Sunday. During the sermon, the senior pastor suddenly told the entire congregation that some staff members were not attending the service, and instructed the associate pastors to go and tell all the staff to attend. After the service, I saw the senior pastor, who was extremely agitated.
Why wouldn't the church staff listen to the senior pastor's sermon?
Is it because they're really busy? Is it because they don't feel spiritually moved? In any case, it's an embarrassing situation for the pastor.
While it's wrong for staff not to attend the service, the way the pastor chose to address it was completely wrong. I'm left with a feeling of regret, wondering if it was necessary to show such a dismissive attitude towards the staff in front of the entire congregation during the sermon. With such a personality, the entire congregation must have understood why the staff weren't listening to his sermons. I actually saw some members who had called out the staff apologize to them.
Because the church should prioritize love over discipline, it's genuinely difficult to admonish and teach someone who is acting wrongly. That's why one must be wise and cautious in applying church discipline.
Regardless of the reason, a leader who talks about discipline rather than encouragement toward a vulnerable church member like a staff employee can never be respected. Sometimes, a personality of this sort is on the level of a factory manager or a ruthless businessman. So, before I offer a solution below, if you are someone who receives a stipend from a church and are reading this, I hope you will follow my method.
Don't separate worship and work; just think of worship as part of your job and participate. If you keep trying to separate them, you will only create a permanent distance from the senior pastor. It's also unlikely that you'll feel spiritually moved during a service you are forced to attend. It's much harder to do something when you're forced to.
Worship is just a task, and it's a very easy one where you just have to sit and listen.
And if the church also considers worship a task and recognizes the worship time as working hours, the conflict will disappear. Debating whether it's right or wrong for a church worker to miss a service will only lead to a contentious outcome.
Even if your church doesn't recognize worship time as working hours because it doesn't have established principles, let's just think of worship as part of the job. By doing so, let's not let our peace of mind be stolen. You know well who it's being stolen from.
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