Before I go into my question, let me preface it by saying I come from a FAMILY FULL OF PASTORS. So I am not one of those people who talk about what a pastor should or shouldn’t have or how or if they should be compensated by the church for Their Pastoral Services. This is not that question. This is something a little different.
From my understanding a Pastor is a Shepherd and part of their responsibility is protecting their flock. In addition they should also be able to guide the members of their church in matters of stewardship. Being responsible with their money, making sure the church members are not being taken advantage of by quick schemes, get rich quick pyramids and the like.
At the same time, many pastors are not Mega-church compensated and have to have jobs outside of the ministry to support their families. With that being said, where should the pastor draw the line between their outside income and their congregation? For example if you know you have a church of economically struggling members, should you as a person of influence over them consistently try to peddle off items that you are selling trying to generate an income? How would you feel if your pastor called you more trying to get you to join a new income opportunity then they did to see how your family was doing? Calling trying to sell you the new hottest item instead of calling giving you a solid job lead if you are unemployed? I don’t know it seems to me that if you were generally concerned with my well being that you wouldn’t have to profit from it in any way. Where you can support their endeavors by spreading the word of what they are trying to do however whenever they send out a mass email it is always in regards to buying or joining something, never to spread the word of support for what you are already doing? Does this give you the comfort that God will supply all your needs if your Pastor is jumping from one get rich quick to the next?
How would this make you feel? Would you trust that this pastor had your best interest in mind? If you do not have an issue with this, why not? After all not all of us have to agree. If you do not see a problem with it please voice your opinion because part of this sites mission is Spiritual growth and perhaps this is an opportunity for growth and understanding.
Welp, let’s get to talking.
Be Blessed,
RiverAngel42
Question of the Day: Should Pastors Peddle Goods To Their Congregation?
Comments
One response to “Question of the Day: Should Pastors Peddle Goods To Their Congregation?”
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Wow. heavy question. i had some friends from my former church who did commercials on tv. one was just cast as a diner for a local restaurant. one is a doctor who was endorsing a specific product based on the benefits he himself had experienced and also things his patients told him. and the third one was an elder (at the time he did the commercial) giving a testimonial endorsing a phone company. of the three, the only one i had a problem with was the elder’s endorsement, for a few reasons: he is not a telephone sales person, nor does he work for a phone company. he has no knowledge of the industry; he was simply sharing an opinion. and several people in our community knew him – knew he was an elder in a church. whether intentional or not, for a KNOWN church leader to publicly endorse a product in that fashion elevates that product as ‘reliable’, or ‘dependable’ in the minds of the people who know him… they TRUST him, because he is a ‘man of God’…
this is not the same as a pastor peddling his own wares to his congregation, but it is similar. that being said, if my pastor had a business – a mini-mart, say, i would be inclined to shop at his store because i would be supporting him and his family. but if he were running some kind of ‘recruiting-based’ business, or financial trading, and he was calling me to invest with him, or asking me to join his business, i would find that very offensive. it’s one thing to inform your congregation about WHAT you do outside your pastorship; it’s another thing entirely to solicit their business, and i would see that as an abuse of power on their part…
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