I found this story on Facebook again. It's has been passed around the past few years. It's one of those guilt trippers. I don't know if it's true. And I've heard friends talk about it (aside from social media presentations) and how this pastor is such a genius and he's so right... And maybe he is. Maybe this is exactly what that church needed.
I can't help but look at this with skepticism. His first move as a new pastor was to test his congregation and shame them for not passing his test. So, he's judgmental and condescending; hardly a reflection of Jesus. Obviously I'm missing the point, right? The point is that true disciples of Jesus would care for the poor. But theatrical, condescending sermons are a dime a dozen. They don't indicate the character of the preacher. And these sermons don't actually effect change. They make people feel guilty and maybe even make some feel determined to be better. These are temporary effects. Pile on enough of these sermons and they will begin to weigh people down. Leaders will feel tired--will feel like failures and begin to drop like flies. Congregants will do the same, and trying to get volunteers will feel like pulling teeth.
Can we find a better way to get the message across?
I had two ministers-in-training whom I loved, and really wanted them to share their testimony. Our group would go on trips to various churches and I would always ask if they'd be willing to speak. "No thanks," was always their response. Of course, I tried to tell them why they should. I exhorted them often, but they never would. Then one day, in an unrelated meeting, I decided to change the pace and encourage them. I told them they had so much to give! I told them their stories and experiences carried life lessons that would really affect people--that the world needed to hear from them! And you know what happened? The next day both of them shared their testimonies. After two years of continuous exhortation, all it took was one instance of encouragement.
People won't give what they don't believe they have. They won't be good if they believe they're bad. As leaders, we need to encourage our people and tell them the good that we see! We need to show them who they are: that they are gifted and needed and valuable and have influence. And if we see that they are not acting as we know they can, we should take some pointers from the best leader, God, who speaks things into existence (Rom 4:17. Gen. 1); we need to tell them that they can. God did not come into this word to condemn the world, but to save it (John 3:17). That is what we should reflect!
My pastor was a great example in this specific area. There was a homeless man who often came to church, and the pastor had him sit next to him right in the front. He led by example, which I think is a very honorable and respectable way to communicate this to the church, rather than pretending to be homeless to test everyone. If my pastor was prone to theatrics like pretending to be homeless, I would feel more manipulated than led. I would feel insulted and disrespected, and I would not trust him.
There is a time and place for faults to be pointed out. And perhaps it was time for this church. But in general, pointing out the bad is the more common way to go. Anyone can point out the bad in things. It heaps condemnation on people which ends up pushing people further into sin. When I have pointed out faults in my students, I have watched them become worse. If they were blind to it before, when it is called out they now identify with it and own it. And in their efforts to fix it, they make it worse. It's not that we should pretend problems don't exist, but we should encourage the good far more than we point out the bad--if we want to be good and effective leaders, that is. And more importantly we need to point our congregants to God.
Satan is the accuser of the brethren. So if you point out flaws, condemn peoples' sins, or constantly remind them of their mistakes, you are playing Satan's role for him. You are placing yourself between people and God with a mirror so what they see instead of God is a reflection of themselves. And what naturally occurs is disappointment and an attempt to fix self. And as I have said in previous posts, self-focus (or sin-focus) leads to far more problems (people end up either actively trying to fix it and making it worse, or learning to be in denial and start focusing on others, which breaks down loyalty, trust, and community, and leads to ostracizing each new victim they set their focus on). As the leader does, so the student does. I learned this the hard way. After teaching a group of students and continuously placing the mirrors between them and God, thwarting their focus on Him, they learned to do the same. Soon enough I had more mirrors around me than I could handle. I was judged with the same measure that I had judged.
So... maybe this particular church needed a kick in the pants. I hope that pastor--if he's not fictitious--decided to follow up with a more encouraging approach.
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