is only pandering to the wants of assumed seekers. If your pastor is refusing to preach through the word of God, he is a false shepherd. God gave us books and stories for a reason—it is God’s word that is to be faithfully proclaimed.
4. No Holiness
Pastors are called to set an example of godliness in all aspects of their lives. How does your pastor look and act? Does his life demonstrate that he is concerned about your soul? Does he strive to push you heavenward as a pilgrim here on earth? Or is he virtually indistinguishable from the world?
I am wearied of seeing forty- to fifty-year-old pastors dress and act like teenagers. This strange (what I call) “incarnational hipsterism” has overrun the church with worldliness. Age denial is one thing, but it’s quite another to live out that denial in an artificial and insincere manner as a pretext of doing ministry in a relevant way. Our love as pastors should be without hypocrisy, that is without masks.
5. No Ecclesiology
How important are the three marks of a faithful church to your pastor?
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The pure preaching of the gospel
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The right administration of the sacraments
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Church discipline
The greatest evidence of whether your pastor is called by God will be witnessed in his convictions about the doctrine of the church. Does he care enough to discipline wayward members? Is he more concerned about what the church looks like than its holiness and catholicity (the church universal)? Is he more concerned about being relational rather than theological, subjective rather than objective?
Does your pastor avoid all polemics and defense of the truth? Does the fruit of his work show that he has been successful is creating a niche event for a particular age group? What do the demographics of his ministry really demonstrate? And finally, does he care more about making the worship service a program, a show, rather than feeding the sheep with the Word and nurturing them in their struggles against sin?
Being assured that your pastor is called by God is crucial to the well-being of your soul. Hopefully, some of the above signs and questions will help you determine if indeed you are sitting under a faithful minister of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Related Articles:
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Your Online Pastor Doesn’t Love You the Way Your Local Pastor Does
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A Pastor’s Surprise: Systematic Theology Classes in the Local Church
Chris Gordon is the radio teacher for Abounding Grace Radio and the preaching pastor at Escondido United Reformed Church in California.
This article is adapted from “Of Mohawks And Ministers: What is a Pastor Anymore?” at agradio.org.
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