Editor's note: “Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord, and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.” (1 Thessalonians 5: 12-13, NIV)
As church leaders, pastors have long been the focus of attention. Whether in the circle of academia or believers, topics like how pastors should think, be shaped, equipped, regulated, and even avoid falling are often discussed. However, being looked at as a special group, the needs and concerns of these specific individuals in holy pastors’ robes are largely neglected.
In response to this situation, the editorial team of the Gospel Times, a Chinese Christian website, discusses the current challenges Chinese churches face in caring for their pastors, shares successful experiences from various regions, and explores the future of pastor-caring ministries within Chinese churches.
Q: Has pastors’ care become a common practice in today’s churches in China?
Zhang Yao: According to my church visit in the past two years, most churches have an atmosphere of respect and love for pastors, but are rarely promoted to the level of a special ministry – I only know that some places in Fujian are doing so.
This is the status quo under the background of regional differences in China. Where the economic and cultural atmospheres vary, the state of affairs inside that church differs. If the church's believers are highly mobile, or if the church is in an emerging city where believers are still very new to each other, it is necessary to treat caring about pastors as a highlighted matter. However, for some churches with deep historical roots and relatively settled believers, pastors are cared for naturally.
I have been to a local church in Shanxi where there are a lot of believers, and they are all familiar with each other. When there are family affairs, pastors, co-workers, and believers will take the initiative to help each other. Therefore, that church does not advocate the love of pastors, and the church has already had this atmosphere spontaneously.
Last year, I interviewed a pastor of a local CC&TSPM, who was doing the ministry of caring pastors. He made some personal and simple analysis of how laymen look at and treat pastors from the perspective of the development history of churches in China.
In his view, the churches in China have not formed a historical basis for respecting and loving pastors. Looking back on the history of the development of the church in modern China, it can be seen that in the dreadful and difficult times, the pastors had been leading the congregation forward in a position of suffering. In the long run, believers have formed a subtle and preconceived cognition that since pastors can become leaders of their church, they must be “somebody” – that they are better than laymen in spirituality or ability to do things so that they can face or shoulder more burdens. This also causes many laymen to seldom take the initiative to care about the weaknesses and needs of pastors because they think that pastors are people who can certainly bear hard burdens themselves. It was not until the concept of caring for pastors spread among many churches that more and more believers and churches began to consciously see that the group as such was ordinary people like everyone else and needed to be cared for and concerned.
He Xi: I also think that the atmosphere of basic respecting pastors is generally there, but it cannot be denied that there are still some laymen in the grass-roots churches having misplaced expectations and ideas about pastors. For instance, some believers look at a pastor from the perspective of a dichotomy of holiness and vulgarity, considering that pastors must have stronger faith than lay believers, so they should live by faith, and the pastor’s children also need to be more spiritual than that of believers. These misconceptions about the pastors will inevitably cause a lot of pressure on them, and sometimes even the pastors themselves will unconsciously acquire such a mentality.
A few years ago, the Gospel Times made a series of reports on poor preachers. At that time, some preachers from mountainous areas had mixed feelings about the donation and support because, in their view, their wages were earned by their work. In their eyes, these external donations were more like a kind of "charity," which made them feel as if their dignity as pastors had been looked down upon.
Jiu Xin: The atmosphere of respecting pastors truly has regional characteristics. When I visited the churches in the economically developed areas along the eastern coast, I could intuitively feel that there are a few believers, volunteers, or church committees who are more successful in the worldly sense. They did not have that much respect for pastors, because pastors are relatively “weak” from the worldly level after all. In addition, some churches in South China have adopted a hiring system for pastors, which also makes believers’ views on pastors different from those of traditional churches.
Q: What are the practices of respecting and loving pastors you know in Chinese churches?
Li Zhen: During my visit to Liaoning, I learned that the Korean churches pay great attention to the care of pastors. Local colleagues joked that generally, the Han ethnic pastors at the grass-roots give things to believers, but the Korean ethnic pastors always get donations from many Korean ethnic believers when they work at the grass-roots church. Besides the donations, there are all kinds of vegetables and other things. In short, Korean ethnic churches are famous for caring for pastors and paying attention to dedication in Northeast China.
