Matthew Stuckey here, and I wanted to make a quick video on the topic of what does it mean to be a qualified pastor?
What does it mean to be a qualified pastor? And this is a topic that here in the Philippines amongst Baptist churches
It's a very debated topic about what is required to actually be a pastor, but you know honestly the Bible is just pretty clear on
This subject is really not that complicated
So we're gonna look at just some different aspects and things that are required in order to be qualified as a pastor
What does the Bible say? Well in Titus 1 verse 5 the Bible reads
For this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting and ordain elders in every city
As I had appointed thee. The Bible talks about setting in order the things that are wanting meaning that there is a need there is a
Desire for people to be running churches
There is a desire and a need you know
Like-minded people of having a like-minded church to be a part of the same thing is true today all over the Philippines many people are
Listening to online preaching that are like-minded and zealous for the things of God
They don't necessarily have a church that is a hundred percent behind them
And it's definitely wanting that there are elders ordained in every city
Does that mean that we should just ordain you know one person every week and just start 50 new churches here in?
2021 well the Bible also gives us the wisdom of lay hands suddenly on no man and things are to be done decently in an
Order so we don't want to want just this free-for-all church ordinations or pastor ordinations
Just you know just ordain lots of different people with no qualifications
There's actually qualifications set in the Bible, so what does it say in verse 6?
It says if any be blameless the husband of one wife having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly
Now if you're just gonna take this and read it literally it says you must be the husband of one wife meaning
You're a man who's married to a woman having faithful children meaning that you have you know at least two children that are
Faithful not accused of riot or unruly now
I want you to understand that you know it's very clear that you must be a man
You're the husband of one wife and very few Baptists would disagree with that
They'd say amen to that, but then if you tell them that well this man must be married to a woman
It's like well
How dare you you know say that someone's not qualified simply because they're not married
But the Bible says you must be the husband of one wife
And so it's like godly ladies aren't just getting mad at what the Bible says that they can't be elders
And so if you're a godly man who doesn't fit these qualifications
You shouldn't get angry at the Word of God either
and if you do it just shows that you're not really zealous for the things of
God because this is clearly what the Bible says it says that you know the husband of one wife
Meaning that you have to be married and it says having faithful children now
I interpret that to mean that you have multiple children not just simply that the children that you have are faithful now
I will say you know to be fair and honest that if you cross-reference in the Bible
You know children can be implying not necessarily two or more, but just that you have at least one child
But you know however many children you have they are faithful, and I understand that interpretation
But I would disagree here in Titus chapter 1 because both here in Titus chapter 1 and in 1st Timothy 3
It's highlighting a specific person and showing that they need to have faithful children
Which to me shows that they need to have multiple children that are not accused of riot and unruly that are
Faithful and so when it comes to not being accused of riot or unruly you know
What's the proper age for this and what is the standard well?
Yeah, there's a bit of a gray area situation with that aspect of it, but the fact that you're married, and you have kids
That's not really a gray area aspect so when it comes to being qualified to be a pastor
Just quite simply you need to be married as a man with multiple children
And that's not really that complicated and they have to approve themselves to be faithful not accused of riot or unruly
But another aspect of being qualified as a pastor is that you're not
Disqualified and what I mean by that is a person can get ordained as a pastor
But then they can disqualify themselves from the ministry if they get involved in various sins or do things that are
Complete wrong or terrible you know when you look in the Bible at King Saul King Saul was chosen to be king and then God
Said you know quit crying for him Samuel
I've rejected him and so he said I'm gonna find a man after mine own heart
And then David was ordained and so all throughout the Bible you see that how people can be chosen by God
And then they can lose their position if they commit various sins even though King Saul was originally chosen
It's the same thing with being a pastor someone can get ordained as a pastor
But if they commit sins that are so grievous such as committing adultery or having children
You know with with other women or whatever or being a drunk and committing big sins or prostitution or whatever
They would disqualify themselves from the ministry
And so there's certain sins that will get you kicked out of the Bible according to 1st Corinthians
And if a pastor is guilty of committing those sins obviously he would be disqualified now
There could be some gray area situations with a certain amount of sin or worldliness the pastor was involved in
But if they commit sins that are very obvious like committing adultery
They're not qualified to be a pastor and they've been rejected by God even if they were originally chosen by God and the reason why
I bring that up is here in the Philippines
Many Baptist pastors have committed adultery and some of them many different times
And it is known and people are aware of it, but the justification is well. They were called by God
They were chosen by God
So how dare you try to take away that qualification and we're supposed to just forgive them even though
They've disqualified themselves from the ministry
But Saul was rejected by God even though he was originally chosen so you can commit sins that would get you disqualified
So if there's somebody who's a pastor he might have several kids, but if he commits a sin like adultery
He is no longer a pastor
He's disqualified and you know you should leave that church because the person you have running that church is not a pastor
Maybe they were at one time, but they have completely lost their position of being a pastor
So number one you have to meet the requirements of family
Just being married with children number two you have to not be disqualified after you get ordained as a pastor
Number three you know you have to have a certain character and personal walk with God
And so both in 1st Timothy 3 and here in Titus chapter 1 it mentions a lot of different things of
Requirements of your personality and how you have to basically lay down your life for other people
Not be a brawler and not be given to wine and all of these different things and these are
Requirements for getting ordained in the ministry now when it comes to this aspect of being qualified the church
That's going to ordain you and the person running that church
That's going to ordain you these are things that you know what they're gonna have to look at it
And make a decision based on your character and your walk have as you've spent time in that ministry
And you need to personally just look at yourself and decide if you're ready
Or if there's still areas that you need to work on and look if there are areas that you need to work on then you
Need to do that ahead of time and just try to prepare yourself
And so you will be qualified and then the person who would ordain you at that church would look at you and say hey this
Person is a real deal now realize the Bible says lay hands suddenly on no man
So the only way that you can really prove yourself with character right is over a period of time
And so this is not that you just join a church and one week later
They ordain you or it's a church that you're not a member of and then they just ordain you and they don't really know you
They've never really been around you. They've never seen seen you running any ministries or anything like like that
That's that's not appropriate according to the Bible the only way you can prove your character to someone who's going to ordain you is if
They actually see you in action over a period of time and so number one you need to be married with children
Number two you need to make sure you're not disqualified
You need to make sure that you've never committed adultery and major sins
Which many Baptist pastors here in the Philippines are guilty of and yet?
