Preachers<\/a>” for more information.) A congregation may have more than one man in their area sharing the workload and such situations are often beneficial to both the congregation and to those preaching. For example, I know several congregations who have both an older, well-seasoned preacher and a younger preacher who is still learning the ropes. This gives the younger preacher more on-the-job training and an older preacher to keep things in line with the Scriptures and to deal with more complex problems.<\/p>\nWhether you continue with your current preacher, knowing he will grow into the job, or decide to add another preacher to help with the work, or decide to replace the current preacher with another is a question only the congregation can address. I know far too little regarding your situation to be in a position to advise you.<\/p>\n
When a congregation looks for a preacher, I don’t recommend having several trying for the position at the same time. What you end up with is people selecting a preacher based on personal preferences instead of biblical principles. One like preacher A because he is younger, another wants preacher B because he dresses well, etc. The focus should be on a man’s abilities to teach the gospel clearly and accurately. So a man should be asked to come for a short period of time so members can meet him in a variety of settings. Have him speak, teach classes, and visit with members. Talk about doctrinal issues and ask how he might address problems the congregation is facing. Check out his references and talk to members of other congregations where he preached. Then have a meeting to decide if this man is suitable for the congregation’s needs. If not, invite another man to come and repeat the process. Eventually, the group will find someone suitable without making it a popularity contest between capable men.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I was wondering if I could get your advice on selecting a pulpit minister. Our minister stepped down due to fleshly and worldly desires, like Demas “having loved this present world.” We have an interim minister at this time. We have other ministers who sent resumes but didn’t have a chance to hear them…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1511],"class_list":["post-22060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-preachers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":68235,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-preachers-ministers\/","url_meta":{"origin":22060,"position":0},"title":"Are Preachers Ministers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Yes! They are not the only ministers in the church, but they minister in a certain way; they serve in teaching and edifying the church's role. They minister the gospel to the lost and the saved. That is a certain way of ministering, but the average\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42614,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-we-notify-the-congregation-that-the-preacher-was-asked-to-leave\/","url_meta":{"origin":22060,"position":1},"title":"How do we notify the congregation that the preacher was asked to leave?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How do we notify the congregation that a minister has been asked to leave? It has not grown over the last several years, and we want to move forward. Answer: I'm not certain how you determined that the lack of growth was the preacher's fault and not due to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40274,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-right-for-a-church-to-have-a-paid-minister-of-music\/","url_meta":{"origin":22060,"position":2},"title":"Is it right for a church to have a paid minister of music?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I am a member of a Church of Christ that currently doesn't have elders. The congregation is \"run\" by the minister and a few hand-picked men who basically say yes to whatever the minister wants to do. This has bothered me since this minister arrived at our congregation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25118,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-elders-responsible-for-the-employment-of-preachers\/","url_meta":{"origin":22060,"position":3},"title":"Are elders responsible for the employment of preachers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I enjoyed and appreciated your article on\u00a0the work of the evangelist.\u00a0 I find it quite different from many by what you might consider institutional churches of Christ. I am concerned about the final paragraph on the selection of the minister.\u00a0 As I understand first-century history,\u00a0 many preachers were involved\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51459,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-churches-should-rethink-their-preachers-salary\/","url_meta":{"origin":22060,"position":4},"title":"Why Churches Should Rethink Their Preacher’s Salary","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wes McAdams via\u00a0Radically Christian The job a preacher does, and the money he takes home seems pretty cut-and-dry to most church members, \"Our preacher 'ministers' to this congregation - he visits the sick, he counsels, he evangelizes, he preaches, he teaches, he writes bulletin articles, and does whatever else\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54626,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-appoints-men-to-be-preachers\/","url_meta":{"origin":22060,"position":5},"title":"Who appoints men to be preachers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thank you very much for helping not just me but also the churches where there is a slight misunderstanding on this Evangelist subject. Please bear with me in coming to you again, for I want to understand clearly. You said in\u00a0Preachers: Ordination The idea of ordination is to choose\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22060\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}