5 LIES PASTORS ARE TEMPTED TO TELL – AND HOW TO RESIST THEM

No one wants bad news. So we're tempted to downplay the negatives, up-sell the positives and call it faith.

In over 35 years of pastoral ministry, I've known and worked alongside hundreds of pastors. I've met thousands.

I can count the dishonest ones – the wolves in sheep's clothing – on one hand. With fingers left over.

But there are some lies that even the 99+ percent of honest pastors have a hard time resisting.

Here are five of them:

1. How Big Their Church Is

We live in a church growth culture. Bigger is better. Even if we don't say it that way, we believe it.

The pressure to perform tempts us to lie about our attendance figures – especially to other pastors. And denominational officials. And visiting preachers ("The attendance is really down today!").

One of the main reasons we do this is found in the title of this point. Too many pastors see the church as "their" church. So they see the growth (or lack of) as their responsibility.

We're always striving for more. And when we don't hit those goals, we pad the books – in our heads and our conversations, if not in the actual reports. Although sometimes we do that, too.

2. How Healthy the Church Is

No one wants bad news. So we're tempted to downplay the negatives, up-sell the positives and call it faith.

It's been said that the first job of leadership is to define reality. I believe that to be profoundly true.

A big part of defining reality is to acknowledge our weaknesses as well as our strengths.

Leaders lead. But we can't get there from here if we don't have an accurate picture of where "here" is.

3. How Spiritually and Emotionally Strong They Are

Most churches are too pastor-centric. Including the church I pastor.

Too many churches rely far too heavily on one person to cast a vision, preach the Word, visit the sick and so on.

When the pastor is seen as a proxy for Jesus, we're taking on a burden no one was ever meant to bear. So we're tempted to lie about it. To ourselves and others. We present ourselves as paragons of spirituality and virtue. And by doing so we set ourselves up for failure.

Even if it doesn't lead to a moral or emotional flame-out, this over-reliance on the pastor sends the wrong message about who the church is supposed to be focused on and led by.

We need to point to Jesus. Lean on him. And equip the saints to follow him even when we're not around.

4. How Strong and Stable Their Marriage and Family Are

If the pastor is supposed to be near perfect, then so is their marriage and family, right?

Too many pastors' spouses and kids are living under an unreasonable pressure to perform, causing them to live a lie – to themselves and to others.

The only perfect relationship is among the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When a pastor’s marriage and family are held to a higher standard than they're capable of living up to – than anyone is capable of living up to – they're being set up for disaster.

The world is filled with pastors and ex-pastors with shattered marriages and families that prove the sad truth behind this lie.

5. How Sure They are About the Church's Direction

We act like we have a clue. We don't. Not really.

Oh sure, every pastor should plan and pray about a vision for the church they're called to lead. And we should present that vision filled with faith and hope.

But we don't really know what the future holds. We've seen visions die before. Including our own. Especially if we've been pastoring for a while.

Plus, pastors aren't the only people capable of hearing from God and acting on it. If we really believe in the priesthood of believers, we should act like it. And that includes vision casting.

RESISTING THE LIES

Pastoring is hard work. But we make it harder than it should be by taking on greater burdens than we were ever meant to carry.

The only way to change this pastor-centric model and shift the burden and the glory back to where it belongs – on Jesus, not the pastor – is to insist on total honesty.

Be honest about how big (or small) the church is.

Only then can our egos get out of the way, allowing churches to be lead appropriately for their size.

Be honest about how healthy or unhealthy the church is.

Only with a proper diagnosis can we hope to treat the church's problems, challenges and possibilities correctly.

Be honest about your own spiritual and emotional health.

It's not right to expose every doubt and weakness to everyone, but we should never present a false self. And we all need to be vulnerable with someone we trust.

Be honest about your marriage and family.

We have to stop holding our spouses and kids up as public examples of unrealistic perfection. And don't let anyone else do it to them, either.

Be honest about the church's future.

If we can let go of our unrealistic (and often unbiblical) plans and expectations, we might find that Christ's plans are very different and far greater than anything we can even imagine. In his hands they’re quite attainable, too.

And that's no lie.

