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“I’m certain we did not handle the situation perfectly…. The question we faced throughout the process was a difficult one: When do character deficiencies disqualify someone from a pastoral office?” - 9 Marks
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“No man should become an elder who is not willing to be an elder, and no man should become an elder who is not qualified to be an elder.”
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“There are surprisingly few men who exist at that point where willingness meets qualification. There are almost always some who are willing but not qualified and some who are qualified but not willing. What the church needs so badly is men who are both.” - Challies
Who Are You When Only Your Family Is Looking?
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“I have often heard it said that character is who you are when no one is looking…. But as I considered the character of an elder, I also found myself challenged with this: Character is who you are when only your family is looking.” - Challies
Do Outsiders Still Matter? An Overlooked Qualification for Pastors
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“ ‘Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.’… Yet here, in 1 Timothy 3:7, as the culminating qualification for the church’s lead office, we hear that pastor-elders must be well thought of by outsiders.” - Desiring God
Is “Above Reproach” Its Own Qualification, or a Qualification of the All the Others?
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“Our elders were forced to consider this qualification in the heat of the moment. A pastor of our church had not crossed any one line.” - 9 Marks
Pastors Answer: Does an Affair Disqualify You From Ministry?
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“ ‘Pastors’ Views on Moral Failures,’ conducted by Nashville-based LifeWay Research…’There is widespread disagreement from pastors across denominations, church size, age, race, and education levels to quickly restoring pastors who commit adultery to public ministry positions.’” - Church Leaders
Is Pastoral “Desire” a Qualification for Ministry?
Reposted, with permission, from DBTS Blog.
The question of a pastoral “call to ministry,” reminiscent of God’s call of biblical prophets and apostles, has long been a issue with which ordination councils have been concerned. Many operate on the assumption that no one aspiring to the ministry may proceed without such a “call.”
Beware Objective Standards Where Only Subjective Ones Are Provided
Paul’s instructions to Timothy regarding the qualifications for leadership in the church (specifically for elders in 3:1-7) are vitally important. They are also not as simple as we might sometimes prefer. We generally prefer things to be neat and clean—objective and quantifiable. So it is not unusual to see the standards of 1 Timothy 3:1-7 received as a checklist which can be mindlessly applied as if black and white, requiring no judgment or wisdom.
However, Paul’s words are not intended to be received or applied in that manner. Instead, of the sixteen specific qualifications mentioned by Paul, all of them are decidedly subjective rather than objective. There is certainly one assumed qualification, that the elder be a he (tis, “anyone” in the masculine). That is the only objective characteristic described in the entire passage.
But as for the sixteen qualifications Paul lists, they are not so simple as is the gender issue.
