Obey your leaders and submit to them, since they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.

Hebrews 13:17

I wonder how many people aiming to create a big church have really grappled with the enormity of these verses? Those who are not content to pastor a church of 10, 20 or 30 either haven’t understood the gravity of what these verses say or arrogantly assume there’s nothing to worry about here for them. These verses, no word of lie, send shivers down my spine.

I am not a big-church pastor. For a church in a deprived community, we’re practically a mega-church. But for any other kind of church, we’re small to medium at best. We are the biggest we have ever been and we have less than 50 members. And when I read Hebrews 13:17, even that feels quite big to me.

Everyone gets hung up on ‘obey your leaders and submit to them’. Would that people did! But then, as I think about it, if everyone really did do that (and they often don’t) it would make the scary bit even scarier. All our shortcomings would be fully exposed because they’d all be obeying and submitting happily, making eldership a joy so far as they are concerned, meaning whatever deficiencies there are definitely are the elders’ fault!

Which, of itself, would be no biggie. Who’s perfect right? Not me. But then, not you either! We’re all in the same boat so no problem. We are sometimes deficient, but Jesus gives the increase. We look to him, not the pastor. It’s all good and all God. Except, for that terrifying bit that comes next: ‘they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account’. Oh.

Turns out, pastor, you will have to give an account before the Lord for your deficient pastoral work. And the more people you pastored, the more souls you’ll need to account for. The bigger your church, the larger your platform, the greater your membership swells, the more accounting Jesus is going want from you. If you are pastoring a church where everybody is submitting and obeying wonderfully (though who ever had that gig!) your deficiencies are even more exposed. The state of the souls who gladly obey and submit to your leadership are entirely your lookout for which you will give account.

I read that verse and I envy no mega-church pastors. If anything, my sub-50 membership is starting to feel pretty big. Maybe a little too big. If ever you are hankering after size, significance and a nice big church, just remember what the Lord will demand of you. When you think about that, be grateful for the more considerably smaller flock he has given you.