A Sad Secret In The Church Some Pastors Don't Want Known

       I am about to address a subject that I have never seen discussed in any book or blog article. It is the peculiar plight of the former pastor who has been "forgotten" by some ungrateful church.....or current pastor.

     Over the last month, I have had  an unusual cluster of conversations with five dear men of God, three of whom are retired. Each of the five shared with me the deep inner pain they suffer on a daily basis of being "forgotten" by some church at which they had previously served as pastor before God had moved them elsewhere. I know each of these men. I know their hearts and the battles they fought and the expenditure of tireless personal work as they selflessly gave of themselves at those churches. 

Now, Satan attacks them with ferocity, especially one dear man  who is ill in a nursing home as the Evil One laughingly sneers that his labors at that thankless church were all in vain. I tried to assure them that the lack of respect was not coming from the people of the congregation but rather from the pastor.

     When I was a pastor, I made sure that my congregation knew that I was standing on the shoulders of each pastor who had preceded me, because I believe that every pastor is brought to a church for a specific reason. Some of my predecessors were men with whom I had serious philosophical or procedural disagreements, some were men who were controversial, some were men with whom I had virtually nothing in common, but the undeniable fact was that they had  been the pastor of my church at some point in history. So, I asked myself, "How can I preach to my people the biblical injunction of giving honor to whom honor is due unless I showed honor to every living predecessor of mine by inviting them back to preach, whether I personally liked that previous  pastor as a person or not?"

     This is an ugly problem. It is far more prevalent than one might ever suspect. Since I have travelled much in my ministry and listened carefully to hundreds, if not thousands, of pastors in private conversations, I am glad to report that the vast majority are humble men of God who sincerely love our Lord with all their hearts. However, many of the more visible pastors see themselves as pulpit celebrities who will jealously protect their exalted opinions about their own preaching ability  by refusing to invite a former pastor for fear that that previous pastor will be welcomed too heartily.

     To me, ingratitude is the worst of human sins, especially when we fail to pay tribute to those who have placed themselves in a position to protect us. That is the reason that all veterans of the military deserve our respect. That is the reason that retired policemen and firefighters deserve a warm thank you. And, that is the reason that former pastors, who may have  fought bloody spiritual battles on behalf of us,  deserve our undying gratitude. 

     A few days ago, as I held the frail frame of one of these dear men against my chest and saw the tears wet his cheeks, I purposed to call the man who is now the pastor of my friend's former church. He is a well-known speaker at Bible conferences. The conversation was rather brief and, to me, very discouraging. He informed me very curtly that he knew the former pastor, but had never contacted him by phone or mail, and that he would not make contact with him in the future. Additionally, he would not invite him back to the church for anything. His simple response to my question as to why was blunt, "We've moved on, it's my church now."  To that reply, I answered, "Paul says that even if he were a great orator who spoke with the tongues of men and angels but did not have love, he would be nothing more than sounding brass or tinkling cymbal. You, sir, are a great preacher, but Jesus says we will recognize each other by our love. I cannot recommend you as a pastor to people who need a pastor since you obviously lack love and gratitude for your predecessor. It would be better for me to recommend a less gifted preacher than you, less educated than you, but a man who ardently loves God and all people, including his predecessors. I simply cannot recommend someone who by his own words is sounding brass and tinkling cymbal."

     A tragedy in America is that we have literally thousands of veterans of the military who fought for us in World War II, the Korean Confict, Viet Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan and other dangerous places around the world. They are dying and leaving us daily without our young people hearing their stories directly from them. Likewise, we have a vast number of former pastors, heroes of the faith, who sacrificed much and asked for little in return, but they are largely ignored or bypassed. They still have much to give even yet in the ever-present spiritual war. Our younger people need to hear from them; and, in return, it would do us all good, as a church, to simply say, "Thank you."

     This is a sad secret; we have an almost invisible army of veteran former pastors. They still stand tall and courageous. Unfortunately, too many current pastors, for whatever reason, never use them or honor them, but instead they silently hope the congregations of their churches never notice nor question their arrogant neglect.