Part IV: Some Special Pastoral Problems

Chapter XXIV
The Pastor and Social Problems¹

The individual is the unit of church work. Society must be reached by the church through the individual.

I. What is Society?

1. As to formation it is the aggregation of human beings viewed in certain relations to each other. Sociology is the science of society; the study of its needs, interests, occupations, etc. Modern pastors must study sociology if they are to lead their churches in the alleviation of the sufferings and the solution of the problems of twentieth century society.
2. As to organization it is not strictly an organism like the human body with its related members, but still it is an aggregation of human beings sustaining real relations to one another. Hence, it is proper to speak of individuals in society as “members one of another.”
   • The family is a unit of society. All society is built upon this first social group, the family, as the key stone of the arch.
   • Going up from the family we find various associations of men, villages, towns, cities, counties, states, lodges, schools, and churches.
   • The highest form of organized society (excluding for the moment the religious groups) is the nation. Our nation of ninety million of inhabitants, composed of various races, the white, the black, the red, and the yellow, is the social wonder of the world. Such a complex society American pastors must study, its sufferings [to] relieve, its tone [to] elevate, its individuals [to] save for God and righteousness.

II. Societies Needs

1. Sin is the cause of all social woes. It is the function of the pastor to diminish the sin power in individuals and society. Sin is the cause of all domestic, social, economic, and moral suffering.
   • Let the pastor remember first of all that sin must be dealt with as against God; it is the transgression of the Divine law.
   • It must be dealt with as primarily located in the individual. Society is sinful only as the individuals composing the society are sinful.
   • Yet sin in out present state must be dealt with as also a civil matter. Pastors and their churches should help in making such individuals in society as will give a resultant public opinion which will condemn and eradicate sin.
2. Suffering in all its forms must be studied and relieved by the pastor and his church.
   • Desease and death. Hospitals and sanitariums are the crystallization of Jeaus’ spirit of compassion for the deaf and dumb, blind and lame, discouraged and dying. Although the pastor cannot prevent death, he can, by his message of life and love, prepare the patient for it and mitigate its pain.
   • Poverty. “The poor ye have with you always” [Mark 14:7], truly spoke Jesus. One of our greatest problems today is to reconcile extreme poverty and extreme riches. In proportion to its population no country on earth had more millionaries and at the same time more paupers than the United States. Alms houses, orphan asylums, and other eleemosynary institutions express the spirit of Him who said, “Give ye them to eat” [Matt 14:16].

III. Some of the World’s Remedies for Social Ills

1. Anarchy. In Russia it is called Nihilism, the reduction of all things to nothing. Its basal principle is the abolition of all government and the allowing of each man to be a law unto himself. Of course, this would destroy society, its government, its joys, and its blessings.
2. Socialism so called. There are two grades of socialism:
   • Communism which means the destruction of private property. All property is to be owned by society and all are to share in its benefits miscellaneously without respect to labor or merit.
   • Nationalism, which means that the government is to own everything and through its representatives is to administer all public affairs for the good of the people. Gas systems, electric systems, water systems, street railways, railroads, post offices, telephone and telegraph lines, and all other economic institutions, are to be owned and operated by the government. Some such facinating theory as this is held by Edward Bellamy in his little book called Looking Backward, and also by Henry George who advocates what he calls the Single Land Tax.
3. Humanitarianism.
   • The principle by which humanitarianism seeks to relieve modern society or sympathy, altruism, co-operation, culture, and a conviction that evil in human society can be removed by human effort alone without the special interposition of Divine help.
   • Its methods are varied: sanitation, industrial reform, labor unions, political reforms, moral reforms, education and general culture.
4. God’s Remedy for Society’s Sufferings.
   • Christ and Christianity are society’s greatest needs. Only Christ can take away the sin of the individual, stimulate him to live the highest social and moral life, and thus produce the purest and most elevated society.
   • It may be justly claimed that most of the social reforms of the last fifty years have grown out of Christian teachings. Christianity teaches that all men were made by one God and should be brothers with one common Father and the Maker of all. Its founder, Jesus Christ, is at once the world’s greatest social reformer and yet not a social reformer at all in the modern sense of the term. That is, Jesus did not seek directly to overturn society as He found it and eradicate by revolution all its ills, but He taught universal principles, love, brotherhood, forgiveness, etc., on which all social reforms must be built if lasting.
   • All social reform should emphasize the fact that man is more than an animal; that he is an immortal spirit, and must be cared for spiritually as well as physically.
   • But all modern pastors, with their churches should foster asylums and sanitariums for the unfortunates, the deseased and other sufferers. In doing this we follow the example of Jesus who won men’s souls by healing their bodies and helping them materially.
   • Let modern pastors and churches support as many charitable institutions as possible, orphanages, alms houses, social settlements, etc.
   • Especially should modern pastors and churches show the laboring man that they love him by trying to solve his problems with capital. The laboring men in the twentieth century is, to a large extent, estranged from the church and organized Christianity. Modern pastors have great problems on their hands in bringing laboring men to feel that our churches love them and want to improve their material, intellectual, and social conditions, as well as prepare their souls for eternal bliss in heaven.

