01.03. The Pastor

3 THE PASTOR

There are very few places in the local church where the pastor is not the key man. This is especially true in increasing the church membership. The majority of the members in the Church of the Nazarene have been brought in by the pastor.

Receiving Members When members unite with the church it should always be the pastor who receives them. He is the shepherd of the flock, the one who is to live with them and lead them, and he is the one to whom they should be loyal. In the years I worked for church members as an evangelist, I never personally received a member into the church. The evangelist should never take in members. It is the pastor’s place. I did what I could to line them up and get them ready, but when it came to the actual reception, I left that to him. A pastor may ready increase his effectiveness in securing members for his church by soliciting the help of others.

Use the EvangelistI believe it would pay the pastor to take advantage of the influence his evangelist may have during the revival campaign, and co-operate with him in getting people to unite with the church. This can be done by urging the evangelist to speak of the value of church membership in his preliminary remarks and to urge upon the new converts as well as older Christians, both publicly and privately, that they should have a church home.

Use Members I have found it helpful to suggest when speaking of the church, "If any of you who are now members know of someone whom you think would be a blessing to this church, speak to that one and get him in touch with the pastor." Often good results and good members have been gained by this suggestion.

Pass Them On I feel we jeopardize the experience of Christians when they move to another town or city and we urge them to leave their membership with us.

All over the nation I have met folk who were once members of our church but when they changed their residence they did not move their membership. They sent their tithe back for a while, but having no local church home or responsibility, they became discouraged, lost interest, and lost out. When members move, pastors should urge them to join a church in their new location. if he would send their letters, notifying the pastor of the Church of the Nazarene nearest their destination, hundreds, if not thousands, would be saved to the church and to the Kingdom.

Young People The pastor is the key man with his young people. I asked a pastor who had a large group of Christian young people why he did not get them to unite with the church.

He replied, "We are not anxious to take in young people. We believe in letting them battle their way through high school and college; then if they stand, we take them in."

I said, "I believe the church should take in the Christian young people and help them fight their way through high school and college." Church membership alone is not salvation, but it is a wonderful arm on which our youth may lean while they fight the battles of life.

Children Many pastors are missing the mark by not taking the children who are converted into the church. Church history is filled with incidents of boys and girls being converted and living as born-again children should. Why not take in these boys and girls, individually or in a group, talk to them about salvation, explaining what it means to be a Christian? Tell them about the church and what it means to be a member; then receive them publicly into full fellowship. It will help to hold them during their teen-age years.

* * * * * * *