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In reality however, not all pastors are bold and fearless in their preaching…

Because many preach the word and are bold in speaking out about accepted areas – but in certain other areas, they suddenly become much more hesitant to speak out. And in the rare occasions that they do, they leave lots of wiggle room, and are careful to not offend anyone.

That’s because pastors are supported by churches. And in certain church structures, if the congregation or the church leaders are unhappy with the preaching of the pastor… hmmm.

What might happen if people are unhappy with the preaching of a pastor?

At the very basic level, no one likes to be hated. It is just normal to
want to be liked, to be included and accepted by the church family. To not be shunned or
avoided…

But this can also affect the pastor’s family – such as the quality of schooling they can afford for their children. Or the kind of food his family can afford to buy. And ultimately, whether they as a family have to leave this church and go elsewhere, with the children leaving all their friends behind. Maybe having to sell their house and move – because they can no longer afford their mortgage…

So you see, there’s a lot at stake for pastors. There are strong reasons to stay in the accepted areas – and not speak out with boldness about the real issues. And often these things are unspoken, yet understood.

Why does this happen? I can think of several reasons.

1. There are some areas that are really touchy for the majority culture of the congregation. This will differ from culture to culture but for Australians, it might be the idolatry of sport. For Chinese, it might be the idolatry of the family, or the career. Trouble is, often it’s in these very areas where the light of the gospel needs to shine the strongest! These are the areas that people are determined to not submit to the lordship of Christ.

2. Established churchgoers, who have been coming for quite a long
   time may have the false expectation that preaching is not going to
   unduly challenge them, because they perceive themselves to have already attained maturity as Christians. Preaching might challenge others who are less mature. And for them, preaching might sometimes raise new interesting ideas. But I’m a mature Christian! I shouldn’t feel uncomfortably challenged about lying (say)!

3. Having had their consciences pricked, people respond, not with faith and repentance (which would be good), but with rationalisation. They defend themselves and the rightness of idolising their career (say). They might even cling to a few out-of-context proof texts to support their position. And out the window goes proper exegesis – because what’s at stake isn’t really truth, but the pretense of being godly.
4. The fact is, some people wield a lot of power in a church. You know who they are – perhaps its one of the founders, or an elder, or the organist, or a certain outspoken wife. And if you speak out strongly about something that they happen to have been doing, then out of spite they can use their power to get back at you in a whole manner of ways. Often while still smiling sweetly at you.

All that’s at the individual level. But at the systemic level there are other reasons too.

1. The denominational structure may give a say to a lot of people on whether to continue a pastor’s contract – but this could be misused by individuals who dislike what the pastor has been saying about Christian marriages (say), and who use this as an opportunity to get back at the pastor.

2. The pastor’s stipend is in some way tied to people’s happiness with the pastor. Whereas the job of the pastor is not really to make people happy with them – and may in fact infuriate people when he talks about study (say).
3. In recent years there has also been a shift away from more formal membership, to a more voluntary kind of association. This undermines the ability of a church to enforce church discipline. Together with this is also the greater mobility of people, who can easily go to another church if that will quieten their conscience, or hide their favourite sins with anonymity.
4. The lack of persecution in other areas of life makes Christians generally, and pastors particularly, unused to facing persecution and hardship for the sake of the gospel. We like Luther – but we’re not like Luther!

In 2 Timothy Paul sees that all this is coming on the church. He says,

And sadly, that’s what we can sometimes find in our churches today. People who don’t like to hear unpalatable things – and who will even silence those who preach sound doctrine.

What can be done? More on this next time!

[ PS: what are the areas that you would be afraid speaking out about at your church? ]