Chapter XXV
The Pastor and Politics

The Century Dictionary gives the following definition of politics: “Politica is the science and art of government . . . In other words it is the theory and practise of obtaining the ends of civil society as perfectly as possible.” Then if the church of God led by its pastor seeks to make society what it ought to be must not government be one of the indispensable means? We must remember that Paul directly teaches and Jesus implies that the institution of human government is from God (See Rom 13; Matt 22:21), that is, human government is an institution of God to help in restraining of evil and the promotion of good in men’s social relations with one another.

I. The Pastor is a Citizen as Sell as a Preacher.

1. He pays his taxes and votes like other men. Moreover, voting is his duty as well as his privilege while paying his taxes should be a privilege as well as a duty.
2. The pastor is an influential citizen. No other man in all the community, ordinarily, weilds a greater influence than a loyal, intelligent, self-sacrificing pastor. His influence counts for all measures that are for the elevation of the community, socially, intellectually, morally, and religiously.
3. He ought to be an intelligent citizen. Modern pastors should read enough in secular and political papers to know what their state and country need in a general way. Of course, the pastor has not time to study political questions in detail and be a master political economist. But he should know well the great issues before the various political parties and be able to see what issues are for the elevation of his people, socially, economically, and morally.
4. The pastor should seek to be a good and faithful citizen. In our Revolutionary War many pastors volunteered for service to gain freedom and independence for our country. Many good and brave preachers fought for their country in the 60’s, both under the blue and the gray. If the pastors are patriotic in war should they not be as loyal to their country in peace? As a moral and religious leader in his community the pastor is under obligations to vote, plan, preach, and live for the true progress and greatness of his country. As a class pastors have always been true patriots, but they have not always been as loyal citizens as they might have been because of their views that politics and religion must be kept separate. Undoubtedly we need more morality and religion in modern politics. Therefore, the pastor cannot afford to ignore his duties as an influential citizen.

II. How May a Pastor Serve His Country Best?

1. By living the life of a clean and blameless citizen.
2. By voting intelligently and for the good of his fellow citizens and the glory of God. The pastor should pray for the Holy Spirit to lead him in the casting of his ballot as well as in the preaching of the gospel.
3. By publicly and privately advocating the highest laws of equity and morality laws which approach as nearly as possible the great social and moral principles of the Bible.
4. By standing for the better education of the masses of the people. Nearly all of our statesmen; from Jefferson on, have felt the need of educating the masses, in order that our Republic may fulfil its highest mission in the progress and enlightenment of the world. It is good for us in Texas to remember that General Sam Houston advocated better education for the people in Texas. So did Judge Baylor, a pioneer preacher, President Burleson and hundreds of other pioneer preachers. It is a fact that Dr. Burleson and a few other preachers in Texas are directly responsible for the establishment of higher state education in Texas and for the perfections of the public school system.
5. The pastor must stand for political reforms that are equitable and feasible. No city pastor should presume that it is his function to manage the mayor, aldermen, commissioners, and Board of Trade of his city. And yet in a quiet but firm manner he is to advocate the highest principles of righteous- ness in the administration of municiple, state, and national affairs. In the last few years many pastors in St. Louis and Philadelphia, especially Dr. C. H. Parkhurst and others in New York City have stood for political reforms that meant righteousness for these great cities, and the social and moral elevation of the people. Govenor Folk of Missouri, Mayor Weaver and Attorney Jerome of New York, have not been more distinguished for their demands for an equitable, political reforms than have many consecrated pastors in several of our leading cities. If government as a principle is from God, the devil and his emisaries ought not to manage it. Therefore, good men ought to fill offices, but this will be impossible unless good men do their duty in voting for and electing such men to office. Hence: the obligation of our preachers as moral and social leaders to preach on righteousness in the administration of all civil affairs and stand for every political reform that means the elevation of our cities, states and, nation in righteousness and honor.

