Before starting, a clarification: the heading to this article speaks of pastors. However, while this article is written by a pastor and is primarily addressed to pastors, it certainly does and can apply to many non-pastors working in congregational leadership, whether full-time or not.
Be Generous With Your Thoughts
Be Generous With Your Thoughts
When you are frequently criticised, doubted, second-guessed; when you suffer from multiple ‘sheep-bites’ by those you care for, it’s easy to think the worst of people. Instead, let’s fight fear with grace. Cultivate generosity in thought. Think the best of people, and resolve to do so even if it means that you might be wrong on occasions.
Be Generous With Your Words
Be Generous With Your Words
As teachers and preachers it’s easy to berate more than encourage our flock. Is there a lack of encouragement and grace in our applications? Do we only ever alert our congregations to their short-comings rather than commend them for the ways in which they are seeking to obey? Pastors, let’s overflow with words of encouragement and grace—both publicly and privately.
Be Generous With Your People
Be Generous With Your People
Good, godly and gifted people may sometimes leave our churches in order to serve elsewhere. It may be with our encouragement; often it is not. It’s hard to lead an under-resourced church and see good people leave to go join other ministries. Some of them will leave with good reasons; others not so good. Pastors, be generous with your people. By all means encourage them to stay (especially if their reasons aren’t so good), but bless them and pray for them as they leave.
Be Generous With Your Time
Be Generous With Your Time
When time is already your most precious commodity and you know that out-of-calendar conversations or meetings will invariably take away from your family time, recreation time, or even day off, it’s easy to think of your spare time as an entitlement and guard it without any flexibility. It’s true that many pastors need to work harder at guarding their time off. Some of us, however, may need to exercise a fair amount of generosity when the messiness of people intrude upon our discretionary time.
Be Generous With Your Orthodoxy
Be Generous With Your Orthodoxy
Please don’t misunderstand me: this does not mean we are to be wishy-washy on gospel truths. It does however mean that we are to choose our battles wisely. It means we need to know which are the non-negotiable truths as opposed to those that are adiaphora (matters of indifference). Some of us love to be the “theological thought-police”. Every whiff of theological looseness in any part of the world sends our heresy alarms into overdrive. Pastors, let’s be generous in the way we think about and talk about those genuine brothers and sisters with whom we theologically differ (or even part ways with).
Be Generous With Your Money
Be Generous With Your Money
When you see your non-pastor peers’ income skyrocket and yours stays the same; when others own houses and you don’t; when every Christian ministry under the sun has you on their mailing list—it’s easy to think that God expects less financial generosity from us than from others. Pastors, we need to fight the respectable sin of greed as well. Let’s also excel in the grace of giving.
