Author: GCI Media

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

You’ve probably seen movies and TV shows where the local preacher’s role in the community is more like a sheriff than a pastor. That was the case in the movie Footloose. Amidst snappy tunes and the near-acrobatic dancing of the high school’s senior class, the local preacher, being dead-set against dancing, seemed to have a lock on being the town’s moral policeman. Though eventually he relented (even buying his daughter a corsage for the graduation dance), the point was made—in our world, clergy are often viewed as sheriffs, not shepherds.

Moral police or loving shepherds?

In times past, pastors often did function as moral police. Thankfully, those days are largely gone, except (regrettably) in cults that seek to control their members. That being said, I’m well aware that when the frustrations of being a pastor mount up (and they do!), we pastors can feel like the ones pictured in the cartoons below. If we’re not careful, we can momentarily forget that our calling is to participate with Jesus, the great Shepherd, in his ministry that extends to his sheep the transforming love and grace of God.

In the late 1980s, my father Joseph W. Tkach led a conference with the theme, We are shepherds, not sheriffs. He pointed out that pastors are called to be “helpers of their joy” rather than “contributors to their hurts.” He urged our pastors to focus on affirming and encouraging rather than on confronting and rebuking. I extend my heartfelt thanks to all our pastors for helping us make that important transition.

Don’t give in to the pressure

It certainly is a challenging time to be a pastor. Multiple pressures conspire to discourage if not overwhelm the faith of our members. Those pressures include worldviews hostile to the gospel, including the increasingly strident atheistic minority that rails against anything resembling Christianity. Then there is the desire of media to placate minority viewpoints in order to be politically correct. This frequently leads to media blitzkriegs against traditional moral values.

Some pastors react to these pressures by crying out with indignation about the sins of the nation. Sometimes they cry out about the sins of the members in an effort to get their people “back on track.” But indignant approaches like these are not what God has called us to as pastors. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminded the pastors-in-training at his underground seminary during the days of Hitler, the church already has an accuser—his name is Satan. Another one is not needed!

Helping people change

Certainly we need to be aware of the impact societal trends have on the hearts and minds of our members. We need to realize that they can become discouraged and question their faith and calling. We also need to understand that people slip and make bad decisions that lead them into sin. But this is when people need encouragement, not hurtful exhortation. I ask all our pastors and ministry leaders to continually remind our members of who Christ is and of who they are in Christ. It is in this knowledge of their true identity in Christ that they will find comfort and the desire to change the way they think (repentance), experiencing greater fervency in their communion with God.

As church leaders affirm, encourage and otherwise build up their members, they participate in what Jesus, by the Spirit, is doing to speak the truth in love, including offering needed correction, and also showing how they may use their spiritual gifts and other Christ-like qualities in God’s service. When we join Christ in that work, we are helping people grow as vital members of his body, the church.

How do affirmation and encouragement help people grow? Largely by providing a positive, nurturing environment in which people thrive spiritually. This is the relational, disciple-making method of Jesus—an approach vital for us at a time when many of our pastors are nearing retirement. We need to help men and women develop spiritually, thus enabling them to hear and obey God’s call to Christ’s service. Because we need many new pastors and ministry leaders to help us on our continuing journey of renewal, I call on all pastors and ministry leaders to make identifying and developing new leaders a high priority. Please keep your eyes wide-open for men and women whose hearts are inclined toward being pastors who are shepherds, not sheriffs.

Barnabas’ example

When I’m asked to define the model New Testament pastor, I often mention Barnabas. According to the book of Acts, though his birth name was Joseph, the apostles nicknamed him Barnabas, which means “son of encouragement” (Acts 4:36). There are multiple examples in Acts of Barnabas reaching out to encourage people who others withdrew from. Barnabas was one of the first disciples to accept Paul (the persecutor of Christians!) as a genuine follower of Jesus (Acts 9:26-27). Later, Barnabas brought encouragement to the gentile converts in Antioch who were being shunned by some Christians because they were not strictly conforming to the Law of Moses. Instead of withdrawing, Barnabas “saw what the grace of God had done” and “encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts” (Acts 11:23).

Paul, who was mentored by Barnabas, wrote this concerning joining Jesus in being an encourager in the lives of others:

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:4-6 ESV)

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8 ESV)

God’s priority

Based on the Bible’s creation accounts, I think we can say that giving affirmation is central to the way God infuses his creation with abundant life. On each day of creation week in Genesis, God declared the goodness of a certain aspect of his creation. The beautiful, poetic language used in these verses powerfully reminds us that we serve a God who gives high priority to offering encouragement and affirmation. When we join him in that, we participate in his life-giving ministry—a ministry that began at creation and continues today in and through his church.

Thank you sisters and brothers for your dedication to sharing actively in what Jesus is doing, by the Spirit, to extend the Father’s transforming love and grace to his beloved children. Thank you for being shepherds, not sheriffs.

Loving serving as a shepherd with you,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In one of his earliest movies, John Wayne tells another cowboy, “I don’t like branding—it hurts in the wrong place!” That comment made me chuckle, though it also got me thinking about how churches can hurt the gospel through an inappropriate use of marketing techniques like product branding. It happened in our history—seeking a marketing “hook,” our founder branded us the one true church. This approach compromised biblical truth as the gospel was redefined in order to promote the brand.

Sharing with Jesus in advancing his gospel

Our calling as Christians is not to market a brand, but to join Jesus in what he is doing by the Spirit, through the church, to advance his gospel in the world. Jesus’ gospel addresses several things: how forgiveness and reconciliation have been accomplished by Jesus’ atonement; how the Spirit transforms us (and what the transformed life looks like); the nature of our vocation as followers of Jesus sent on mission with him into the world; and the ultimate hope we have of sharing forever in the communion that Jesus has with the Father and the Spirit.

