I'm Not a Sheep Thief!
There is another area of ministerial ethics and etiquette concerning the pastoral office. And that is in the area of stealing other pastors' sheep.
One church I pastored in east Texas had other neighboring churches close by. Three families that lived near my parsonage attended these other churches.
These other churches didn't have services on Thursday night when we did, so these families came to our Thursday night meetings. This was during World War II when gasoline was rationed. One of the leading men of one of these other churches lived across the street from me.
He came to me, and said, "Brother Hagin, because of the gasoline rationing, instead of driving all the way to our church, we'd like to start coming to your church. After all, your church is just across the street and we can just walk over."
I said to him, "No, don't join my church. They need you in your own church because you're one of the main board members. They need your support and your finances, especially right now because they are in a building program." You see, the Bible says we are to consider our brother before ourselves. Besides, I'm not a sheep thief.
Soon after that, some of the members of my church board said to me, "Brother Hagin, these folks who go to those other churches live close to the parsonage. You ought to try to get them to join our church. It would really help us financially." I said, "Men, I'm not a sheep thief. I'm not going to steal another man's sheep."
Now don't misunderstand me. These people belonged to Full Gospel churches. If they had belonged to some ole dead church which taught that speaking in tongues and divine healing are of the devil, that would have been a different matter.
In a case like that, I would not have refused someone who wanted to come to hear the full gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it would have been walking in love to do so. Otherwise, they may never find out about their covenant rights in Christ.
Finally, another one of the men who lived by the parsonage came to me and said, "Brother Hagin, my wife and I want to join your church." I knew this man only occasionally went to one of those neighboring churches. I told him, "You talk to your pastor about it, and I'll talk to him too. If it's all right with him, and he recommends you, I'll take you. But otherwise, I won't, because I'm not a sheep thief."
I talked to their pastor, and he said, "Brother Hagin, I'm going to insist that you take that family." I said, "You know I'm not after your sheep." He said, "Yes, I know that. But, really, for the husband's sake, I'd like you to take this family. He rarely comes here to church. His wife is one of the best workers in my church, and it will be a sacrifice to lose her. But maybe you can influence her husband to walk with God. I believe you can help him. For his sake, I'd like you to take them."
This pastor had that man's best interests at heart. And, thank God, God showed me how to help that man, and he and his wife became a real blessing to the church. But the point I'm trying to make is that ministers need to learn something about not only Christian ethics, but also about ministerial ethics.
Let me give you another example of ministerial ethics. After I went out in field ministry, over a seven-year period of time, I held five meetings for a certain pastor in a large city. In the course of time, another pastor asked me to come to the same city and hold a meeting for him. I hadn't been back to that first church in two years, and it was a large city. But I want to be ethical and walk in love in every situation, so I contacted Brother Braun, the pastor of the first church where I'd held the meetings. I wanted to prefer him and put him first and not cause a problem between pastors in a city.
I telephoned Brother Braun and said, "Brother Braun, I've preached for you a number of times over the years. Recently, another pastor in your city has asked me to hold a meeting for him. I feel led to go if it's all right with you."
Even if I had felt led to go to this other church, if this pastor had said, "Don't go," I wouldn't have gone. I'm not going to create division and strife in a city among pastors. But I knew this pastor was a man of God, and he encouraged me to go.
He said, "Brother Hagin, that pastor is a fine man of God. If you feel led to go, go right ahead. We'll come over and help you."
Who told me to practice that kind of ministerial courtesy? The Holy Spirit dwelling on the inside and the Word of God. The Bible says we are to be doers of the Word and prefer our brother before ourselves.
You see, I had gone to that first church a number of times over a seven-year period. Probably as many as half of his members were saved in the revivals I held for him. If I had come to that city to preach in another church, half of his congregation may have come to hear me. That might have caused problems, or he might have lost some of his people because of it.
This was a large city, and these churches were far enough away from each other that it would have been all right. But on the other hand, we ought to have respect for fellow ministers and fellow members of the Body of Christ and not just run roughshod over one another.
I don't mean I practiced this kind of ministerial courtesy just one time. I've followed that practice over the years in my field ministry because I want to be ethical in all my dealings in the ministry.
I've seen some ministers hold a meeting one week in a church and go almost across the street and start another meeting for someone else! And it created confusion and division in a city and strife between pastors.
I've also seen associate pastors divide a church over some issue and then take half of the congregation two or three blocks away and start another church! That's unethical. Ministers of the gospel shouldn't divide sheepfolds.
That's the reason even some folks in the world don't believe in ministers and have lost faith in the church. Some ministers have created much havoc and confusion, dividing churches and spiritually killing little lambs. If associate pastors or church members can't go along with the way a church is run, then they should leave the church. But they don't need to create division in doing so.
Some ministers who divide churches say, "The Lord told me. . ." Don't lay that off on the Lord! He's not that way. Some people try to get out of the wrong things they do by using the excuse, "The Lord told me to do it." The Lord never told anyone to be a sheep thief or to divide a church.
I'll tell you the truth about the matter. If ministers live right and do right, people will believe in them. There is nothing more lacking in the Charismatic Movement than commitment, consecration, and respect for the things of God. Ministers of the gospel need to have such integrity that they refuse to do anything that would compromise the gospel they preach.
Pastors shouldn't teach their church members to proselyte members from other churches, saying, "You ought to come to our church. We've got so much more of the Holy Ghost than anyone else." Pastors, just as any other minister, need to be above reproach even in how they get new members.
Some pastors spend all their time trying to get other church members from neighboring churches. Any pastor who does that is a sheep thief. Instead of doing that, he should initiate church programs that reach out to the unsaved and the unchurched!
I know an evangelist who held a meeting for a particular pastor. Every year he came to this pastor's church and held a meeting for him. The church membership doubled under this evangelist's ministry.
One day this evangelist came to the pastor and said, "I'm going to start a church nearby using your members, Brother So-and-so's members, and Brother So-and-so's members."
This evangelist built on the labor of other ministers. He was a sheep thief. I watched that evangelist's ministry. Even though he was in his thirties, within four years, he was dead. He didn't judge himself, so God had to judge him. The Bible says, "For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged" (1 Cor. 11:31).
It is a serious matter to hurt the Body of Christ by unethical practices.
I've been in the ministry more than fifty years. I've watched preachers — pastors, evangelists, teachers — ministers of the gospel, climb up over the ministry and reputation of others trying to get to the top in Christian circles.
I've had people try to climb up spiritually by using me and my name too. Doing that is nothing short of a lie. People who do that will eventually fail because they are not building on the Word; they are basing their ministries and reputations on a lie. And they are not being ethical.
Let's just endeavor to prepare ourselves so we can fulfill God's purpose for each of our lives. First, let's prepare our hearts in the Word and by waiting before God in prayer. The Bible promises that those who seek the Lord with all their heart shall find Him. By consecrating and dedicating ourselves for the Master, He can use us to be a blessing to the Body of Christ and to the world.
By Kenneth E. Hagin
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This too is walking in love - not just with words but with honor and integrity which pleases the heart of God our Big Shepherd with a Father’s heart.
End note by apostle dr. Gordon-John Manche’