As an old saying goes, “I know the person’s look but not his mind.” For pastors, the ability to know people and make good use of them is undoubtedly important in their ministry. However, in the actual running of the church, they will inevitably lose accuracy in identifying and recognizing believers as they are either too kind or too easily trusted. The consequences are usually breaches of ministry conduct and damage to long-term development.
Zhen Hongxu (pseudonym) is a pastor from the south of China, and for more than 20 years he has been working in different churches in the same city. After he graduated from seminary, he started working in a church for many years. He had experienced profound lessons in knowing and employing people.
Pastor Zhen said, “I actually studied church management in the seminary, but I had very bad experiences during the five years of ministering in my first church after my graduation. Because the management system was not perfect at that time, I was attacked and coerced by the core management team, which I had appointed. The result was that I finally had to leave that church.”
“After many years, I have learned three lessons from the behaviors of the attacking core members: first, be wary of people who are very spiritual in their words; secondly, the pastor should carefully distinguish the motives of those who are unemployed but want to very actively participate in the ministry; third, after a church grows, it should have a perfect personnel management system to prevent the above two types of people from becoming core members, who stir up internal struggles, attack and coerce pastors, and damage ministries.”
Pastor Zhen added, “It is very likely that most of those who cannot work in and leave their organizations are due to their deficiencies in interpersonal relationships, working abilities, and quality of character. Such people very much tend to find excuses in front of pastors to cover up their defects and then swear: ‘I want to contribute; I want to serve.’ In the beginning, they were very active, committed, and obedient, but in the end, it was they who made a mess of the church.”
“Through that experience, I made a self-reflection and reviewed my management level at that time. First of all, I would admit that the church management I studied was just a scratch. Secondly, in practice, I had no kindness for Christ’s wisdom, and that made me trust others so easily with no judging abilities. Pastors are easily confused by such believers who, on the surface, are loving sisters or brothers. They are highly educated and articulate, pretending that they love the Lord very much. However, in the end, such people are very likely to attack pastors and cause damage to the church. So now, I am particularly alerted to those who are unemployed and want to join the service team in the church.”
“A pastor killer is a person who specializes in ‘killing’ pastors. The ‘killer’ mentioned here is not a hitman who takes a person’s life, but a person who destroys the position of pastors in a church through a series of cunning means. When there is a new pastor, these people will try their best to make the pastor suffer, damage his pastoral ministry, and even drive him out at last. That is why some churches change pastors frequently because there are ‘pastor killers’. When a pastor comes to a new church, he must be wary of those who are very enthusiastic and supportive of him at first because they are most likely to be the people who attack you the worst,” he concluded.
- Translated by Charlie Li
古语云：“画龙画虎难画骨，知人知面不知心。”对于牧者来说，知人善用的能力在牧会中无疑是重要的能力。但在现实的教会管理之中，有些牧者难免会因为善良心肠而失去对信徒的准确地分辨与查看，从而造成教会治理上的破口以及长久发展的损失。
一位来自南方的牧者甄宏旭（化名）牧师，他在南方一城市不同的教会牧会20多年。他从神学院毕业后的那几年，曾在一间教会事奉多年，他曾在知人用人的方面，经历过深刻的教训。
甄牧师分享说：“我在神学院里，其实也学习过教会管理学，但是当我毕业后，在我第一间教会事奉的那五年里，我经历了非常糟糕心痛的事情，因当时管理制度不健全，我被自己任命的教会核心管理者们攻击、逼迫……结论是，最终我选择离开那间教会。”
“多年过去后，我从那些攻击逼迫我的核心成员的行为中，总结了三个教训：第一，警惕嘴上很属灵的人；第二，牧者需细心分辨无业状态却想积极火热参加服事的人的动机；第三，教会发展壮大后，要有完善的人事管理制度。防止以上两类人成为核心成员后，走向内斗、攻击牧者，做拆毁的工作。”
甄牧师体察到：“那些在社会职位中干不下去的人，大部分是有在人际关系、能力和品格上的问题才离开的。”而这样的人很容易在教会牧师面前找一个借口，来遮盖自己的软弱 ，然后信誓旦旦地说：‘我要来奉献，我要来服侍。’当时她们表现很积极，很想委身教会，叫她们做什么事情都很顺从。但是最后，正是她们把教会搞的一团糟。”