In the past two years, churches in Liaoning have begun to promote the two-day weekend system for pastors. Every Saturday and Monday is the rest day for pastors. Hangzhou churches adopted this earlier as if it had included the pastors’ rest day into the church rules and regulations around 2002. In the past, pastors were always available all year round as long as believers needed them.
Yuan Yang: The same is true of a church in Zhejiang. Pastors usually live in the church. They have visits or preaching arrangements every day except Sunday, so they don’t even have time to cook. Believers spontaneously buy food for the church every Monday to Friday to cook for the pastors, and everyone eats together.
Jiu Xin: I know a similar case in Zhejiang. Sometimes the pastor doesn’t have time to pick up his children. As long as he has needs, brothers and sisters will scramble to help.
In addition to the voluntary care at the believer level, I think the construction and implementation of care for pastors in churches around the country has become more and more comprehensive in recent years. It is very practical progress to pay attention to the rest of the pastors. In the past two years, there has been more and more news about the retreat of the pastors held by local CC&TSPM.
Yao Zhang: In recent years, a church in Jiangsu Province has been exploring the online management system and made an online visit reservation function. It allows believers to list their visit needs in advance and helps pastors coordinate their visits, so as not to visit in the middle of the night.
Fujian CC&TSPM has done a very good job in caring for pastors. They designate the fourth Sunday of Easter as “Pastor Appreciation Day.” On this day, the local CC&TSPM organizes retreats and discussion sessions for pastors and church workers and also presents them with gifts, such as health check-up packages or a new suit. Additionally, the Sunday service on that day will focus on the big theme of respecting and loving pastors, and the afternoon sermon will be for pastors so that they can have better self-awareness of the responsibility entrusted to them.
Li Zhen: A pastor in Heilongjiang said that if pastors want to be respected by believers, they should live a life worthy of respect, which is based on the correct understanding of the pastoral role, living a life of sacrifice, responsibility, bearing burdens, and self-emptying. Believers will naturally see the importance of their pastors and respond with love. This pastor told me that his congregation loves him dearly. Whenever he serves among them, they willingly offer the best from their homes to host him, and as for offerings and support, there's no need to even mention it—it comes naturally.
Q: What else can be done to make caring for pastors truly rooted in Chinese churches?
Zhang Chi: I think it is very important to give pastors enough time for retreat. Recently, I read a book on ecclesiology, which said that some frontline pastors in Korean churches have a year of retreat so that pastors can have enough time to learn, adjust, and equip themselves. Although a year may not be realistic in terms of domestic conditions, I do hope that they can have about a few weeks to adjust and recover every year.
He Xi: I remember from my theology courses that some churches have the concept of "sabbath year." If a pastor has been serving on the frontlines of pastoral ministry for many years and is feeling spiritually drained or uncertain, is there time for him to take a sabbath year to have further study? Also, since he has a family to care for, could the expenses be partially covered by the pastor himself, with some support from the church during the sabbath year? I believe some churches in China can offer such provisions.
Moreover, I think that if a church relies on one fixed pastor for a long time to maintain its operation, then the church must not be healthy. When pastors can have a rest year, they can not only use this time to train and practice more front-line co-workers who can take over practical affairs but also let the pastors take a break to rethink the future direction of the church to better lead the church to grow. If the rest year doesn’t work, rest months or even rest weeks will do.
Jiu Xin: At present, many grass-roots churches have the tension of alternating old and new, which is directly related to retirement pensions. Many grass-roots pastors of the older generation are unwilling to retire because they are worried about their lives after retirement. Therefore, the church needs to help them solve their worries, to better promote the renewal and development of the church.
Yao Zhang: You remind me of the work done by a municipal CC&TSPM in Fujian province in the construction of the system of protecting and caring for retired pastors. These churches have set up a special “retirement fund” for each full-time pastor. Pastors contribute one-third of the fund each month, and the churches to which they belong pay for the other two-thirds. When pastors retire, the subscribed fund will be returned to them as an additional subsidy along with their social security.
