3 Pastoral Pulpit Red Flags 🚩
No pastor & teacher is perfect. No church is perfect. Maybe the worship isn’t to your liking. Perhaps the children’s church toys are a little raggedy. The teacher could possibly be a little boring! There will always be some oddity within church that causes us to be patient and redirect our hearts to Christ (and I think that is by God’s design)— but we should not be so malleable when it comes to a few things:
God’s (true) Word being authoritative and instructive.
Integrity and character from our teachers & leaders
Churches that have a heart for holiness.
Minimizing the importance of scripture: very little use of scripture, constantly reading themselves into the text, arbitrary and “odd” translations that lose the meaning of God’s intended meaning. I’ve heard pastors get through HALF of a scripture and then spend the entirety of their sermon illustrating their personal stories. I think there’s a temptation for teachers to rely on the emotionality of the congregation. It quenches the insecurities and anxieties of the teacher and alleviates the requirement to exegete the text. Nevertheless, God’s word has to be central to the message.
Using the pulpit to retaliate against people/handle personal vendettas: You would think this goes without saying, but nope. If your pastor is using time dedicated for the flock to attack people who disagree with them, they are in error. It shows a lack of reverence for their office as teacher/pastor and it’s also an intimidation tactic toward other people who are considering voicing their concerns. If a pastor wants to address critiques via their website, socials… that’s their business (although they should still be charitable). However, personal jabs and “subs” should not be interwoven into the sermon. That is manipulative and a gross misuse of their power.
Minimizing the detriments of sin + ignoring holiness: Contrary to the world’s belief, God is grieved by our sin and He desires for us to live holy. Does that mean we’ll always get it right? Of course not. However, problematic teachers/pastors will try to placate your sins & avoid the topic of holiness. Why? Because those two topics are convicting. When a teacher/pastor/prophet contorts scripture and teaching to appease the crowds, it’s a slippery and dangerous slope.
We are all impressionable (some more than others). When we appease and enable certain things, we become desensitized to it and we betray our convictions. We can even cloud our witness to others. Let’s pray for our teachers, leaders, and pastors. Pray that they are convicted to teach the word and revere the Lord. Pray that their hearts would remain pure and for healthy, loving, honest accountability for them. I hope this is helpful.
Love you <3