III. Some Cautions for Pastors in Their Relation to Politics

1. The pastor must not be a partisan. It is not platforms but principles, not party measures but pure men, for whom the pastor must stand. In many parts of the country the pastor’s congregation is almost equally divided. For the pastor to be an out and out partisan would lessen his influence.
2. The pastor should not play the demagogue. Because he is a man of great moral influence over men he should not take advantage of his position and seek to drive men into his political views. The political demagogue is hateful anywhere, but the preacher demagogue is most despicable. The writer knows of several pastors who blighted their religious careers in some of our Southern States a few years ago when the Populist party was measuring swords with Southern Democrats.
3. Usually the pastor should not run for office.
   • The holding of office by a preacher lowers the dignity of his calling. A few years ago an Arkansas preacher was running for office and the secular papers were full of cartoons ridiculing the entrance of a preacher into politics.
   • There is too much corruption in partisan politics. To enter a campaign and compete for an office publically ordinarily sullies the character and soils the reputation of even the best men. Character and reputation are the preacher’s chief assets for usefulness among his fellow men.
   • In only a few instances have preachers made great political leaders and done their county or state a lasting service by holding office. Two of the most conspicious examples are, perhaps those of Govenor Eagle of Arkansas and Govenor Hoke Smith of Georgia. But even in instances of this kind it is questionable whether or not these men might not have been more influential for civic righteousness if they had merely occupied the pulpit and never filled the politician’s chair.

Chapter XXVI
The Pastor and Prohibition

There is no question that has so rapidly thrust itself upon the American people for settlement as has the question concerning the saloon. What is the relation of the pastor and his church to this question?