There are some (though limited) ways in which marketing (including branding) can help us accomplish the gospel work to which Jesus has called us. For example, we can productively use logos, websites, social media, bulletins, newsletters, signs, mailers and other communication tools to help us spread Jesus’ message, inviting people to respond in faith. But such tools must serve, not diminish our calling to be light and salt in our communities. So I’m not against marketing, rightly used, but I do want to offer a word of caution, along with some perspective.

A word of caution

According to George Barna (in A Step by Step Guide to Church Marketing), marketing is “a broad term that encompasses all the activities that lead up to an exchange of equally valued goods between consenting parties.” Barna further defines marketing by saying that activities such as advertising, public relations, strategic planning, audience research, product distributions, fund raising, product pricing, developing a vision statement and customer service are all elements of marketing. He then says: “When these elements are combined in a transaction in which the parties involved exchange items of equivalent worth, the marketing act has been consummated.” Let that idea of exchanging items of equivalent worth sink in for a moment.

Several years ago, several of our pastors read a book by the pastor of a Southern California mega-church. It promised, in essence, that if you will market your church in a particular manner, you cannot fail because everyone will be excited about what you are offering them and their community. Some of our pastors tried the recommended marketing techniques, but became discouraged when their congregations did not grow.

But should we be marketing the gospel (and our churches) the way Walmart markets t-shirts, or Sears markets tools—or even the way particular denominations and congregations use marketing to bring about numerical growth? I think we all would agree that we must not “peddle” the gospel as though it was a consumer good to be exchanged for something of seemingly equivalent value. That sort of marketing is not what Jesus had in mind in commissioning us to take his gospel to the world in order to make disciples of all people-groups.

As the apostle Paul noted, rather than being seen as attractive (like a desired consumer product), the gospel often is viewed as repulsive or foolish by those who, living according to the flesh, have a decidedly secular mindset (see 1 Corinthians 1:18-23). As those who follow Jesus, “We do not set our minds on what the flesh wants, but…on what the Spirit desires” (Romans 8:4-5). We’re certainly not perfect in that, but as we walk in step with the Spirit, our minds and actions are conformed to God’s will (and thus his work). Given these understandings, it’s no surprise Paul repudiated certain “fleshly” (secular) techniques for advancing the work of the gospel:

Having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. (2 Corinthians 4:1-2 ESV)

Paul refused to use techniques that, though they might advance his ministry in the short-term, would ultimately compromise the message of the gospel. The only kind of “success” he wanted in life and ministry was that which comes from faithfulness to Christ and his gospel.

Some of the gospel-compromising, marketing-driven approaches being used by some churches in our day go like this: “Come to our church and your problems will be solved, you will achieve health and wealth, you will be richly blessed.” The blessings being promised typically have to do with power, success, and getting what you want. The bait-and-switch occurs when those who come are told about the conditions they must meet to get the blessings—things like having a certain level of faith, or joining a small group, tithing one’s income, actively serving in a ministry of the church, or spending a specific amount of time in prayer and Bible study. While some of these are helpful for growing as followers of Jesus, none are ways to get God to be favorable towards us—to obtain what we want in exchange for something God wants or needs from us.

False advertising and deceptive marketing

Attracting people to a church or a ministry by telling them how they can contract with God to get whatever they want is false advertising and deceptive marketing. It is nothing but paganism in a modern wrapper. Christ did not die to meet our selfish consumer needs. He did not come to guarantee us health and wealth. Instead, he came to bring us into a gracious relationship with the Father, Son and Spirit and the peace, joy and hope that is the fruit of that relationship. In and through that relationship, we are empowered to love and serve others with God’s kind of costly, transforming love. That kind of love will, at times, be offensive to some (perhaps many), but it will always direct others to the very Source of that saving, redeeming and transforming love.

Should we market the gospel as an exchange of equally valued items between consenting parties? Certainly not! The gospel is, by grace, freely given to all. And all we can do is receive this gift with empty, up-turned hands—thankfully receiving the blessing of belonging to God. That relationship of grace and love is lived out in a life of grateful worship—a response that, itself, is enabled by the Holy Spirit, who opens our eyes and sets aside our pride and rebellious demand for independence from God to live for his glory.

A glorious exchange

With those thoughts in mind, I do want to point out that in the life we have in and with Christ, through the Spirit, there is an exchange of sorts, indeed a glorious exchange. Note Paul’s comment:

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 KJV)

We give Jesus our life of sin and he gives us his life of righteousness. When we give away our lives, we find his life at work in us. When we surrender our lives to Christ we find real purpose for our lives so that we no longer live for ourselves but to advance the reputation of God our Creator and Redeemer. That exchange is not a marketing technique—it’s grace. We get the whole God, Father, Son and Spirit, and he gets all of us: body and soul. We get the righteous character of Christ, and he takes away our sins, totally forgiving us. This is certainly not an exchange of equally valued goods!

If anyone believes in Christ, he or she is a new creation—a child of God. The Holy Spirit gives us this new life—the life of God living in us. And as that new creation, the Spirit gracefully transforms us to share more and more in Christ’s perfect love for God and for others. When our lives are placed in Christ, then we share in his life, in both his joy and in his long-suffering love. We share in his sufferings, in his death, in his righteousness, as well as in his resurrection, ascension and eventual glorification. As God’s children we are co-heirs with Christ who share in his perfect relationship with the Father. In that relationship we benefit from all that Christ has done for us to become God’s beloved children, united with him—forever in glory!

Celebrating the glorious exchange,
Joseph Tkach