Moreover, it is worth remembering and caring for the pastors who have died, especially the old pastors who have made great sacrifices for the church and the earlier evangelists. During my visit to North China in the past two years, I heard about several cemeteries of pastors becoming desolate and dilapidated because there is no one to take care of them, and their children don’t have faith.
Xindi: Behind the pastors’ care is the spiritual accumulation and development of the church. If pastors encounter some spiritual or pastoral problems that need to be answered, they also hope to find pastors or Christian institutions that can provide them with help or advice. If a ministry can do research and analysis on many realistic circumstances of front-line pastors and provide them feedback and assistance, along with some pastors joining forces to offer practical assistance to those in need, it would undoubtedly strengthen and enhance their ability to serve.
- Translated by Charlie Li
“弟兄们，我们劝你们敬重那在你们中间劳苦的人，就是在主里面治理你们，劝戒你们的。又因他们所作的工，用爱心格外尊重他们。”（帖前5：12-13）
作为教会的主心骨与引领者，牧者长期以来一直是被“高度关注”的对象。不论是教界、学界、还是信徒，大家无时无刻不在关注与探讨着牧者应当如何思考，如何塑造、如何装备、如何规正，甚至于如何避免跌倒。但是，我们是否真正留心注意过，当仅仅将“牧者”视为一个群体保持注视时，我们是否忽视了对那些在庄重圣袍之下一位又一位活生生的个体的倾心与关注？
《福音时报》的编辑部以牧者为焦点，聊一聊中国教会当下的牧者关怀困境，谈一谈各地对于牧者关怀的优秀经验，也侃一侃中国教会在牧者关怀事工的未来。
以下为此次圆桌谈的整理，人物姓名均为福音时报编辑部各位同工笔名。
Q:牧者关怀在当今中国教会蔚然成风了吗？
张尧：据我这两年在各地教会走访时觉得，绝大多数教会对于牧者尊敬爱戴的氛围普遍是存在的，但要说具体把敬牧爱牧提升到专项事工层面的还真是不多见，我只知道福建有些地方是在做这个。我去过的山西一个地市教会，信徒数量不少，但彼此熟悉度都很高，各自家里有事情，牧者、同工、信徒之间都会主动互帮互助，所以教会不用特意倡导要敬爱牧者，教会自发就已经有这个氛围了。
这实际上也是中国地域差异背景之下的现状，各地经济、文化氛围不同，教会内部的情况也有区别。如果是这个教会信徒流动性比较强，或是新兴城市教会，大家彼此熟知的程度不深的话，那么敬牧爱牧是有必要去单独拎出来作为一个话题讨论，但是对于一些教会历史根基深厚、信徒群体也比较沉淀的话，这可能就是自然而然的事情。
去年采访一位在做敬牧事工的地方基督教两会牧者的时候，他从中国教会发展史角度，对平信徒如何审视及看待牧者这个话题做了一些个人性的简单分析。在他看来，中国教会是没有形成敬牧爱牧的历史基础。回顾近现代中国教会发展史可以看到，在长期艰难时间中，牧者实际上一直在受苦和担当的位置上带领着教会和信徒往前走。长此以往就让弟兄姊妹们形成了一种潜移默化且先入为主的认知，觉得牧者既然能成为教会的带领者，那么就一定是“得有两把刷子”——在灵性或处事能力等方面强于平信徒，才能面对或扛起更多重担。这也就让很多平信徒鲜少去主动关心牧者的软弱与需要，因为他们觉得这种事情牧师肯定能自己消化。直到一些牧者关怀观念在不少教会当中流传，越来越多的信徒和教会才渐渐开始有意识去看到牧者这个群体原来也就是跟大家一样的普通人，也需要被关心和关注。
