The Pastor: His Qualifications and DutiesHarvey, H. (Hezekiah)
Religion
The Pastor: His Qualifications and Duties
Harvey, H. (Hezekiah)
Pastoral theology
+SECTION XIV.+
RELATIONS TO OTHER DENOMINATIONS.
The pastor's position and work bring him into contact with other
ministers and churches in the community, and his comfort and usefulness
will to some extent depend on the esteem and confidence with which he
is regarded by evangelical Christians outside of his own church. He
will find many of the noblest Christian men and women in churches
differing in name from his own, and he should seek to maintain with
them the most frank and cordial relations. This is especially important
as regards the pastors, since, when relations of mutual affection and
confidence exist, the ministry in any community can be eminently
helpful to each other, and by combining their counsels and influence
can often greatly advance the religious interests of the whole people.
I suggest, therefore:
1. Do not isolate yourself, standing aloof from the general Christian
community, but seek the acquaintance of all good men. Show a friendly,
cordial spirit and a readiness for all offices of kindness, alike in
the relations of social life and on those public occasions when all
Christians gather for united counsel and worship. In such a course you
will find the love and sympathy of the Christian community attracted to
you, greatly augmenting your comfort and influence, and giving added
power to your public work.
2. Such friendly relations among Christians of differing views involve
of necessity a full recognition of their common Christian character and
a hearty accord, each to the other, of sincerity and purity of motive
in their church position. This a just self-respect requires you to
insist on for yourself, and this, in the spirit of genuine charity, you
should freely accord to others; such a position is consistent with the
most full and free expression of your denominational sentiments and the
most earnest defense of them. It simply requires that amidst the
different opinions of Christian men there should be a charitable
judgment of each other's character, and a careful abstinence from
language that might reflect on the motives of those who differ. It is,
I think, the common fact that the genuine respect and confidence of any
Christian community are most fully secured by that pastor who, while
always decided and earnest in the expression and defense of his
denominational convictions, is also always careful, in the spirit of
true charity, to recognize the sincerity and integrity of those whose
convictions may be opposed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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