Pastoral Ministry

Pastor-President

There must be harmony between pastors and their presidents—For the last forty years the Lord has been revealing to me the necessity of harmony of action on the part of ministers and the presidents of Conferences. The president of a Conference should be careful to give respect to all who are laborers together with God. One man's mind and judgment is not to control. The ministers who are connected with him in the work are to be respected and loved; criticism should have no room to work. Let envy and evil-surmising be expelled from the soul. Nothing can grieve the Spirit of God more than dissension and depreciation of brethren. In order to have prosperity in labor, there must be confidence in and union with our brethren, who are laboring just as earnestly and disinterestedly as we are. There are those who do not possess a harmonious character in all respects, yet God has accepted them as laborers together with Christ. Then, how out of place it is for one to stand apart from another because their ideas and judgment do not in all things agree.—The General Conference Bulletin, February 11, 1895. PaM 104.1

Conference presidents are to arouse their ministers to work as they should—Can nothing be devised to arouse presidents of Conferences to a sense of their obligations? Would they could see that their position of trust only increases and intensifies their responsibility. If each president would feel the necessity of diligent improvement of his talents in devising ways and means for arousing ministers to work as they should, what a change would take place in every Conference. Do these men realize that the solemn scrutiny of every man's work is soon to begin in heaven? When the Master went away, He gave to every man in every age and in every generation, His work; and He says to us all, “Occupy till I come.” Have ministers thought how much is comprehended in these words? Verily there may be but a step between them and death. How stands the record of sacred trusts committed for wise improvement? Misused talents, wasted hours, neglected opportunities, duties left undone, sickly churches, the flock of God not strengthened by having their portion of meat in due season.—Appeal and Suggestions to Conference Officers (Ph 2), 20, 21. PaM 104.2

The conference president's job is not to do the work, but to see that others are working to the best advantage—The church militant is not the church triumphant, but is composed of erring men and women. As in an army soldiers must be trained and disciplined for active service, so must the soldiers of Christ be educated for usefulness in His cause. It may be far easier for the president of a Conference to labor himself than to direct the work of others; but it is his duty to take an oversight of the field, and see that all are working to the best advantage. The younger men should be developing their talents, and preparing for future usefulness; and the older and more experienced ministers should not be left to expend their energies on work that others could do as well as not, and would be willing to do if they were only told how.—The Review and Herald, April 22, 1884. PaM 104.3

Conference presidents should educate ministers to educate members—The president of a State Conference is, by his manner of dealing, educating the ministers under him, and together they can so educate the churches that it will not be necessary to call the ministers of the conference from the field to settle difficulties and dissensions in the church. If the officers in the conference will, as faithful servants, perform their Heaven-appointed duties, the work in our conferences will not be left to become entangled in such perplexities as heretofore. And in laboring thus, the workers will become solid, responsible men, who will not fail nor be discouraged in a hard place.—Gospel Workers, 419. PaM 105.1

Have an encouraging attitude toward your president—especially when he makes mistakes—While your president neglected his work and failed in his duty, your attitude was not such as to give him any encouragement. The one in authority should have acquitted himself as a man of God, reproving, exhorting, encouraging, as the case demanded, whether you would receive or reject his testimony. But he was easily discouraged, and left you without the help that a faithful minister of Christ should have given. He failed in not keeping up with the opening providence of God, and in not showing you your duty and educating you up to the demands of the time; but the minister's neglect should not dishearten you and lead you to excuse yourselves for neglecting duty. There is the more need of energy and fidelity on your part.—Testimonies for the Church 5:281. PaM 105.2

Great care should be exercised in the selection of conference presidents—The Lord has been pleased to present before me many things in regard to the calling and labor of our ministers, especially those who have been appointed as presidents of Conferences. Great care should be exercised in the selection of men for these positions of trust. There should be earnest prayer for divine enlightenment. Those who are thus appointed as overseers of the flock should be men of good repute, men who give evidence that they have not only a knowledge of the Scriptures, but an experience in faith, in patience, that in meekness they may instruct those who oppose the truth. They should be men of thorough integrity; not novices, but intelligent students of the Word, able to teach others also, bringing from the treasure-house things new and old,—men who in character, in words, in deportment, will be an honor to the cause of Christ, teaching the truth, living the truth, growing up to the full stature in Christ Jesus. This means the development and strengthening of every faculty by exercise, that the workers may become qualified to bear larger responsibilities as the work increases.—Gospel Workers, 232. PaM 105.3

Presidents may become too conservative and narrow in their leadership—Elder M, as president of the _____ Conference, you have shown by your general management that you are unworthy of the trust reposed in you. You have shown that you are conservative, and that your ideas are narrow. You have not done one half what you might have done had you had the true spirit of the work. You might have been far more capable and experienced than you now are; you might have been far better prepared to manage successfully this sacred and important mission a work which would have given you the strongest claim to the general confidence of our people. But, like the other ministering brethren in your state, you have failed to advance with the opening providence of God; you have not shown that the Holy Spirit was deeply impressing your heart, so that God could speak through you to His people. If in this crisis you do anything to strengthen doubt and distrust in the churches of your state, anything that will prevent the people from engaging heartily in this work, God will hold you responsible. Has God given you unmistakable evidence that the brethren of your state are excused from the responsibility of putting their arms about the city of _____ as Christ has put His arms about them? If you were standing in the light, you would encourage this mission by your faith.—Testimonies for the Church 5:370. PaM 106.1

Conference presidents, even more than other ministers, should set an example of holy living—Presidents of Conferences should be men who can be fully trusted with God's work. They should be men of integrity, unselfish, devoted, working Christians. If they are deficient in these respects, the churches under their care will not prosper. They, even more than other ministers of Christ, should set an example of holy living, and of unselfish devotion to the interests of God's cause, that those looking to them for an example may not be misled. But in some instances they are trying to serve both God and mammon. They are not self-denying; they do not carry a burden for souls. Their consciences are not sensitive; when the cause of God is wounded, they are not bruised in spirit. In their hearts they question and doubt the Testimonies of the Spirit of God. They do not themselves bear the cross of Christ; they know not the fervent love of Jesus. And they are not faithful shepherds of the flock over which they have been made overseers; their record is not one that they will rejoice to meet in the day of God.—Testimonies for the Church 5:379, 380. PaM 106.2

God gives wisdom to conference presidents who come to Him as little children—Presidents of conferences, you will be wise if you will decide to come to God. Believe in Him. He will hear your prayer, and come to your assistance, in much less time than the public conveyance could take one, two, three, or four men from a long distance, at a great expense, to decide questions which the God of wisdom can decide far better for you. He has promised, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” If you will sincerely humble your hearts before Him, empty your souls of self-esteem, and put away the natural defects of your character, and overcome your love of supremacy, and come to God as little children, He will bestow on you His Holy Spirit. When two or three shall agree as touching anything, and shall ask the Lord, in the name of Jesus, it shall be done for them.—Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 323, 324. PaM 107.1