The Pastor: His Qualifications and Duties

by H. Harvey

SETTLEMENT IN THE MINISTRY.

I. Choice of a Field.

The choice of a field, especially of the first field, is a matter of much moment, as it is sometimes decisive in its influence on subsequent development and usefulness. A young man, however, should beware of undue anxiety respecting it. A Divine call involves not only an appointed work, but also an appointed field of work. The subject should be made, therefore, a special matter of prayer, and the opportunities Providence may open for making the acquaintance of churches should be faithfully improved. The Lord will then direct by the leading alike of His Spirit and the heart and of His providence in external events. Several suggestions, however, may here be important:

1. Carefully consider the question whether duty does not call to a missionary field. No one should evade a full, fair consideration of this, for success and comfort in one’s life-work depend, not on obtaining what is termed an eligible settlement, but on occupying the post God has assigned us. All parts of the world are now opening to the Gospel, and in our own country vast populations are gathering from other lands, sent hither to be evangelized. Evidently, many of the young men now called to the ministry must be designed by the Master for work among the destitute. Eminence among ministerial brethren is a proper object of ambition, but it is a mistake to suppose that the choice of a mission-field, either East or West, will prevent this. A much larger proportion of our foreign missionaries rise to eminence in their work than of ministers at home. The men who are recognized as Christian leaders in the West are mostly men who went there to struggle with the difficulties of a new country and a small salary. By roughing it at the outset they developed manhood and power. Some of the ablest and most eloquent men of this age developed in pulpit power at the West. It is true in the ministry, as everywhere, that he who for Christ’s sake will lose his life shall save it. A sacrifice and a struggle for Christ in earlier life give development and momentum to all the elements of power in a man. There is here wide room for a venturesome faith; and nothing is more certain than that many, by seeking at once great things for themselves, dwarf their after-life.

2. If different fields offer, that is ordinarily to be preferred which affords the highest incentives to exertion and the widest room for expansion. Few things are more chilling to a young man than to find his church hemmed in, with no possibilities of future growth. This is often the fact in old and decaying communities overcrowded with churches. Seek, therefore, not so much an old church or a large salary as a center where population is gathering, so that the field will grow with your growth. This was the Apostles’ plan. They went where the people were, and gave their lives to the work where the largest numbers could be reached. Still, duty may call to a field where these elements do not exist. In that case, do not fear. A man’s gift, faithfully used, will make room for him. In any field it will take time to grow so as to fill it, and the experience will be valuable; and when one has grown to the full measure of his field, and is still advancing in power, other and wider fields will be sure to open before him.

3. The call should ordinarily be unanimous, at least so far as to ensure that no important influences are opposed to it. On this account sufficient time, if possible, should be spent with the church to study carefully the elements of which it is composed and form an intelligent judgment of its characteristics and tendencies. Many mistakes might be avoided by care to secure a thorough acquaintance between the candidate and the people before a call is accepted—mistakes which are sometimes most unfortunate alike to the minister, in rendering his pastorate a failure and embarrassing him in forming another relation; and to the church, in hindering their union and weakening their effectiveness.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: This next point includes the word “niggardly,” which is a fine word, meaning “stingy,” “grasping,” or “miserly,” but, to those who are unfamiliar with the word or who are not paying strict attention, it can sound like a racial slur. When presenting this material, please strongly consider the substitution of a synonym.

4. The salary should be adequate for a comfortable support, and should be fairly proportioned to the pecuniary ability of the congregation. The minister will be expected to live in a manner at least equal to the average style of life among the people, and the salary should enable him to do so. A “donation,” as a part of the payment of ministerial service, is to be avoided if possible. It is perhaps a necessity in some localities from long-established custom; but it is essentially unjust to the minister, because it calls that a gift which is really a debt, and its effect is to foster in the people false ideas of ministerial support. The New Testament declares that “the laborer is worthy of his hire” (Luke x. 7), and it is injurious alike to the self-respect of the pastor and to the respect of the people for his office to make his support a matter of gratuity. It is better, in my judgment, to accept a smaller salary, the payments of which are fixed and regular, than to insist on a larger one, a part of which comes in the uncertain form of a “donation.” In the matter of salary, however, a true pastor will always tenderly regard the circumstances of his people; and in a congregation composed chiefly of the poor, or in times of financial depression and disaster, he will be ready to suffer with them, cheerfully accepting a smaller stipend and practicing a more rigid economy. A selfish, niggardly, parsimonious spirit is nowhere more offensive than in a Christian pastor.

5. All business arrangements with a church should be made with business definiteness. It may not, indeed, be necessary or desirable to insist upon a formal written contract, but it would save many a painful misunderstanding if the chief features in the agreement were always in writing. Properly, the call of the church should specifically state the chief points agreed on; but, whether this is done or not, the letter of acceptance should specify them distinctly. The points to be thus specified are: the time at which the pastor will enter on his work, the amount of salary and the times of payment, and the vacation to be allowed. This should ordinarily not be less than four weeks and should be understood as fully releasing the pastor during that time from all responsibility for the pulpit and from all pastoral service.

6. The minister, in all his relations with a church, should exhibit a delicate sense of honor. He may not encourage a call when there is no serious probability of its acceptance. A church call and its declination may gratify a man’s vanity and give him a temporary publicity, but such ministerial coquetry is destitute of Christian honor, and in the end reacts disastrously on him who practices it. It is no light thing thus to trifle with a church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to dishonor the ministerial office before the world.