何夕：我也觉得基础氛围总体是有的，但不能否认的是，基层教会里还是有些平信徒对于牧者的认识存在着错位的期待和想法，比如用圣俗二分的眼光看待牧师，觉得牧师的信心就一定比信徒强，就应该过凭信心的生活，牧师子女也需要比信徒子女更加属灵……这些对牧者的偏差认识都会在无形中给牧师造成许多压力，有时候甚至让牧者自己也会无意识地陷入到一些极端或者偏差的认识中。
前些年福音时报做过关于贫困传道人的系列报道，当时也有山区传道人对于来自主内的奉献支持情绪复杂，因为在他们看来，自己的工价是要靠做工得来的，这些外来的奉献在他们眼中更像是一种所谓的“施舍”，这让他们自己觉得好像身为牧者的尊严受到了轻看。
九歆：敬牧氛围也存在一定的地域特征。之前在东部沿海经济比较发达的地区教会走访的时候，我能直观感受到，有少数在属世意义上比较成功的信徒、义工或者是堂委，他们对于牧师实际上并没有那么尊重，因为牧师毕竟从社会层面来看是相对“弱势”的。加上华南一些教会采用的是牧者聘任制，也让信徒对牧者的看法跟传统教会有一定差异。
Q:敬牧爱牧在中国如何落地？
李真：我在辽宁走访的时候了解到，朝鲜族教会对牧者的关怀是很注重的，当地同工开玩笑说，一般汉族牧者下基层讲道都是给信徒奉献东西，朝鲜族牧者一下基层讲道总是能得到很多朝鲜族弟兄姊妹的奉献，除了奉献款以外还有各种蔬菜或其他的。总之朝鲜族教会在东北地区以关爱牧者、注重奉献而有名。
辽宁有教堂这两年开始推动牧者的双休制度了，每周六、周一是牧师的休息日。杭州教会在这方面做得更早，好像是02年前后就把牧者休息日完善到教会规章制度里了。以前牧师可没有这样的待遇，都是信徒只要有需求，随叫随到，全年无休。
袁阳：浙江的一个教会也是这样，牧师平时在教会住堂，平时除了主日以外基本每天都有探望或传道安排，不太能顾得上做饭，当地信徒就自发每个周一到周五买上菜去教会给牧师做饭，完了大家一起吃。
九歆：还有一个浙江教会也是类似的。有时候下午放学时间牧师没时间接孩子，只要他在教会信徒群里一说，弟兄姊妹都会争先恐后抢着说要去帮忙接他的孩子。除了信徒层面的自发关怀，我觉得近些年各地教会牧者关怀制度的建设落实也越来越全面了。首先关注牧者的休息就是很实际的进步，这两年各地基督教两会教会的牧者退修会的消息越来越多。
张尧：江苏一教会最近几年在探索在线管理牧养系统，其中就做了线上的探访预约功能，这一方面让信徒可以提前把探访需求明确列出来，同时也能帮助牧者更有调理地协调时间安排探访工作，不致于大半夜去做探访了。
不过要说起来，福建一地基督教两会在牧者关怀事工方面确实做得算是相当出色的了，当地规定每年复活期第四个主日是当地的“敬牧节”，在敬牧节当天，两会一方面会组织当地基层一线教牧同工做退修座谈会，也会给牧者们统一送个礼物，比如体检套餐，或者是一套西服。不止这样，当天的主日聚会也会围绕敬牧爱牧这个大主题开展，并且下午的证道则是面向牧者，让他们从自我意识角度看到身为牧者肩上担当的职责托付。
李真：之前走访时黑龙江的一位牧者说得挺好的，他说要想让信徒敬重牧者，首先牧者要有自己的活出配得敬重的生命，而这生命就是建立在牧者对自我正确认识的基础之上。明白牧者的职分，活出牧者牺牲、担当、背负、倒空的生命，信徒自然会看到牧者的重要性，也会用爱去回应牧者。这个牧师跟我说他们的信徒特别爱他，他一到下面服侍做工，信徒都愿意主动把家里最好的拿出来招待，至于奉献供应牧者，那就更不用提了。
Q:让牧者关怀真正根植进中国教会，还有哪些可努力的？
张弛：我觉得给牧者充足的退修时间很重要，最近我在读关于教会论的书，书里写韩国教会里有些一线牧者是有一年的退修时间的，让牧者能够有充足的时间去学习、调整和装备。虽然就国内情况而言一年的时间可能不太现实，但确实也希望他们每年能有大概几周的时间调整和恢复把。
何夕：之前我读神学课程的时候记得，有些教会是有“安息年”这个概念的。比如说一个牧者，他在教会一线牧养了很多年，他内心已经枯竭了，也比较迷茫了。他是不是有可以进修或者安息的时间？而且，因为他也有家庭需要照顾，那么这个花销，是否可以自己解决一部分，教会也支持一部分呢？我觉得国内还是有一些教会是可以达到这个条件的。