I. Modern Pastors and Churches Should Take a Firm Stand Against the Saloon and Liquor Business. Why?

1. Because the Bible is against the liquor business. See the following passages: Genesis 9:31–24; 19:32–36; Leviticus 10:9–11; Numbers 6:3–20; Judges 13:4–14; Isaiah 5:11–22; 28:lf; Habakkuk 2:15; Joel 1:5; Proverbs 20:21; 23:20; 23:30, 31, 32; Daniel 1:5, 8; 5:1f; Luke 1:15; 21:34; Romans 13:13; 14:29; Ephesians 5:18; Galatians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 6:10, etc.
2. Psychology and physiology are both against the effect of alcoholic drinks upon the human system. Physiology teaches us that alcohol burns out the brain and perverts thought; destroys the nerves, muscles, and all the vital organs of the body. Explorers in the cold regions of the North and South poles have testified that alcoholic drinks are not of lasting benefit in the production of heat and strength. Modern physicians, acquainted with chemistry and the various combinations of the elements of nature, are usually against the use of alcoholic drinks. The physician knows that if a drunkard contracts pneumonia he has only one chance out of a hundred to recover.
3. Moral philosophy is against alcohol. Alcoholic drink so abnormally stimulates that it perverts the judgment, sears and burns out the conscience, so that the man thus afflicted cannot see the difference between right and wrong. Therefore, the saloon is an enemy of conscience and morality.
4. Even skeptics and infidels are against alcohol and its destructive affects in human life. Robert Ingersol has as fine a speech on intemperance and the evils of the liquor business as has ever been composed in the English tongue. Surely no modern pastor can afford to let an infidel take a stand on a moral question that he cannot afford to take.
5. The saloon is against the church and the pastor’s ministry to save the lost.
6. The saloon is against humanity’s highest interests. The saloon takes the poor man’s money, gives him back no meat and bread and no cloths or books and other comforts for his home, but gives him disease, shame, dishonor, debt, poverty, ostracism, and anguish, dispair, and death.
7. The liquor business is against the happiness and prosperity of the home, the bed rock institution of Christian civilization and the crowning glory of Christian morality. No land is greater than its home. Greece and Rome fell when their homes became corrupted and the family fell into disunion and all sorts of vices.
8. The liquor business is against the economic and moral interests of the country. A short time ago the New York Tribune said, “The country pays more for liquor than every function of every kind of government.” Moreover, it is estimated by students in criminology that 90% of all crimes are caused, directly or indirectly, by the improper use of alcoholic drinks. It is also claimed by students in sociology that about three fourths of modern poverty may be traced, directly or indirectly, to excessive use of strong drink. It is also estimated that one million drunkards die annually in the United States. Recently statistics gathered from 75 of the chief American cities show that over 40% of the crimes and arrests in said cities are due to drunkenness. Who then can deny deny that the saloon is our country’s dangerous, destructive foe?
9. The saloon is an enemy to the young man, the hope of our country and of future Christianity. How many of the brightest and best youths of the land are each year blighted and ruined by the curse of alcoholic drinks!

II. The Pastor’s Duty Concerning the Liquor Business

1. Every modern pastor should inform himself and have definite convictions as to the destructive power of the modern saloon. It is scarcely possible for the modern pastor not to take a side on this great moral issue.
2. The pastor should preach occasionally on the evils of intemperance and the beauty of the life of sobriety and self denial; that all his young men should seek to shun the saloon and practise temperance in all phases of their lives.
3. The pastor should vote against the saloon on every opportunity to do so. If any modern pastors have not yet reached definite conclusions on the saloon question, they should so study the question and so educate their conscience as to be able to see the vice and immoral effects of the liquor business.
4. The pastor should encourage his people to vote against it. Of course, the pastor should never use any violent means in his influence over other men in the exercise of their moral and social privileges.
5. In local option campaigns usually the pastor should take a decided stand for prohibition, or local option. He should speak, write, and pleads for law, order, home, society, souls, church, and human happiness.
6. The pastor should also use his moral influence to make prohibition sentiment in the political leaders of his town, city, county, and state. He should encourage the best men, both in his church and out, to stand for this measure and vote for pure, competent, intelligent, temperate men to make out laws, execute them, and see that the violators of these laws be properly punished.
7. The pastor should join all good citizens in insisting on the enforcement of local option or prohibition laws, in order that the will of the people may be carried out whenever voted at the ballot.

Chapter XXVII
The Pastor and Money

This is one of the most significant questions concerning the pastor’s life and work, yet it is not treated in any work on Pastoral Theology. Many otherwise excellent pastors have had the wings of their influence slipped, a few their whole ministry blighted, by improper financial relations.

