The question, plainly
Most churches have a group of people besides the pastor who are responsible for the church: deacons, elders, trustees or a board. This page asks whether those people have real responsibilities, to God, to the church, to the people who give, and under the law, or whether their job is simply to agree with the pastor, especially when he says a plan came from God.
What this page tests
Deacons and board members have genuine duties. They cannot rubber-stamp everything. They must fear God, not man. And they should not be silenced by “God told me” when a plan goes outside the Bible or the law.
There is an opposite mistake too: a board that treats its pastor as a suspect, picks at his sermons and blocks everything. The Bible rejects that as well: “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour” (1 Timothy 5:17). The question is not whether to support the pastor. It is whether support means never looking.
Try it: sit through the meeting
You are a deacon. Eight items are on tonight’s agenda. Every one is made up by this page, not quoted from anyone. For each, choose what you do, and watch the minutes being written with your name on them. On one item, the right answer really is just to agree.
Why do the minutes matter? In North Carolina, as in many states, the law says a board member who was at the meeting and did not have his disagreement written in the minutes is “deemed to have assented”, that is, treated as having agreed. Silence counts as a yes.
How the first church officers were chosen
In Acts 6, the church in Jerusalem had a problem: some widows were being overlooked in the daily food distribution, which the apostles were overseeing. The apostles did not tell the complainers to stop murmuring. They agreed there was a problem and told the whole church to choose seven men “of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom” to take charge (Acts 6:3). The church chose, and all seven had Greek names, so it seems the church picked men from the very group that had been neglected.
Paul says deacons must be “not doubletongued” and “not greedy of filthy lucre”, and adds: “let these also first be proved” (1 Timothy 3:8–10). A job whose holders are tested for honesty is a job where honesty will be needed. An early Christian bishop, Polycarp, called deacons “the servants of God and Christ, and not of men.”
Chosen by the church, on public character, to fix something the leaders had missed, and trusted with the money. Not an office for saying yes.
“The Lord has shown me”
This is the hardest sentence for a board to answer. Once a plan is said to come from God, asking for the figures can feel like doubting God. But the Bible never puts a leader’s claimed message from God beyond testing:
- In 1 Kings 13, an old prophet told a man of God, “an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD,” and the Bible adds four words: “But he lied unto him.” The man believed him and it cost him his life.
- In 1 Kings 22, four hundred prophets agreed with the king. The one who disagreed was right, and the king said of him, “I hate him.”
- In Acts 15, even after Peter had a vision from God on the very question, the church decided only after “much disputing,” with the whole church, and put it in writing: “it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us.”
The Bible tells every Christian to test: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). The Bereans were praised for checking even the apostle Paul against Scripture (Acts 17:11).
The board does not have to decide whether God really spoke to the pastor. It can’t know. It only has to decide whether the plan is biblical, legal, sensible and honest. If God is behind it, it will survive the questions.
What about “Touch not mine anointed” (Psalm 105:15)? Read the psalm: it is about God protecting his vulnerable people from foreign kings, not about church boards asking questions. The prophet Nathan walked up to King David, the Lord’s anointed, and said, “Thou art the man.”
Fear God, not man
The very first qualification the Bible gives for people put in charge of others is not skill or loyalty. It is “such as fear God” (Exodus 18:21). Moses told Israel’s judges: “Ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s” (Deuteronomy 1:17).
“The fear of man bringeth a snare” (Proverbs 29:25). And “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29) was first said not to a pagan ruler but to the religious leaders of Israel.
The pressures are real: loyalty to a pastor who has done a lot, fear of being called critical, a family member who works for the church, old friendships, and the dread of splitting the church. None of them changes whom a board member will finally answer to.
What the law says (in the US)
This is general information, not legal advice, and it varies by state. But in broad terms:
Board members have duties. In North Carolina a director must act “in good faith,” with the care “an ordinarily prudent person” would use, and in the church’s best interests. Being religious does not cancel those duties where money, property, staff and safety are concerned.
You may trust your pastor, but not past what you know. The law lets board members rely on others, but not when they know something that makes that trust unwarranted.
Paying the pastor too much can cost board members personally. Federal tax law can charge a board member who knowingly approves an excessive payment 10% of the excess, up to $20,000.
Some duties can’t be voted on. In North Carolina, any person who suspects a child is being abused must report it. A board vote cannot cancel that.
Courts stay out of church doctrine and won’t choose a church’s pastor. That means that for many decisions, the board is the only check there is. Churches also don’t file the public financial returns other charities do, so givers usually can’t see the numbers. They are trusting the board to have looked.
Try it: the member with no voice
A made-up case
A widow who has been a member for thirty years asks the treasurer why the building fund has gone down. The next Sunday there is a sermon about people who sow discord. On Tuesday she gets a letter: the pastor has removed her from membership, “with the board’s full support.” The board had agreed by text message. She is asked not to talk about it.
Which of these fair-treatment basics did she get? Tick the ones you think she received, then check.
The Bible tells us to “open thy mouth for the dumb”, for people who can’t speak up for themselves (Proverbs 31:8). Remember that the first deacons were appointed because some widows were being overlooked. A board is often the only group that can hear someone like her.
The givers who aren’t in the room
When Paul collected money for poor Christians in Jerusalem, he let the givers choose who carried it (1 Corinthians 16:3), travelled with a companion the churches appointed, and said why: “that no man should blame us” (2 Corinthians 8:20). Money given for a stated purpose, like a roof fund, should be used for that purpose, unless the givers agree to a change. “The Lord told me to use it for something else” is not the givers agreeing.
Safeguards protect the honest pastor
Two people counting the offering. Two signatures on cheques. Bank statements going to someone outside the pastor’s family. The pastor leaving the room when his pay is decided. Board members serving fixed terms. A way for anyone to raise a concern without being punished. An outside review of the accounts. These can feel like mistrust. They are the opposite: they let an honest pastor be seen to be honest. In the Old Testament, the temple money was counted by the king’s scribe and the high priest together (2 Kings 12:10).
Ask first. Then ask for the documents. Get advice. Vote no and have it written in the minutes. Take it to whoever the church’s rules say. Report to the authorities if a child or a crime is involved (straight away, not step by step). And if nothing works, resign and say why, in writing.
Try it: what is actually proven?
Five claims. Rate each, then see what the evidence supports.
The point, one more time
Support your pastor gladly in preaching, prayer and care. That is not what this page questions.
But look before you say amen to anything involving money, property, people or safety, and test the plan, not the man.
Don’t fear the face of man. “For the judgment is God’s” (Deuteronomy 1:17), and that includes the judgement of the member who has no voice.