而且我觉得，教会如果长期依赖某一位固定牧者来维持运行的话，那么这个教会也一定不是健康的。而当牧者能够拥有安息年的话，不仅可以借助这一时间培养操练更多能担当交接实际事务的一线同工，也能让牧者用好喘息的时间去重新思考教会的未来方向，从而更好地带领教会成长。安息年如果行不通的话，安息月，再不济安息周也行啊。
张尧：我去年走访福建教会的时候，有一个地市基督教两会在退休牧者保障关怀制度建设方面做得就很新颖，让我印象特别深。当地基督教两会为每一位专职牧者设立了专项的“告老基金”，牧者个人每月承担三分之一，所属堂会承担其余的三分之二，到时候等牧者退休的时候，认缴的基金会作为牧者社保之外的额外补贴回馈给他们。
并且，要纪念已经归天的牧者，尤其是那些为教会做出过巨大牺牲奉献的老牧长，还有最早的福音奠基人，都值得教会去记念和关怀。我这两年在华北走访时听说了好几位已经归天家牧长的墓地，因为现在没人照料，子女又不信，现在十分荒凉破败的情况，听了真的让人很心酸。
九歆：现在很多基层教会里出现新老交替的矛盾张力，实际跟退休保障关怀也有着直接联系。有不少基层的老一辈传道人不愿意退休，就是担心自己离开教会管理层之后生活没有保障。所以这就需要教会先做好保障，帮助他们解决后顾之忧，才能更好地推动教会的更新和发展。
这一点我觉得浙江教会做的就比较好，有个县教会收集了本教会百年来的几十位属灵领袖的见证，用图文并茂的方式汇总在了他们教会的网站上。
新迪：牧者关怀背后承载的是教会属灵的积淀与发扬。如果牧者在遇到一些属灵或是教牧实务方面的难题需要解答的时候，他们也希望能够找到为他们提供帮助或者建议的牧者或基督教机构。如果有事工能针对一线牧者的很多现实情况做调研分析，并为他们提供反馈和协助，也会有一些牧师联合为所需要的牧者们提供实际的帮助，必定会使得他们的服侍力上加力。
编辑圆桌谈：做好牧者的全人关怀，中国教会怎样行？
Editor's note: “Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord, and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.” (1 Thessalonians 5: 12-13, NIV)
As church leaders, pastors have long been the focus of attention. Whether in the circle of academia or believers, topics like how pastors should think, be shaped, equipped, regulated, and even avoid falling are often discussed. However, being looked at as a special group, the needs and concerns of these specific individuals in holy pastors’ robes are largely neglected.
In response to this situation, the editorial team of the Gospel Times, a Chinese Christian website, discusses the current challenges Chinese churches face in caring for their pastors, shares successful experiences from various regions, and explores the future of pastor-caring ministries within Chinese churches.
Q: Has pastors’ care become a common practice in today’s churches in China?
Zhang Yao: According to my church visit in the past two years, most churches have an atmosphere of respect and love for pastors, but are rarely promoted to the level of a special ministry – I only know that some places in Fujian are doing so.
