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Pastoral Ministry
usefulness, is best serving God or the world while his time is given to
other pursuits, to the neglect of his own children.—
The Signs of the
Times, February 9, 1882
.
The negative influence of ministers’ families can do more
harm than their ministry does good—A double obligation rested
upon you, Brother B, as a minister of God, to rule well your own house
and bring your children into subjection. But you have been pleased
with their aptness and have excused their faults. Sin in them did not
appear very sinful. You have displeased God and nearly ruined your
children by your neglect of duty, and you have continued this neglect
after the Lord had reproved and counseled you. The injury done to
the cause of God by your influence as a family in the different places
where you have lived has been greater than the good that you have
accomplished. You have been blinded and deceived by Satan in regard
to your family. You and your wife have made your children your
equals. They have done about as they pleased. This has been a sad
drawback to you in your work as a minister of Christ, and the neglect
of your duty to bring your children into subjection has led to a still
greater evil, which threatens to destroy your usefulness.—
Testimonies
for the Church 2:620
.
Shepherds who fail at home will fail at church—He who is
engaged in the work of the gospel ministry must be faithful in his
family life. It is as essential that as a father he should improve the
talents God has given him for the purpose of making the home a
symbol of the heavenly family, as that in the work of the ministry,
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he should make use of his God-given powers to win souls for the
church. As the priest in the home, and as the ambassador of Christ in
the church, he should exemplify in his life the character of Christ. He
must be faithful in watching for souls as one that must give an account.
In his service there must be seen no carelessness and inattentive work.
God will not serve with the sins of men who have not a clear sense of
the sacred responsibility involved in accepting a position as pastor of a
church. He who fails to be a faithful, discerning shepherd in the home,
will surely fail of being a faithful shepherd of the flock of God in the
church.—
Manuscript Releases 6:49
.
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