I. Should the Pastor be a Money Maker?

1. Of course, all would say that the pastor is prohibited from being a speculator. Ordinarily the pastor should not make it a business to accumulate property. He has not time to be trading and investing in any enterprise for the purpose of making money.
2. Ordinarily it is better for the pastor not to own even his home. Some leading pastors in Texas have not the greatest influence over their people because they own a home or a farm. Usually the people will not pay such a pastor as much as they would if he had no property. Or, if they do pay him as much they do it so grudgingly and complainingly. Moreover, the people fail to make little donations to the pastor, if they feel that he is independent as to financial matters, and thus there arises a coldness between the pastor and the people which robs the pastor of his power.
   On the other hand, after the pastor has passed middle life (say from 45 to 50 years age) it seems to be a matter of wisdom for the pastor to secure a home for himself and his family, if he can possibly save enough out of his salary to do so.
3. The money motive must not govern a pastor in making or breaking any of his pastoral relations. It makes no difference how much more money the new church offers him he should not accept the call simply because there is more money it in. Of course, there may be other conditions in the new field that would make it better for him to change, but the money motive must not be the predominant motive in pastoral changes. It is good to reflect on the fact that most of our noble pastors have sometimes declined churches offering much larger salaries because they felt they could do more good in the field that offered the small salary.
4. The pastor may consider the money motive only in so far as he has needs for his family, personal development, and personal benevolence. For instance, it is right for a pastor to have a good working library, and his salary ought to be large enough to enable him to purchase the books and periodi- cals needed. Every pastor ought to educate his children and train them for the greatest usefulness in life. Therefore, he is justifiable in looking to his finances so as to have funds to do these things without crippling his influence. Moreover, every pastor should lead his people in giving to charity, education and missions. In order to do this he must have a sufficient salary to have something above necessary expenses for himself and family.

II. Why the Pastor Should not be a Money Maker

1. The Bible seems to demand that he should not be (1 Tim 3:3). The apostle says that the bishop must not be “greedy of filthy lucre;” “not a lover of money.” This text goes to the root of the matter, the desire and longing love for possessions. Such a desire must not characterize the pastor. He must not only not be coveteous he must not be a “lover of money.”
2. “The love no money is the root of all evil” (1 Tim 6:10). The man whose heart is set on getting money will stoop to any kind of sin to gain his end; he will break every command in the Decalogue. We have seen this illustrated with examples coming under our own observation in the last twenty years. There is no doubt about what Paul means in the above sentence.
3. Making and hoarding property saps the spirituality of the pastor. A short time ago we were talking with a pastor who told us that he was going to resign his field (a needy, promising one) and buy a farm of rich black land. We heard a familiar friend of ours say recently that a certain pastor in an im- portant field in Texas could not talk anything except ranches and cattle. The next thing we heard about him was that he was leaving his church.
   This is a vital question in the West where land is still cheap and speculation is fascinating. In such conditions making money is an easy matter, but the pastor must have enough grace to resist such temptations.
4. Logically the money loving pastor has not the influence over his people that a pastor ought to exert. The people usually look upon the pastor as a representative of Christ “who had not where to lay His head.” The poorer and more dependent the pastor is, the other things being equal, the better people love him, and therefore the greater his influence for good.

III. The Pastor and His Debts

1. The pastor should follow Spurgeon’s rule and not make debts if it is possible. If the pastor must make debts he should make them small and always see a prospect ahead for settlement. “Debt is the hardest master.” This was a favorite saying with Spurgeon. In his early experiences he learned bitter lessons about going in debt. The wise pastor should profit by other great pastors’ experiences.
2. If the pastor has to make any debts he should always pay them promptly and never let his word suffer. The pastor’s word is his bond and honor.
   The pastor should not usually run long standing accounts with town merchants.
   • Because he will thus spend more than he would if he paid for it with cash. Perhaps, some might even mispend their money.
   • Sometimes men have to pay twice for things that are charged.
   • In the settlement of accounts of long standing there is often misunderstanding between the pastor and his creditor. This will cripple the pastor’s influence. The writer knew of a poor pastor who traded with a deacon. The account ran for some months and became very large. At the final settlement the pastor claimed to have paid twenty dollars on the account for which there was no credit. The merchant affirmed that he had never paid it, and threatened to sue the preacher. Such difficulties ought to be avoided in the life of the preacher.

IV. The Pastor and Benevolence

1. The pastor must not be stingy but lead his people in the giving of his money to all good enterprises. If the pastor gives sparingly the most of his people will do likewise; but if the pastor gives largely and liberally according to his ability, many of his people will follow his example.
2. No pastor should give less that a tenth of his income. John Wesley gave one tenth of his salary when it was only $150.00 a year and lived on the other $135.00. Usually the pastor should give more than a tenth of his income. William Carey, when his salary was $500.00, gave to the Lord one half and lived on the other half. Later in life when his salary was $7,600 as a government official in addition to his missionary duty, he gave it all to educational missionary enterprises excepting the $250.00 on which he still lived.
3. The pastor should exercise wisdom in giving. He should not make his family suffer because of excessive benevolence nor should he give all of his donations to one object and have nothing to give to other worthy objects.