This is the status quo under the background of regional differences in China. Where the economic and cultural atmospheres vary, the state of affairs inside that church differs. If the church's believers are highly mobile, or if the church is in an emerging city where believers are still very new to each other, it is necessary to treat caring about pastors as a highlighted matter. However, for some churches with deep historical roots and relatively settled believers, pastors are cared for naturally.
I have been to a local church in Shanxi where there are a lot of believers, and they are all familiar with each other. When there are family affairs, pastors, co-workers, and believers will take the initiative to help each other. Therefore, that church does not advocate the love of pastors, and the church has already had this atmosphere spontaneously.
Last year, I interviewed a pastor of a local CC&TSPM, who was doing the ministry of caring pastors. He made some personal and simple analysis of how laymen look at and treat pastors from the perspective of the development history of churches in China.
In his view, the churches in China have not formed a historical basis for respecting and loving pastors. Looking back on the history of the development of the church in modern China, it can be seen that in the dreadful and difficult times, the pastors had been leading the congregation forward in a position of suffering. In the long run, believers have formed a subtle and preconceived cognition that since pastors can become leaders of their church, they must be “somebody” – that they are better than laymen in spirituality or ability to do things so that they can face or shoulder more burdens. This also causes many laymen to seldom take the initiative to care about the weaknesses and needs of pastors because they think that pastors are people who can certainly bear hard burdens themselves. It was not until the concept of caring for pastors spread among many churches that more and more believers and churches began to consciously see that the group as such was ordinary people like everyone else and needed to be cared for and concerned.
He Xi: I also think that the atmosphere of basic respecting pastors is generally there, but it cannot be denied that there are still some laymen in the grass-roots churches having misplaced expectations and ideas about pastors. For instance, some believers look at a pastor from the perspective of a dichotomy of holiness and vulgarity, considering that pastors must have stronger faith than lay believers, so they should live by faith, and the pastor’s children also need to be more spiritual than that of believers. These misconceptions about the pastors will inevitably cause a lot of pressure on them, and sometimes even the pastors themselves will unconsciously acquire such a mentality.
A few years ago, the Gospel Times made a series of reports on poor preachers. At that time, some preachers from mountainous areas had mixed feelings about the donation and support because, in their view, their wages were earned by their work. In their eyes, these external donations were more like a kind of "charity," which made them feel as if their dignity as pastors had been looked down upon.
Jiu Xin: The atmosphere of respecting pastors truly has regional characteristics. When I visited the churches in the economically developed areas along the eastern coast, I could intuitively feel that there are a few believers, volunteers, or church committees who are more successful in the worldly sense. They did not have that much respect for pastors, because pastors are relatively “weak” from the worldly level after all. In addition, some churches in South China have adopted a hiring system for pastors, which also makes believers’ views on pastors different from those of traditional churches.
Q: What are the practices of respecting and loving pastors you know in Chinese churches?
Li Zhen: During my visit to Liaoning, I learned that the Korean churches pay great attention to the care of pastors. Local colleagues joked that generally, the Han ethnic pastors at the grass-roots give things to believers, but the Korean ethnic pastors always get donations from many Korean ethnic believers when they work at the grass-roots church. Besides the donations, there are all kinds of vegetables and other things. In short, Korean ethnic churches are famous for caring for pastors and paying attention to dedication in Northeast China.
In the past two years, churches in Liaoning have begun to promote the two-day weekend system for pastors. Every Saturday and Monday is the rest day for pastors. Hangzhou churches adopted this earlier as if it had included the pastors’ rest day into the church rules and regulations around 2002. In the past, pastors were always available all year round as long as believers needed them.
Yuan Yang: The same is true of a church in Zhejiang. Pastors usually live in the church. They have visits or preaching arrangements every day except Sunday, so they don’t even have time to cook. Believers spontaneously buy food for the church every Monday to Friday to cook for the pastors, and everyone eats together.
Jiu Xin: I know a similar case in Zhejiang. Sometimes the pastor doesn’t have time to pick up his children. As long as he has needs, brothers and sisters will scramble to help.
