"The greatest challenge in today's church is that some people treat pastor as a profession." About ten years ago, while visiting a church, a staff worker said this to me. At the time, I was somewhat shocked by this statement because I had seen many contrasting situations where some grassroots church pastors had to endure many struggles to pursue full-time ministry. However, in my continued visits to churches across diverse regions, I discovered that in many places—especially in large city churches—this situation indeed exists.
In July 2024, I visited the president of a Christian Council in a prefecture-level city. When discussing the local church situation, he mentioned that the hired-hand mentality among pastors is a widespread issue that the church needs to address today. "Nowadays, there are very few pastors who are truly faithful to the Lord," he said repeatedly during our conversation with a sense of helplessness. "Pastors are always thinking about their own interests and how to get a raise, but the church is actually supported by volunteers."
The salary offered to pastors at the central church where this president (also a pastor) serves is above average in the local society and ranks among the top in the varied prefecture-level cities in the province. According to the president, the pastors at the central church are mainly responsible for Sunday preaching. Because there are relatively many pastors, and each pastor only preaches once every two weeks. They do not lead any other ministries, and their preaching is not of high quality. Because they have a hired-hand mentality, pastors treat preaching as a job and lack concern for the believers. "They don't care whether you come to church or not." The president used this sharp phrase to describe the pastors' attitude toward the congregants. These pastors are also difficult to manage because each one has some supporters behind them, and poor management could lead to church disputes.
The president believes that material comparison is a problem of this era. Pastors focus on their own interests and pursue comfort, luxury cars, and houses, failing to set a good example for the believers. The same thing happens at seminaries, where some theology graduates compare who has the higher salary and who got a car or house provided by the church. Such behavior by pastors becomes a temptation for many believers, who feel that the money they donate is being used by the pastors for their enjoyment. As a result, pastors lose their spiritual authority in the eyes of the believers.
The president has grown somewhat disheartened by these pastors and has shifted his focus to training the church's volunteers. He believes that volunteers serve willingly without a salary, motivated by love for God and souls. Moreover, they have a closer relationship with the believers. For example, reception team members can create a good first impression on people who walk into the church.
In addition to what this president mentioned, other pastors from different regions have also reported similar phenomena. For instance, churches have prepared offices and equipped them with computers for the pastors, but they do not work regular hours and only appear during services. After Sunday services, the pastors immediately leave the church and return to their offices, leaving believers with little opportunity to interact with them. Some ministers clock in and out like a regular job, and if the church assigns work outside of regular hours or if believers contact them outside of work hours, they feel offended. Seminary graduates or pastors strive to get into churches in big cities, with very few willing to serve in grassroots churches with harsh conditions.
The emergence of the hired-hand mentality is mainly because the church has become wealthy enough to be an option for some people to make a living. In some large city churches, pastors disregard their children's actual situation and send them to seminary, hoping they can work in the church in the future and take over their position. An elder pastor who had served the Lord for decades arranged for his son to be ordained as an elder and handed over a church with considerable assets to him before passing away. A head of a city Christian council sent his son, who had no decent job with a homeboy temperament, to a seminary. A theology student at a well-known seminary in the country did not believe that God created the world but believed in extraterrestrials, saying he definitely would not preach that to believers in the future.
Seeing these troubling situations, a pastor serving in a central city church sighed, saying that the rural pastor does not receive salaries but sincerely hopes more people will join the church. This pastor placed his child in a grassroots church to serve. In grassroots churches, some ministers struggle to serve; some can't hold on and have to leave their beloved ministry to work in the secular world.
So how can we address the hired-hand mentality among pastors? One church took a middle-ground approach, offering them a salary of just over two thousand yuan, which is only enough to cover basic living expenses. When they face major illnesses or other situations requiring significant expenses, the church provides assistance.
Each era presents different challenges. An elder pastor who lived through a time of poverty said that poverty was the challenge of his time, while it is even more difficult to maintain a heart faithful to serving the Lord in today's affluent environment. In the current environment, we need more good pastors, as Jesus desires, who lay down their lives for the sheep rather than hired hands who are indifferent to the flock.
(Originally published by the Gospel Times, the article has been edited under permission.)
- Translated by Abigail Wu