Chapter XXVIII
The Pastor and Women

Women, though not the cause, have often been the occasion of the downfall of many great and influential men. Women have figured largely as occasions if not the causes of many of the great disasters that have occurred in the history of the world. A woman seems to have been the occasion if not the cause of the Trojan war. A woman robbed Samson of his power and thus brought the cause of Jehovah to defeat and shame. A woman led astray the wisest of men and induced King Solomon to build altars to false gods. A woman was also the cause of the downfall of King David. A good woman is the best thing in the world, but a bad woman is the worst.

I. There is Usually a Strong Tie That Binds the Pastor and His Women to One Another.

1. The women love him because they esteem him as a model man.
2. They love him because of his position as a representative of their Savior on earth.
3. They love him because he is their spiritual counsellor. The old women love him because he married their sons and daughters and buries their dead, bringing comfort in sadness and increasing their joys in gladness.The pastor therefore reciprocates this feeling and usually highly esteems his women, because he is ordinarily a gallant man.
4. The pastor also highly esteems his women because they are loyal to Christ, faithful to the church, and true to the pastor. So in the church life there is a normal tie of close friendship and esteem between the pastor and his noble women.

II. Some Dangers Incident to this Relation

1. The pastor, even if a married man, is sometimes liable unconsciously to be partial in his esteem of some elegant, competent, lovable woman. There may be no improper motives or intentions on his part, but there may be some silent force that may lead him to assume a relation that will cripple his influence and cause comment on the part of others.
2. Even noble virtuous women are sometimes liable, all unconsciously to themselves, to pay too much attention to their married pastor. This will cause unkind comments and injure the good name of the pastor, although he may be perfectly innocent.
3. Most women love to be loved and honored and especially do they set themselves to be an object of an influential man’s esteem. In this the poor preacher is sometimes ensnared into improper relations towards a noble lovable woman, even though he may be personally pure and entirely innocent of anything immoral.

III. Some Cautions

1. The pastor should never take any liberty with any woman which he would not be willing for another man to take with his sister or his wife.
2. He should not be too free with young unmarried ladies in the social circles. This excessive freedom on the part of the pastor, whether married or unmarried, will lessen his influence. Even the unmarried preacher must be cautious as to his relation to young ladies; if not he will lose his influence over his young men. The writer has known several unmarried pastors who have thus thrown away great opportunities in leading pastorates. They would have a good time with their young lady friends, often showing great partiality, the people were watching and especially the young men close, and began to criticize the young preacher.
3. The pastor should especially be cautious in dealing with his organist, if she is a beautiful and unmarried woman. The pastor may be as innocent as a new born babe and yet people may speak evil of him if he is too fond of his organist.
4. The pastor should always be careful in his relations to young ladies in the choir, or even with elegant married women in the choir. Somebody may be jealous of certain ladies and watching you in such circumstances.
5. The unmarried pastor should never be engaged to but one woman at a time. For the man of God thus to tamper with woman’s affections and so disregard the sacredness of his word is to sin against heaven, against himself, against the woman he really intends to marry, and against the woman he deceives.
6. The pastor should be careful in visiting homes where young ladies live. He should not allow himself with them alone long at a time unless the circumstances are unquestionably above suspicion. These occurences should never be repeated but should always be incidental.
7. The pastor should be wary of engagements to meet women for pri- vate interviews even on religion. There have been a few cases where unwary preachers have been thus entrapped by shrewd, unprincipled women. If the pastor be a married man he should usually take his wife when he visits wom- en. If the pastor is unmarried he should take some middle aged influential lady member of his church. In this way the pastor can always be far above any suspicion, and never be the target of cruel criticism.

