The members every Pastor wants (or 10 things that make a great church) part 3.

“Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. ¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. ¹⁵ Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.” (1 Thessalonians 5 v 13-15)

So here are the 10 things that make for a great church and what every Pastor wants of their members!

1. They hold their Pastor in the highest regard because of their work.
2. They get along with their Pastor.
3. They warn those who are the ‘freeloaders’.
4. They warn those who are trying to cause division.
5. They encourage the disheartened.
6. They help the weak.
7. They are patient with everyone.
8. They make sure no one tries to get even.

So here are the final 2 things that make for a great church and what every Pastor wants of their members!

• They strive to do good for each other.

Goodness is a life where you look like God, especially in front of your enemies. They may be ungrateful and they may not recognise what you do but He sees. God can see you identify with Him for this is who He is and what He has done and does today. This is the Church. Called by God for people, others before me, people ahead of me, serving, reaching, others all the time, every time. The Church never entertains the thought, ‘Well what about me? What about what I want? How do I feel?’ for these are destructive thoughts.

Some churches are marked by destruction and others by goodness. The fall-outs, the bickering, the gossip, the self-centred victim mentality all destroy. The members every Pastor wants are the ones who are striving for the good not the bad.

1. They strive to do good to those outside the Church.

A church that is united is a church where community is important, where people matter. But it is not just the community of those who attend church. But those who are yet to do so. We live in a world that is closer together than it has ever been and yet driven apart at the core. The incarnational God left His safety, His glory and got caught up with our mess and failings and history. He did it because He cared. Doing good to those outside the Church means we will leave our comfort zones, our glory and get burdened and involved with the problems of the world. Their problem becomes our problem.

The goodness of the gospel tells of the sacrifice of the Father to send the one He loves to people who are rejecting Him.  It is also the sacrifice of the son to be sent. The Father sends and the son dies. The church wants to live, God wants the church to die for the world. That’s the gospel.

Richard Wurmbrand was 14 years in a communist Romanian prison, he said, “A man really believes not what he recites in a creed, but only the things he is ready to die for.” Come to Jesus and he will fix all your problems is not the gospel. The love from a sacrificial life is a cause, a purpose which needs devotion, focused and disciplined Christians.

In the story of the prodigal Son the father ran to his returning son to get there before the judging community. A Church that believes in the goodness of the gospel runs and embraces the offensive sinful people before the religious condemn them.

You would think that is the prerequisite for a Church. We can all love people who we like or who are similar to us. But doing good to the unlovable is another thing completely!

1. They hold their Pastor in the highest regard because of their work.
2. They get along with their Pastor.
3. They warn those who are the ‘freeloaders’.
4. They warn those who are trying to cause division.
5. They encourage the disheartened.
6. They help the weak.
7. They are patient with everyone.
8. They make sure no one tries to get even.
9. They strive to do good for each other.
10. They strive to do good to those outside the Church.