Entering ministry for wrong reasons

Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man came not to have service rendered to him, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for life.
Last week I had an exciting and insightful conversation with Matthew Stedman, an Australian pastor based in Sydney, on several topics including wrong reasons for entering the Christian ministry, gospel of prosperity and servant leadership. Stedman is here in Zimbabwe with colleague Luke on Moore Theological College Department of External Studies lecturing assignment. African Enterprise Evangelistic Zimbabwe, led by Bishop Guide Makore, is doing a wonderful job of building theological bridges between Sydney and Harare.

They are bringing lecturers one full month every year starting last year to train church leaders and encourage them to teach and preach the true gospel in churches. In his short visit Stedman observed and commented on the need for pastors to enter the ministry for the right reasons and to be true shepherds that look after the sheep and not to be wolves that attack the sheep.

Having asked him to share his opinion about his ministry counterparts in Harare, Stedman expressed some great concern over the unbalanced heavy-duty preaching of the gospel of prosperity and the wrongness of seeking popularity among some pastors. He argued, “My general comment on the gospel of prosperity in Zimbabwe is: there is some truth in what prosperity teachers teach, but I think it is being taken too far.

Jesus Christ does not only teach that we will experience great blessings in this life, but also great hardship. This is as true for Christians in Australia as it is for Christians in Zimbabwe. Preaching prosperity is okay when congregants are taught life-skills from Bible books of wisdom like Proverbs that help then earn income. However, it is the element of over-realised eschatology in heavy-duty prosperity preaching that makes it unbalanced.”

By over-realised eschatology pastor Stedman meant the preaching of the all health and wealth gospel without acknowledging that we are still living in a fallen world where sin, sickness, death and poverty still exist. He referred to the book of Revelation where it is said that in the new heaven and new earth there will be no more weeping, sorrow and death. He insisted that hardship and pain are still part of this earthly life even though we can enjoy some of the blessings of the new age to come.
Stedman felt that some pastors are entering the ministry for wrong reasons no wonder they end up doing awkward things in the churches.

He cited the following reasons as the wrong ones: the desire to be liked or to be popular, the desire to control people, and the desire to make money out of the ministry. He said, “The Bible reveals that all life is about service or serving one another. Therefore the pastor is to be the servant par excellence. Of course, none of this is to say that we should not respect or support our leaders. All I am saying is that true honour is derived from true service. Honour is a gift for service. The Bible does say that congregants should look after their pastor’s needs but finances and honour must not be the motivation to enter the Christian ministry. Pastors should enter the ministry to point the people to their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and teach them to follow His example.”

We concluded our conversation by studying the example Christ set for us in Mark 10:42-45 and John 13 where the emphasis is service and humility. We noted that Jesus’ whole life demonstrated service and humility to the extent of washing His disciples feet and ultimately laying down His life on the cross for His sheep. For feedback please send e-mails to mjstedman@gmail.com or mairos78@yahoo.co.uk or call 0772889766.