Our Demanding Laity

The Church of Jesus Christ demands the highest qualified leadership a man can give. Any minister of the Gospel will surely bear this in mind. The weaknesses and errors that have been displayed in the careless service of men of God occur only too frequently, and are rightfully exposed.

On the other hand, 30 years of observation and experience as a pastor, newspaperman, and educator have led me to view with some alarm the mounting demands which our church members make today on religious leaders. I speak here of the unjustified, ill-spirited criticism which people often thrust at their ministers. Where errors, wrongs, and failings are in evidence, of course, no leader has a right to expect to be immune from proper rebuke. But at the same time, there seems to be no activity doing more to hamper the work of the Church as a whole than this unquestionably intemperate, unloving attitude prevailing in churches and in their circles of acquaintanceship.

One reason for this, I believe, is the high-pressured pace of our times: we are all rushing around in a complex social situation. We tend to demand quicker and better execution of plans and to grow impatient with one who is slow and inefficient.

Another reason, I feel, lies in the fact that the activities of the church have grown so rapidly and cover so wide an area that a heavier than reasonable load is likely to be imposed upon all workers.

Realism Is Needed

This very growth of interests in our modern communities is a phenomenon which many a church has not as yet recognized in terms of adequate pastoral leadership. The average layman, it may well be said, has a seriously inadequate understanding of the demands made upon a parish minister’s time or that of an educational worker or youth leader. He is likely to be thinking of what pastors did in churches years ago. It is for this reason that the layman should revise his expectations of his pastor and be more realistic in what he believes the pastor ought to do. To begin with, church organizations would do well to keep members up-to-date on what their pastor has to do and how he does it. They ought to provide ways by which parishioners may be informed on all matters where misunderstandings are most likely to occur. Some churches publish a week in advance the pastor’s engagements and major calling schedule. Others make frequent verbal announcements of these activities.

One of the most important things a layman must realize is that the amount of work one man can do in one day is limited. He must adopt a fairer view of the pastor’s calling, and recognize that it is simply impossible for him to make the rounds of general calling as frequently as he did a few years ago. Calling ought to be purposive and linked with a definite spiritual objective. To keep a pastor harnessed to an unrelenting round of perfunctory visits, just because some demanding people insist on seeing him often, is manifestly unjust. This is most likely to take time which a pastor should devote to emergencies, sickness, and trouble.

Regardless of the merits of any of these proposals, what does the greatest damage is the unloving spirit with which many of these criticisms are made. People start rumors about neglect of calling, failure to do this or that, or some statement is made before any ascertaining of the actual facts. People will so often pass along gossipy information which hurts and which is entirely unjustified. If some word is said or hasty action taken, they quickly put the worst possible construction upon it. And they further allow groups, factions and subsurface loyalties to form which may cause mischief.

Our church people should soberly rethink their church conduct before they embark upon a policy of divisiveness, prejudice, dislike, and hostility. They should speak the truth in love, and they should learn to love their brother.

In my own experience there have been literally scores of people turned from the organized churches—even while loving their Lord and believing deeply in the Christian faith—because of the hypocrisy, the barrage of criticism, and the attitude of contention and strife on the part of members. Many have grown disgusted with the suspicion, prejudices, rivalries, and narrow policies in many of these churches, and have felt that there is nothing which they can gain by staying with them.

We must reckon with such actions. We may not believe them wise or justified. But this is the way many people are reacting today.

At one time it was the exclusiveness and class consciousness of churches that drove out many of the laborers and those of economically lower status. Now some of the actions in many churches are driving away the thinking people, those who are interested in progressive living and an educated response to life.

Sharing The Burdens

In addition, it must be recognized that the hopeless amount of work and burdens being placed upon pastors are driving many of them away from the parish ministry. Many of these are truly twice-born and consecrated men. We cannot attribute all this to loss of faith or poor witness or lack of consecration. A pastor reasonably gets tired of being harried and pressured to do what he cannot possibly do—and then be criticized unthinkingly by those who have no regard for the truth, for personal feelings or for the cause of the Church. He also may well tire of being expected, for a very modest salary, to be an expert in unrelated fields and be on call for many unreasonable, unnecessary services. Yet even all this he would bear more cheerfully if these burdens and duties were imposed upon him with loving consideration and a sharing of Christian concern.

Our beautiful buildings, our trained staffs, our broad programs, our consecrated witnessing—all of these will not avail if we destroy them with a spirit of criticism and contention.

All my life I have wondered why the churches I knew or served had people who seemed to live by criticism, and who seemed to be never so morally alert as when they felt obliged to speak against someone, regardless of whether the issue in question was sufficiently investigated.

My answer to the demands of the layman would be to ask him to make his requests in terms of love and sharing and understanding. He will be surprised how much more evident the Holy Spirit and his works are, and how much better a servant of Jesus Christ his pastor may prove to be.

Richard K. Morton is Dean of the Evening College and Chaplain of Jacksonville University, Florida. His plea for Christian understanding by the laity stems from “lifelong concern for the Church—as pastor’s son, pastor, religious worker and educator.” The Church’s witness, he writes, is impaired by criticism.

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