Chapter XXIX
Longer Pastorates

One of the greatest evils connected with changes among the Baptists is the short pastorate. In scores of our smaller churches a new pastor each year leads the flock. On the other hand, there are objections made to longer pastorates.

I. Let Us Consider Some of These Objections.

1. So many pastors are not fitted to work successfully in the same field for several years. This is granted, but it is not our duty to make public opinion, both in the ministry and among the laity, that the young preacher called of God to preach and be the pastor over Christ’s church ought to train him- self so that he can do a progressive constructive work for several years on the same field? Our Seminaries can help in the fitting of young pastors for the longer pastorates. If the pastor lays a good foundation in Bible study and theology, evangelism and homiletics, he should be trained to think and prepare new sermons and to meet the rising emergencies of the growing pastorate.
2. The people like frequent changes. This is granted. The men and women of the twentieth century, like the Athenians of ancient times, are fond of new things—even new preachers. Again it is granted that we have the old saying, “a new broom sweeps clean.” But should the church foster this popular craving for novelty in matters of religion, or should it seek to make sentiment for constructive progress in church work? Our duty in this matter seems perfectly clear.
3. The long pastorates would work a hardship on the Baptist church in a given community if the other churches changed pastors often. It is argued that if the Baptists retain the same old preacher for several years and the other churches have new pastors every few years the great mass of people will be attracted to the churches with the new preachers. In answer to this objection it can be said that there are many historical examples which refute this position. Spurgeon never lost his freshness and popularity though he remained for several decades in the same church. The same is true of Dr. R. S. McArthur, so long pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, New York City. It may be answered that these are extraordinary men. This is granted, but is it not the duty of seminaries and modern churches to develop a larger number of these extraordinary preachers and pastors? Furthermore, the pastor who stays and wears well and is loved by his people and is equipped to do a substantial, constructive pastoral work, has advantages over the ever shifting pastor. Of course, his church has equal advantages over those presided over by the numerous peripatetic pastors.

II. Some Advantages of the Longer Pastorate

1. For a pastor to take a church and feel that he must, if possible, remain for several years with the same people would help to cultivate some of the finer graces of character, patience, long suffering, and general consecration. If the pastor feels that should Deacon Smith get enraged with him, or Sister Brown should not be pleased with some course of his, he can resign and pass on to another field and work there while things are smooth and pass on again, he is tempted to neglect some of the finer graces of self control and tactful wisdom in handling church problems.
2. The long pastorate stimulates the preacher to be a student. He must have fresh sermons. To do this he must be a systematic student. This will not only delight the people but will be a means of growth and development in the church. The peripatetic preacher who has about one hundred sermons in his barrel and is too lazy to get up more and better, and fresher sermons suited to the needs of his people is not worthy of even a short pastorate.
3. The longer pastorate affords opportunity for laying and executing broader plans for church work, educational, and missionary enterprises. Dif- ferent pastors work along different lines and use different methods in achiev- ing their purposes, and the ceaseless shifting of pastors leads to a perpetual starting but never finishing certain features of church and denominational work.
4. The longer pastorate would help to solve the problem of so many pastorless churches and churchless pastors for so many months in the year. This is a sore evil among the Baptists in the Southwest, an evil which ought to be overcome by all means in the near future. We shall never be able to enlist a large number of smaller churches and the larger percentage of the masses in these churches until we solve the problem of inducing our churches and pastors to insist on the longer pastorates.
5. The present system of rapid changes in the pastorate is partially responsible for the failure to organize and train the masses of church members. One pastor starts in the noble work, but leaves it in the initial stage. Another comes with new ideals and different methods, and so much of the progressive work of each predecessor is lost.
6. If the teaching function of the pastor is to be properly emphasized in modern times, the longer pastorate is a necessity. We must bring up the teaching flank of the ministerial forces. The change of pastors every year or two renders it impossible to have extended study courses in the Bible, missions, social needs, and. other significant subjects.

III. The indifinite and not the annual call should be emphasized by both modern churches and pastors if we would secure longer pastorates.