They're still some of the main speakers at these big Baptist conferences. It's a joke. It's laughable number three
You have to have a character and personal walk according to 1st Timothy 3 in Titus chapter 1 number 4
You need to have knowledge of the Bible you need to have knowledge of the Bible
And so when it comes to ordaining someone in the ministry when it comes to a pastor that will choose to ordain someone
They've got to make a judgment call on various things and one of those things is having knowledge
Look if you're gonna preach several sermons a week
You need to have knowledge of the Bible in order to do that
And so there's gonna be a requirement of perhaps an amount of time reading the Bible cover to cover
Whether it's 10 times 20 times whether it's also memorizing certain scriptures or verses or chapters or books of the Bible
Different churches could have different ordination processes
Anyway, this is something that's important because if you're gonna run a church you need to have knowledge here in the Philippines
Many of the pastors have never read the Bible cover to cover and they freely admit that and it's just like you know
How are you really qualified to be a pastor now?
They might have had somebody lay hands on them and ordain them to the ministry
But you know if they don't have any knowledge, they're not really qualified to be in that position
Now, how would God look at that that ordination and that person who's ordained if they've never read the Bible cover to cover
And they don't really have a personal walk
Well, I mean, you know, it's honestly in God's hands and in God's eyes to make that decision
But just because you get somebody to lay hands on you doesn't mean you're really qualified or ready for the job
And you know number five finally is this, you know, not only married with children
Not only not disqualified not only having character and personal walk not only having knowledge of the Bible
but also having experience having experience and that's what the term elder is really highlighting is you just have
Experience and so when it comes to a person being ordained
They should not only get opportunities to preach to develop their preaching skills because you must be apt to teach according to the Bible
But they also should have you know
Opportunities to run various ministries or co-run ministries or be in positions of leadership
Where they get a chance to interact with various people
They get a chance to start feeling comfortable dealing with people and we need to realize that a bishop is really referring to oversight
So it's good to get experience before you're actually the head pastor of a church where you get some degree of oversight and responsibility
So you can prove yourself worthy and be prepared when one day you are a pastor now
You know, you might have you might be at a church where maybe one day you'll get ordained or maybe there's various people out there
That were ordained and their pastors or churches weren't that strict with the ordination or maybe somebody got ordained by the Bible College
Which is not God's method. God has the local church system
But you know, maybe there's situations like that and honestly, you know, God would kind of look down on those situations and make a decision
I'm not here to judge everybody's individual situation how they're ordained or whether or not they're qualified
but my point is there's things that are very clear such as being married with children and not being
Disqualified and when it comes to the other aspect of having character and knowledge and having experience
These are things that you would be foolish to not do before your pastor because you're gonna have a lot of difficulty if you're not
Prepared and somebody might ordain you as a pastor, but if you're not prepared
It's just gonna be a disaster and you know what you should seek to get experience and and and running various ministries and get
Opportunities to preach before you reach that point of actually getting ordained. So you're actually really qualified and prepared for that job now
I just want to close with this idea of the fact that if you were to go to the doctors
Let's say you had an illness and you're really concerned and all of a sudden you went to a doctor's and
You know all of a sudden you found out there the person said well, you know
I call myself a doctor, but I actually never went to college
I never went to school for this and I just started calling myself a doctor and
Now I run this practice and people pay me money even though I have no experience with with these things
I mean you look at that and you'd say that's crazy
You would go to a different doctor and you in any aspect any career, you know what if you go there?
They're gonna have to have had experience and training and they're gonna have a process
Where somebody ordains them after a period of time where they've proven themselves and that's what you would want
You won't you don't want a surgeon operating on you who has no experience and they just started calling themselves a surgeon and
Just started going to town without any experience whatsoever
But yet when it comes to Christianity and religious things people can call you pastors
Even if you're not pastors people can call you elders like the the Mormons that they go in there to your missions
Even though they're 19 year old kids with no experience and it's like you can use whatever terms
Religiously and people don't think think anything of it. Look here in the Philippines. There are a lot of Baptist
pastors and many of these people are
Not married or they don't have children or they've been disqualified from the ministry and they're still calling themselves
Pastors and everyone's calling them pastors and there's this free-for-all technique of just ordaining anyone to the ministry
The Bible says lay hands suddenly on no man. Look we definitely need a lot of great churches in the Philippines
We're starving for good churches, even though there's so many people that are looking for these churches
However, we need to do things decently in an order like the Bible says and there are requirements to actually being qualified for the ministry
And being qualified to be a pastor just like there's requirements to being qualified to any career that you would go into
Thank you and God bless