甄牧师接着说到：“通过这个经历，我查看自己的心和那时的管理水平，首先，我得承认我学过的教会管理学只是皮毛。其次，在实践过程中，没有属基督智慧的善心驱使我很容易相信身边的人，失去了分辨力和判断力。牧者很容易被这样的信徒所迷惑，看起来热心爱主的姊妹或弟兄，又是高学历，又能说会道，很爱主的样子。然而最后，这种人很容易攻击牧师，在教会里面做拆毁的工作，所以现在，我在教会当中会特别关注那种无业，又要加入事奉团队的人。”
“牧师杀手是专门‘杀’牧师的人。这里提到的‘杀手’不是夺去一个人生命的人，而是通过一系列诡诈的手段，毁掉教会里牧师的职分的意思。在教会里，新过来一个牧师，这类人会想尽办法把这位牧者搞得痛苦不堪，使其牧会受损，甚至最后把牧者赶出去。这就是为什么有的教会频繁更换牧师，因为有‘牧师杀手’的存在，当一个牧师到了一个新的牧会环境，一定更要警惕刚开始对你很热情，很拥护你的人，因为他们很有可能成为攻击你最厉害的人。”甄牧师总结到。
南方牧师：提防这两类很容易成为“牧师杀手”的人
As an old saying goes, “I know the person’s look but not his mind.” For pastors, the ability to know people and make good use of them is undoubtedly important in their ministry. However, in the actual running of the church, they will inevitably lose accuracy in identifying and recognizing believers as they are either too kind or too easily trusted. The consequences are usually breaches of ministry conduct and damage to long-term development.
Zhen Hongxu (pseudonym) is a pastor from the south of China, and for more than 20 years he has been working in different churches in the same city. After he graduated from seminary, he started working in a church for many years. He had experienced profound lessons in knowing and employing people.
Pastor Zhen said, “I actually studied church management in the seminary, but I had very bad experiences during the five years of ministering in my first church after my graduation. Because the management system was not perfect at that time, I was attacked and coerced by the core management team, which I had appointed. The result was that I finally had to leave that church.”
“After many years, I have learned three lessons from the behaviors of the attacking core members: first, be wary of people who are very spiritual in their words; secondly, the pastor should carefully distinguish the motives of those who are unemployed but want to very actively participate in the ministry; third, after a church grows, it should have a perfect personnel management system to prevent the above two types of people from becoming core members, who stir up internal struggles, attack and coerce pastors, and damage ministries.”
Pastor Zhen added, “It is very likely that most of those who cannot work in and leave their organizations are due to their deficiencies in interpersonal relationships, working abilities, and quality of character. Such people very much tend to find excuses in front of pastors to cover up their defects and then swear: ‘I want to contribute; I want to serve.’ In the beginning, they were very active, committed, and obedient, but in the end, it was they who made a mess of the church.”
“Through that experience, I made a self-reflection and reviewed my management level at that time. First of all, I would admit that the church management I studied was just a scratch. Secondly, in practice, I had no kindness for Christ’s wisdom, and that made me trust others so easily with no judging abilities. Pastors are easily confused by such believers who, on the surface, are loving sisters or brothers. They are highly educated and articulate, pretending that they love the Lord very much. However, in the end, such people are very likely to attack pastors and cause damage to the church. So now, I am particularly alerted to those who are unemployed and want to join the service team in the church.”
“A pastor killer is a person who specializes in ‘killing’ pastors. The ‘killer’ mentioned here is not a hitman who takes a person’s life, but a person who destroys the position of pastors in a church through a series of cunning means. When there is a new pastor, these people will try their best to make the pastor suffer, damage his pastoral ministry, and even drive him out at last. That is why some churches change pastors frequently because there are ‘pastor killers’. When a pastor comes to a new church, he must be wary of those who are very enthusiastic and supportive of him at first because they are most likely to be the people who attack you the worst,” he concluded.
- Translated by Charlie Li
Pastor: On Guard Against Two Types of People Who Could Easily Become 'Pastor Killers'