In addition to the voluntary care at the believer level, I think the construction and implementation of care for pastors in churches around the country has become more and more comprehensive in recent years. It is very practical progress to pay attention to the rest of the pastors. In the past two years, there has been more and more news about the retreat of the pastors held by local CC&TSPM.
Yao Zhang: In recent years, a church in Jiangsu Province has been exploring the online management system and made an online visit reservation function. It allows believers to list their visit needs in advance and helps pastors coordinate their visits, so as not to visit in the middle of the night.
Fujian CC&TSPM has done a very good job in caring for pastors. They designate the fourth Sunday of Easter as “Pastor Appreciation Day.” On this day, the local CC&TSPM organizes retreats and discussion sessions for pastors and church workers and also presents them with gifts, such as health check-up packages or a new suit. Additionally, the Sunday service on that day will focus on the big theme of respecting and loving pastors, and the afternoon sermon will be for pastors so that they can have better self-awareness of the responsibility entrusted to them.
Li Zhen: A pastor in Heilongjiang said that if pastors want to be respected by believers, they should live a life worthy of respect, which is based on the correct understanding of the pastoral role, living a life of sacrifice, responsibility, bearing burdens, and self-emptying. Believers will naturally see the importance of their pastors and respond with love. This pastor told me that his congregation loves him dearly. Whenever he serves among them, they willingly offer the best from their homes to host him, and as for offerings and support, there's no need to even mention it—it comes naturally.
Q: What else can be done to make caring for pastors truly rooted in Chinese churches?
Zhang Chi: I think it is very important to give pastors enough time for retreat. Recently, I read a book on ecclesiology, which said that some frontline pastors in Korean churches have a year of retreat so that pastors can have enough time to learn, adjust, and equip themselves. Although a year may not be realistic in terms of domestic conditions, I do hope that they can have about a few weeks to adjust and recover every year.
He Xi: I remember from my theology courses that some churches have the concept of "sabbath year." If a pastor has been serving on the frontlines of pastoral ministry for many years and is feeling spiritually drained or uncertain, is there time for him to take a sabbath year to have further study? Also, since he has a family to care for, could the expenses be partially covered by the pastor himself, with some support from the church during the sabbath year? I believe some churches in China can offer such provisions.
Moreover, I think that if a church relies on one fixed pastor for a long time to maintain its operation, then the church must not be healthy. When pastors can have a rest year, they can not only use this time to train and practice more front-line co-workers who can take over practical affairs but also let the pastors take a break to rethink the future direction of the church to better lead the church to grow. If the rest year doesn’t work, rest months or even rest weeks will do.
Jiu Xin: At present, many grass-roots churches have the tension of alternating old and new, which is directly related to retirement pensions. Many grass-roots pastors of the older generation are unwilling to retire because they are worried about their lives after retirement. Therefore, the church needs to help them solve their worries, to better promote the renewal and development of the church.
Yao Zhang: You remind me of the work done by a municipal CC&TSPM in Fujian province in the construction of the system of protecting and caring for retired pastors. These churches have set up a special “retirement fund” for each full-time pastor. Pastors contribute one-third of the fund each month, and the churches to which they belong pay for the other two-thirds. When pastors retire, the subscribed fund will be returned to them as an additional subsidy along with their social security.
Moreover, it is worth remembering and caring for the pastors who have died, especially the old pastors who have made great sacrifices for the church and the earlier evangelists. During my visit to North China in the past two years, I heard about several cemeteries of pastors becoming desolate and dilapidated because there is no one to take care of them, and their children don’t have faith.
Xindi: Behind the pastors’ care is the spiritual accumulation and development of the church. If pastors encounter some spiritual or pastoral problems that need to be answered, they also hope to find pastors or Christian institutions that can provide them with help or advice. If a ministry can do research and analysis on many realistic circumstances of front-line pastors and provide them feedback and assistance, along with some pastors joining forces to offer practical assistance to those in need, it would undoubtedly strengthen and enhance their ability to serve.
- Translated by Charlie Li
Editors' Talk: How Can Chinese Churches Improve Holistic Care for Pastors?
