Can You Hear Me Now?
In your opinion, is it best for a church to have an annual call for the Pastor or have an indefinite call for the Pastor? (Personally, I have been a member, at one time or another, of churches that have had the yearly call and others that called a Pastor on an indefinite basis.) What advantages would one method offer over the other method? Does one present more stability or instability? Should churches ever change this method or continue with the same method until the next Pastor is called? So, go ahead, give me your thoughts, and let's back it up with Scripture when needed!
In your opinion, is it best for a church to have an annual call for the Pastor or have an indefinite call for the Pastor? (Personally, I have been a member, at one time or another, of churches that have had the yearly call and others that called a Pastor on an indefinite basis.) What advantages would one method offer over the other method? Does one present more stability or instability? Should churches ever change this method or continue with the same method until the next Pastor is called? So, go ahead, give me your thoughts, and let's back it up with Scripture when needed!
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7 comments:
It would be hard to commit myself to a church wondering I I am going to be employed every year. Yet at the same time UT would keep me from being complacent. I wouldn't take the position, but I see how it could be beneficial.
I dont think one can find support for an annual call in the Scripture. Likewise, i dont know if you can find this idea of a call at all.
I think Acts 16 is a reference to a man calling Paul to come and help until the job was accomplished.
This job was known to be completed by the Holy Spirit...which in my opinion would mean that A Church calls a man alongside to work with them until his work is finished...it would imply an indefinye call.
Both. Neither. Both the annual call and the indefinite call have pros and cons taken as a practical matter. But there are no examples of either in the New Testament. Perhaps both of them, as practiced in modern churches, are wrong. Situations like Paul in Acts 16 is not the situation of a pastor call. The elders who were ordained in the churches appear to have been raised up in the churches that ordained them rather than men going from church to church and call to call.
Interesting suggestion Brother Vaughn. I'd say the way we do it isn't wrong, but the other way is also suitable.
I received 13 annual calls at one church (and could still be there) but moved to another church believing it to be God's will where there is an unlimited call (and I am still there after 19 years). I have been told that legally an annual call is like a contract - that if a church votes to vacate the pulpit in the middle of the year, it would owe the rest of the year's salary. I don't know about that. When under the annual call, I trusted the Lord for my future as well as for taking care of me and my family financially. After about 7 annual calls, I determined to get rid of it. After some preaching and discussion, I discovered I could split the church over the issue. I let it go and was content for the rest of the time there. It is up to the church which type fo call they issue. A preacher should know the type of call and whether or not he can serve under such a call.
Bro. ArchBishop,
I think we can all agree with your comments.
As Bro. Arch Bishop, I have labored under both situations -- annual and indefinite call -- and neither was of any particular concern to me. At the time the concern was whether or not I felt like I was at the place the Lord wanted me.
Arch Bishop mentioned that he has been told that the annual call acts legally like a contract. It may be so that some pastors and/or churches have understood it that way, or some legal mind has so interpreted it. But as the way it used to operate around here, I am not aware there was any obligation that a church or pastor was held to if one of them terminated the relationship before the year was out.
Brother Sparks comments brought up something I had never thought too much about, probably because I don't look at pastoring as employment. But on reflection, I would have to say that every secular job I've ever held and every pastorate has been "at will employment" that could be terminated at any time. Unless there is a contract, even an indefinite call does not offer any security that the pastor will be there in a year or five or ten, as far as I can tell. There is only the sense that it won't be brought up for a vote annually.
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