Can Our Church Give Your Pastor Money To Attend A Convention
With all the accent on church growth and omnipresence numbers, I am sure that someone has considered this before: Why don't we but pay people to go to church?
"With all the accent on church growth and attendance numbers, I am certain that someone has considered this earlier: Why don't nosotros just pay people to become to church building?"
Information technology's unproblematic – offer people $xx, $50, or $100 a Lord's day to come to church. $10,000 and you could have a k-member church overnight. Mega-church hither we come!
Patently, I'yard not the first pastor to think of this then permit's examine the reasons nosotros don't do this (reasons why I promise you're non doing this).
1) Information technology gives people the wrong motivation to come up. They aren't coming to learn, worship, serve, or give – they are coming to receive, turn a profit, and do their fourth dimension.
two) It gives people the wrong view of the gospel. Didn't Jesus tell people to count the cost of discipleship rather than telling them to count on the profits that come from post-obit?
iii) It harms the people who do want to come. How would y'all feel if you came to worship and the guy adjacent to you kept asking, "When's this over?" and "What's the time?" How would you feel if you came to learn and as the pastor began preaching, the whole oversupply around you lot pulled out their iPhones and iPads and started playing games?
4) Information technology gives the pastor a false sense of his influence, impact, and following. Bigger isn't always amend (just ask your friend who failed a summer diet). Your ego might feel better having a big crowd, simply ultimately you are alluring a crowd that cares more than almost the coffee and doughnuts than they do virtually the gospel.
five) It is a waste matter of the church building's resources. If I demand to explain,cease reading hither considering y'all're non going to like me at all as I'm near to turn the tables.
Hither is where I am going:
As a missionary I am shocked at how many short-term missions teams pay the nationals to attend their conferences, trainings, and seminars.
Non just do they pay for the briefing, food, lodging, and gifts (Bibles, books, etc.), just many of the conferences in East Africa, as part of the registration, at present pay for the send of the pastor to and from their conferences.
Now imagine if we do this in the Usa. Catalyst, Desiring God National Conference, Gospel Coalition, and every other briefing dropped its briefing fee, paid for your hotel, meals, and gifts at the bookstore and and then reimbursed your aeroplane ticket or fuel. Pastors would get professional person briefing attendees and the churches would suffer without their leaders.
This is exactly what I meet happening in Uganda and hear from other missionaries in surrounding countries. Pastors are turning into professional briefing attendees and the church is hurting.
The statement against this is equally follows: "The church in the West is rich, and the church in Africa is poor; why can't nosotros help them?"
Should Nosotros Pay a Pastor to Attend Training?
Here is why I (as a missionary) would discourage you non to:
ane) Africans are relational. They desire to meet you, enquire nigh your family, share about their family, and get an individual flick with you. This doesn't happen for them in a crowd of thousands. This type of feel might be satisfying for our western individualistic civilization but for a relational society information technology leaves the crowds feeling empty. Ultimately, the only national the STM teams connect with are their drivers—who are also in that location just to be paid!
2) As leaders go, so goes the church. If the leaders are only motivated to learn, report and worship because they are getting paid, they volition produce the aforementioned type of churches. Sadly, church building growth in Africa has become "whoever gives out the near, wins!" This means that churches are growing considering they sponsor children, provide free medical care, and pass out gratuitous clothes and Bibles, non because the gospel is preached, discipleship is taking place, and the body is functioning co-ordinate to the gifts. This pulls many people abroad from Bible-didactics churches and into prosperity gospel churches simply considering the prosperity church building has coin.
3) It harms the ministries that last longer than a STM trip! Passing out things for free while receiving high-fives, hugs, smiles, cheers, testimonies and praise for a week or 2 is an amazing blitz which motivates tens of thousands of STM teams to come to Uganda and surrounding East African countries every yr. It's a rush that has become a yearly "must-practice" for churches around the Us. Then when the money runs out anybody feels great because it is time to board the aeroplane. But for the churches that meet every Sunday, Child Evolution centers that open every 24-hour interval and Bible Colleges that meet year round in that location just aren't enough resources to pass out free gifts and provide transport every day – so when the visitors get out so do the crowds. This forces many ministries to host teams year round which leads to the same types of visitors, the aforementioned messages, and the same activities year after year, which Africans fully show appreciation for because it's their task: they are getting paid!
four) What would y'all do? Ultimately as a pastor in the US you don't go to every conference. You pick conference(south) based on what you lot tin afford and when you pay for that conference you know that your elders, deacons commission or whoever else paid for the conference are counting on you to utilize that time to get what you demand almost to satisfy your soul and prepare you to lead your church. Treat your brothers in Africa the same manner – let them come considering it is what they need nearly not because you lot are picking up the tab!
At our academy we host five–8 conferences a year and charge anywhere from $five–$l per participant, and it works. The pastors that need it come and those who don't are free to stay and faithfully serve in their churches. Our conferences are well attended and I have never heard from anyone that wanted to nourish and couldn't considering of the money. We've yet to have x,000 attendees but so again we never had to pay anyone to come.
There is a cost to discipleship—let'southward make sure we aren't changing the gospel telephone call by making everything costless!
Source: https://trainingleadersinternational.org/articles/72/would-you-pay-people-to-go-to-church
Posted by: dietzcorescoleat.blogspot.com
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