Cornerstone Curriculum, Official Certification Edition

310 / CORNERSTONE CURRICULUM STUDENT WORKBOOK

• Should there be only one senior pastor or should we always seek a plurality of pastors in charge of the church? • How much of a church’s operations (i.e., administration, finances, facilities, etc.) should be under the control and oversight of the pastor? Should a pastor’s responsibility be limited to the spiritual responsibilities associated with leading the people of God, and the more mundane items be turned over to others? Why or why not? • How long should the term of pastor, elder, or deacon be? Ought we to place any limits in regards to term limits for any Christian leaders in the church? • How confidential must a pastor be in the various kinds of dealings that they have with the different members of the church? Do any circumstances exist where a pastor might have to break confidence, both for the good of the individuals and of the congregation. Site examples. • Can a pastor function properly if they do not also have an authority structure that they must report and answer to? What are the implications of this for the kind of church government that churches ought to establish for their own and their pastor’s benefit? • What are the qualifications that we ought to use for identifying and selecting pastoral candidates for the ministry? How important ought things like salary, housing, insurance, and similar items be in selecting a congregation to lead? Explain your answer. Not Until You Fix It Up (Based on a true story). In a denomination where the bishop appoints pastors to care for congregations in his district annually, an appointment was made of a pastor who refused to move into the parsonage. Although the parsonage (i.e., the pastor’s residence) was included in the financial package provided to the pastor, upon his arrival to the city and his first inspection of the parsonage, he decided that it was in too rundown of a condition for him to move his family into it. He refused to move into the parsonage until the leaders of the church funded its renovation. Staying at a local motel, the pastor of this poor urban church argued that asking your pastor, any pastor, to move into substandard housing was neither

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C hr i s t i an M i n i s t ry

CASE STUDIES

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