Written by: by Karl Vaters

EGYPT’S WAVE OF PERSECUTION CONTINUES AS MOB STABS CHRISTIAN TO DEATH

 Christians make up 10 percent of Egypt's  population. Many say they have experienced persecution (PA)

Sectarian violence against Christians has recently peaked in the south of the country

A Muslim mob in southern Egypt stabbed a Coptic Christian to death over a personal feud on Monday, stoking anger among Christians amid a spike in assaults on their community.

Bishop Makarios of the southern Minya governorate said the mob attacked the families of two priests with knives and batons in the village of Tahna al-Gabal late Sunday.

A family member, Fam Khalaf, 27, was killed and the father of one of the priests was wounded. Police said they arrested four people in connection with the incident.

On Monday, mourners gathered at a local church for prayers for the dead and protests. Marching to the graveyard, they chanted “with blood and soul, we redeem the cross.”

Christians make up 10 per cent of Egypt’s mostly Muslim population. Sectarian violence occasionally erupts, mainly in rural communities in the south. Islamic extremists have also targeted Christians.

On Saturday, a group of Muslims attacked and torched houses of Christians in the village of Abu-Yacoub, also in Minya, following a rumour that a Christian intended to turn a kindergarten into a church. Security forces arrested at least 14 people. Last week, in another Minya village, Kom al-Lufi, a group of hard-liners attacked and torched houses of Christians after a similar rumour.

In May, a Muslim mob stripped an elderly Christian woman of her clothes and paraded her on the streets of another Minya village, following a rumour that her son had an affair with a Muslim woman. The incident sparked public uproar and prompted Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to publicly vow to bring the attackers to justice.

Egypt’s Orthodox Coptic Christians strongly supported el-Sissi’s ouster of his Islamist predecessor Mohammed Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood group. Following Morsi’s toppling, many Islamists claimed that Christians had conspired with the military against them. Attacks on Christian homes, businesses and churches subsequently surged in the south.

COPTIC CHURCH WELCOMES NEW EGYPTIAN LAW ON BUILDING CHURCHES

A new law will make it easier for Christians to build churches in Egypt, Coptic Catholic spokesman says

The Coptic Catholic Church has welcomed a new Egyptian law to facilitate the building of Christian places of worship.

On August 30 Egypt passed a law codifying the rights of Christians to build and renovate churches in the mostly Muslim country. Under the new 10-article law, approved by the Egyptian parliament, regional governors must rule within four months on Christian church-building and renovation applications and provide a “justified decision,” subject to appeal, if refusing authorization.

Critics have warned some provisions are vaguely worded and say clauses requiring the size of a church to be “commensurate with the number of Christian community members,” taking account of “expected population growth,” could be used by local officials to block permits.

“There’ve been some criticisms, but the government has tried to resolve any problems, and we now have a law which meets modern needs,” said Father Rafic Greiche, spokesman for the Coptic Catholic Church. “No law can be like the Bible – it has to be interpreted and it can be changed. But having had the same law since the Ottoman Empire, we’re satisfied we now have one which seeks to avoid sectarian enmities.”

Father Greiche told Catholic News Service on September 2 that Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches had been represented by legal experts on the commission drafting the law, which had been actively promoted by Egypt’s president, Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and Prime Minister Sherif Ismail.

Priests who ministered in Egypt under the old law said any permit that had to do with a church building had to be signed by the president. One priest said he waited 21 years for a permit to build churches. They also said state or local officials could stop construction for “security issues.” One priest cited the example of a mosque being built next to a Catholic church, and local authorities closed the church because Muslim authorities complained the long Sunday liturgies interfered with their noon call to prayer.

The 200,000-member Catholic Church has 14 dioceses in Egypt, including pastoral services for Latin, Melkite, Armenian, Chaldean, Maronite and Syriac Catholics. The much larger Coptic Orthodox Church makes up at least 10 percent of Egypt’s population of 82.5 million.

Father Greiche said Catholics kept a “low profile” in Egypt compared to the Coptic Orthodox Church, but hoped to carry on building churches, especially in new residential areas around Cairo, Alexandria and other cities.

“Catholics have moved to these modern areas, so the church has to move with them,” the church spokesman said. “We want to serve the whole society, not just the Christian community. We’ve already built schools and hospitals, so our mission extends beyond our own parishes.”