Dear Sir,<\/p>\n
I greet you in the name of Christ, and thanks for all that you do for the church.\u00a0I would like to ask a great question that has been bothering me.<\/p>\n
Thanks, sir.<\/p>\n\t
A congregation decides which preachers it wants to support, including the local preacher. A congregation cannot ask a preacher to leave the congregation without cause, as would be true for any other member (III John 10). However, a congregation can decide to invite another preacher to work with them. They can also decide not to support the current preacher. The current preacher may decide to retire or move to another congregation to work with them. If he stays, perhaps the pulpit can be shared between the two preachers.<\/p>\n
Handling such situations is difficult, as the current preacher will not appreciate the rejection. It should be done gently.<\/p>\n
Deciding that a preacher cannot be an elder violates I Timothy 5:17. A congregation cannot add a rule that conflicts with what the Lord allows. See:<\/p>\n
Question: Dear Sir, I greet you in the name of Christ, and thanks for all that you do for the church.\u00a0I would like to ask a great question that has been bothering me. Can a congregation tell a preacher to step down from his role because of old age? This would be the congregation’s decision…<\/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,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[667,1511],"class_list":["post-96567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-organization-of-the-church","tag-preachers"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22060,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-should-a-congregation-go-about-selecting-another-preacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":96567,"position":0},"title":"How should a congregation go about selecting another preacher?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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":31376,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-a-congregation-at-least-partially-support-a-local-preacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":96567,"position":1},"title":"Should a congregation at least partially support a local preacher?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Even though an away congregation is supporting an evangelist full time because the one he is preaching for is small, shouldn't they (the congregation he is working with) still\u00a0try\u00a0to provide some support for him in whatever way? Answer: If another congregation is supporting a preacher fully, then the preacher\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":96567,"position":2},"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":28918,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-is-in-charge-the-preacher-or-the-elders\/","url_meta":{"origin":96567,"position":3},"title":"Who is in charge, the preacher or the elders?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 24, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeff, I'm forced to ask this question: between the ministers and the elders, who is in charge of a local congregation? Where that I am, there is a serious power tussle between the two. The ministers say, since they teach the men to become elders and also ordain\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":96214,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-should-a-preacher-ask-for-a-raise\/","url_meta":{"origin":96567,"position":4},"title":"How should a preacher ask for a raise?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 20, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello! I have a question regarding a pay raise as a preacher. I love the congregation I am with. I have been here for 3 years. I am the full-time minister. There is a part-time one as well. How do you approach the eldership with this? I understand talking\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":54626,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-appoints-men-to-be-preachers\/","url_meta":{"origin":96567,"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":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96567","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=96567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96567\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}