There is not a shadow of a doubt that the annual call, so common in most of our Baptist churches, is the cause of so many short pastorates. Of course, no compulsion can be used among Baptist churches. Every church is free to have a different preacher each year or to keep one pastor for fifty, if it can prevail on a pastor to stay with them so long. But for the sake of the Kingdom and its highest interests we here plead and we feel that modern pastors and churches should plead for the longer pastorate, in order the above advantages may be secured both to the local church and general kingdom interests.

Chapter XXX
The Pastor’s Wife

Of course, the title of this chapter commits us to the proposition that the pastor should usually be a married man. We do not mean to say that this is or ought to be rigorously required.

1. She is not the pastor or an assistant pastor. Sometimes churches feel that the pastor’s wife is a kind of assistant pastor. But it must be remembered that she is not paid, that she is not a salaried functionary of the church.
2. But the pastor’s wife is, and ought always to be, a participant in the responsibilities and blessings of the pastorate. A large portion of the pastor’s responsibilities is laid upon her. Likewise, the blessings of the pastorate are shared by the pastor’s wife. She is loved and honored with her husband because she is the pastor’s wife.
3. The pastor’s wife is his private counsellor. In all the perplexing problems of the pastorate the pastor is sure to find one sympathetic heart to advise with him in the solution of intricate problems.

II. The Pastor’s Wife’s Influence

1. The pastor’s wife is usually regarded as a model Christian by the lady members of the church. How great is her responsibility to measure up to this ideal for her as held by her sisters!
2. Her influence is usually great over the young people. This is true regarding both sexes, but especially is the pastor’s wife influential with girls and young women.
3. The outside world in general looks upon the pastor’s wife as a leader in personal religion and consecration. By virtue of her position as “helpmeet” to the pastor she justly wields a potent influence even on the external world and how careful she should be to make that influence wholesome and productive of higher moral and spiritual living!

III. The Pastor’s Wife’s Duties

1. Above all things else she is the intimate sympathizer with her pastor husband and should regard it as her highest duty to encourage him in all his noble plans for the progress of the church and advancement of the kingdom.
2. She should attend public worship as often as possible. Some pastors’ wives, who are not invalids, absent themselves from the public worship and thus create unkind comments about their husbands.
3. The pastor’s wife should see to it that no bad influence goes forth from her sons and daughters. Occasionally the pastor’s influence is curbed by the unwholesome influence of his children. It is the business of the pastor’s wife to have a well ordered, religious, and consecrated home.
4. If possible the pastor’s wife should teach a class in Sunday School.
5. She should also be a personal worker, especially among the young, and seek to win as many as possible of the young people to Christ. She can at this point so effectively supplement the public ministration of her pastor husband.
6. She should win the confidence of girls and young women and inspire them to Christian service and consecration. The writer has known many good wives of pastors who have won scores of young men and young women to the dedication of their lives to the ministry or to missionary endeavor. The pastor’s wife should keep in close touch with the young people’s socities.
7. Especially should she be a sympathetic helper of young preachers and missionaries. Many of these are diffident and need encouragement in their early years. The pastor’s wife by virtue of her position can always be an inspiration to the young preachers.

IV. Some Cautions

1. Let not the pastor’s wife forget her home duties for her church duties. Her first place for service to God and humanity is in her home.
2. Let not the pastor’s wife criticise too severely her husband’s mistakes. Often he will need criticism, because he is frail and imperfect. But the average pastor needs sympathy from his wife rather than too much criticism.
3. Let the church members remember that they do not pay the pastors wife, and therefore they should not expect too much of her. Let the lady members always love the pastor’s wife and pray for her as frequently and as earnestly as they do for the pastor himself.
4. If the pastor’s wife is an invalid or her household duties are very heavy, the church members should always be lenient toward her and never expect too great or too many duties at her hands.

end.

1. Collateral Reading: Gladden, pp. 44–48, 448–475; Dargan, Ecclesiology, Part 3, Chapters l–4; Brown, The Social Message of the Modern Pulpit; Henderson, Social Duties from the Christian Point of View; Mathews, The Social Gospel. ↩︎