NIGERIA
The Guardian
By Francis Akin-John
23 April 2017
“Giving no offence in anything, that the ministry be not blamed: But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God…” II Corinthians 6:3, 4. It is no gainsaying, but a true fact that respect for pastors by church members and the society is at very low ebb today. Pastors have become the butt of jokes everywhere. Wealthy people don’t respect pastors because they believe that every pastor has a price and can be bought with money. The society at large sees most pastors as ‘money monger’ and that church is a commercial venture. At every turn, aspersions are cast at the church and the name of our Lord is dragged in the mud, due to the misdemeanors of big time, popular and famous pastors. People plot, plan and work against pastors through wrong accusations and the press and social media is daily awash with fake, cooked up stories of pastoral sins and evil deeds. It was not like this 35 years ago, when I got saved. Then, there was high respect and honour for pastors.
We looked at pastors as junior Jesus, because of their Christlike lifestyles and honoured them for the great and sacrificial work they were doing. What happened and why this evil trend today? Well, our research has uncovered the following reasons:
• Becoming a pastor is no longer by God’s calling, but promotion and appointment by the church. It started in the middle 80s, when churches that wanted to expand by all means began to appoint, ordain every Ade, Ada and Adamu into pastoral positions. There were no more considerations for God’s calling into the ministry. By so doing, many who had no business or grace to shepherd GOD’S people found themselves in this stressful work and they messed up big time, and are still messing up. If God did not call you into this work, His power will never back you up. You are simply on your own, and you will cut corners to meet up with people’s expectation of you.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.