Father-Son Churches
Wenona Russ (russw@bc.edu)
Fri, 04 Sep 1998 14:19:01 -0500
Hello:
I have been perusing this topic, and have held my peace...but I, too,
have seen times when positions became open in the church and they were
filled either by election or blood.
It saddens me that this goes on the the body of Christ, for the call of
God, the Anointing of God, should be the only prerequisite for entering
a ministry. Yet there are those today who make people jump thru hoops
and whatever...and then you still are not guaranteed that you will have
the position.
I am going thru this myself; my pastor-even though I love him
dearly--is putting too many prerequisites on the ministry. I mean I
went to him and asked him what to do about my call, he said to wait on
God, go to school, and pray. Now I do not know if I am out of line (I
could very well be), but it seems to me that if someone is truly called
and anointed of God, that all of that would not be necessary. The
Comforter is supposed to teach me all things. I am not against school,
but I feel it is not necessary for all who enter the ministry.
It is a shame when churches/ministries are handed down solely based on
bloodlines. An example of this is the story of Eli and his sons,
Phinehas and Hophni. Phinehas and Hophni were in direct rebellion and
sin--and their father knew about it. Yet he would not remedy the
problem. He figured if he ignored the problem, it would just go away
or maybe he even thought maybe they would come around and repent. But
they did not. They blatantly and openly slept with the temple
prostitutes. As a result, Eli and his sons died.
This is the risk one runs when ordaining one's family in the ministry
or involving them in any ministry where you are the head. To save face
you won't correct them when they are in error. Or you "love" your
kids so much and are afraid they will backslide or leave the church you
won't intervene.
I come from a family where there are several preachers in the ministry.
My grandfather was a minister with his own church. It was Baptist, of
course, and when I later turned Pentecostal...I desired a genuine, real
walk with Christ myself. Inconsistencies and lack of power drew me to
the UPC and I always admired the anointing on it. But when I am asked
why not just go to one of my relatives and ask to be a part of their
ministry, the very idea is sort of repulsive. I do not mean to demean
their experience with Christ, but I have received revelation about the
oneness of God, and I have the Holy Ghost. I cannot turn back to the
beggarly elements from whence I came. I may receive some flack from my
relatives because of the obvious differences in doctrine. I once
confronted my great uncle about Baptism in Jesus' name and the Holy
Ghost. He dismissed me and proceeded to tell me he had been in the
ministry longer than I was alive. Then he asked me to come to his
church because (his own words) "you could teach the young people and
you have a devotion to God that they do not have..."
It was sad that he did not see that I only had that fervor and zeal for
God because of His Holy Spirit dwelling within me. He is gone now, but
to avoid such conflicts...I have made it a point to be as far away from
my family as possible. I live in Massachusetts and they in Louisiana.
It gets tempting to go home because the preaching itch gets me every
now and then (something like the fire that was shut up in Jeremiah's
bones) and I get really impatient. But then I just learn to wait on
God and know He is faithful.
Point...
I believe it is the heart of God to call people in the ministry not
after the manner of the Levites, but after His calling and choosing.
Sis. Wenona Russ
On Wed, 2 Sep 1998 18:15:30 -0500 Jerry Welch <tlwitness@juno.com>
wrote:
> On Tue, 1 Sep 1998 11:38:01 -0500 (CDT) richardm@bif.cd.com (Richard
> Masoner) writes:
> >
> >> And is it only me or does anyone else notice that there are a lot
> >of "family churches" where the Pastor's son(s) are ministers and what a
> >> coincidence, God called them to take over their dad's Church?
> >
> >I'll comment on the churches I know about:
> >
> >Life Tabernacle, Wichita Falls, TX -- asst totally unrelated to the
> >pastor.
>
> Oh, I'm clearly not saying ALL or even MOST Pentecostal Churches have
> Father-Son Pastor-Associate Pastor. I am just saying that there are more
> than I believe possible as being called of God.
>
> >Euless (TX) 1st UPC -- when I was there the assts and other ministers
> >were totally unrelated, but last I heard his son-in-law, who is very
> >capable, has moved back so he might have been made an asst. But I
> >don't know.
> >
> >Apostolic Life UPC (here in Champaign IL) -- asst is son-in-law.
> >Again, he's very capable.
>
> Capability is not the question. Did God CALL him to his father-in-law's
> Church? That IS the bottom line. The Church should not be used (I am
> not saying it about this case, clearly I don't know that individual
> situation) for financial support of the Pastor's kids once they've grown.
> And what does it do to non-family members? I've seen times when people
> have wanted to sing, and their voice perhaps isn't polished but they can
> sing on tune and their heart is sincere. They have been put off so that
> Pastor's Daughter can sing again and again and again.
>
> I am curious in all such cases, whenever the opening was declared, how
> they went about obtaining their son/son-in-law to be
> Assistant/Associate...was there an open "audition"? I know that's not a
> nice word, but it's blunt and pretty much describes it. I know of
> Churches when an opening occured that invited SEVERAL Preachers to preach
> for a couple of weeks at a time, there was prayer and fasting to seek
> God's will. Spiritual nepotism gives the indication (whether real or
> imagined) that God was not consulted. That Jr started Preaching and
> needed a Church, so Dad stepped in to help.
>
> That is not what the Church of God is for.
>
> >But I've noticed this trend too, and having a hereditary "Levitical"
> >type of thing can seem a little troubling.
>
> Because it gives room to abuse and alienation to some people. Especially
> to those who are outside the family. I merely find it hard to believe
> that in all the world that someone's been called to preach that BY
> COINCIDENCE it happens to be their Dad's Church. (Yes, I know they are
> all Jesus' Church; I am using it as when we reference "Brother Smith's
> Church". I rarely say "The United Pentecostal Church of Anytown". I
> usually refer to a Church by the name of the Pastor.
>
> And I am explaining that so no one gets the wrong idea.
>
> Jerry Welch
>
> www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/2810/
>
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----------------------
Wenona Russ
russw@bc.edu
Boston College
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