Single Men as Pastors?

Hey fam,

What are your thoughts on single men being pastors? A ministry that I like very much has a young, single man as pastor, and I'm curious as to your thoughts/scriptural insights concerning this.

Thanks

i'm undecided, i really need to study 1 Tim 3 more...

of course the qualifications for overseers & deacons state that they should be the husband of one wife... and for overseers, managing their household... 1 Tim 3:5 can't be ignored... but then again, i look at my church and we have a deacon who is single (yet states they should be the husband of one wife)...

the temptation will be harder for a single pastor versus a married one... but, other than that... i dunno

i'll likely report back later after i study it some more

lj.

scripture puts not restraint on single men being pastors, but even though all things are permissible, not all things are beneficial.

if it was a church where it was all men ... that would be easy, but since most churches are not men only, we must have safeguards because of the weakness of our flesh.

As a single dood ... I can never ever be a pastor.
(all praises to God)

simply seth wrote:

scripture puts not restraint on single men being pastors, but even though all things are permissible, not all things are beneficial.

if it was a church where it was all men ... that would be easy, but since most churches are not men only, we must have safeguards because of the weakness of our flesh.

As a single dood ... I can never ever be a pastor.
(all praises to God)

This particular ministry has a LOT of young people involved (mostly females from what I can see). I don't know if there are many older people or not, but the pastor is young, and most of the visible members are young.

They've put out some really great vids on youtube.

Expositor wrote:

simply seth wrote:

scripture puts not restraint on single men being pastors, but even though all things are permissible, not all things are beneficial.

if it was a church where it was all men ... that would be easy, but since most churches are not men only, we must have safeguards because of the weakness of our flesh.

As a single dood ... I can never ever be a pastor.
(all praises to God)

This particular ministry has a LOT of young people involved (mostly females from what I can see). I don't know if there are many older people or not, but the pastor is young, and most of the visible members are young.

They've put out some really great vids on youtube.

so should we start prayin' for a Mrs. Armstrong ?

simply seth wrote:

Expositor wrote:

simply seth wrote:

scripture puts not restraint on single men being pastors, but even though all things are permissible, not all things are beneficial.

if it was a church where it was all men ... that would be easy, but since most churches are not men only, we must have safeguards because of the weakness of our flesh.

As a single dood ... I can never ever be a pastor.
(all praises to God)

This particular ministry has a LOT of young people involved (mostly females from what I can see). I don't know if there are many older people or not, but the pastor is young, and most of the visible members are young.

They've put out some really great vids on youtube.

so should we start prayin' for a Mrs. Armstrong ?

My mother is Mrs. Armstrong. I'm sure she'd love your prayers, fam.

okay .. I'll pray the Lord blesses her with a new daughter-in-law

Expositor wrote:

simply seth wrote:

scripture puts not restraint on single men being pastors, but even though all things are permissible, not all things are beneficial.

if it was a church where it was all men ... that would be easy, but since most churches are not men only, we must have safeguards because of the weakness of our flesh.

As a single dood ... I can never ever be a pastor.
(all praises to God)

This particular ministry has a LOT of young people involved (mostly females from what I can see). I don't know if there are many older people or not, but the pastor is young, and most of the visible members are young.

They've put out some really great vids on youtube.

It would all be depentant on a few factors......

1) When you say Pastor do you mean Preacher of the Gospel or do you mean, fulfilling all the obligations of minister of God as he is commonly used today (visiting the sick, consoling peeps, etc)?
2) When you ask if a single man can do you mean should? because There are many things that can be done, they just aren't in line with the Scriptures....
3) If this is an area where the single man called into the situation would have to be around these mostly female younger peeps would he find himself attracted to several of them or would he have a barrier set up to protect himself from that?
4) would he be able to ensure he's never left alone with any of them? (even married man-of-God needs to consider that one)
5) Do you feel that God is calling mr. Single man here or is Mr. Single man wanting to be called here?
6) end of the day, it's up to Y O U or the single dude if he wants to do this... how does he feel about it when he considers all the issues?

and I'd offer him this advice:
while keeping in mind The Qualifications of a Minister in 1 Tim 3 (I've heard it that Greek can support a single, one-woman-minded man, but I'm unsure as I don't know Greek like that myself) also keep in mind 1 Thessalonians 5:22 (Abstain from every form of evil. ESV or Abstain from all appearance of evil. KJV).... and if he can do that, and answer the above questions rightly.... then maybe..... but it's still Submit to Scripture, seek Godly consul and then act....

Thanks, Tim.

The thing is, we don't have any Biblical examples of single men leading congregations. Everything we see in Scripture assumes that the man is married. So, if we hold to Sola Scriptura, I don't see how a single man can conclude that he is being called, in his singleness, to the pastorate.

Expositor wrote:

Hey fam,

What are your thoughts on single men being pastors? A ministry that I like very much has a young, single man as pastor, and I'm curious as to your thoughts/scriptural insights concerning this.

Thanks

I smell troooouuubbbbblllleeee!

yes, absolutaly

"husban of 1 wife" is a limitation to number of wives, not qualification of husbanship

paul encouraged singleness (for the sake of being christ minded), and even paul himself, as well as timothy were single (as far as we know)

the problem with a single man leading a church today in the US is not that the man is single, it's that the church has only 1 person leading

a single man can certainly be the senior leader, but nobody should be the sole leader (single or married)

phil wrote:

yes, absolutaly

"husban of 1 wife" is a limitation to number of wives, not qualification of husbanship

paul encouraged singleness (for the sake of being christ minded), and even paul himself, as well as timothy were single (as far as we know)

the problem with a single man leading a church today in the US is not that the man is single, it's that the church has only 1 person leading

a single man can certainly be the senior leader, but nobody should be the sole leader (single or married)

Okay, that's cool. I've heard that interpretation, but I disagree with it. I think it's about character AND husbandship. I don't think it's strictly about either/or.

But even with your understanding of the text, what about the part about having his children in subjection and him being able to run his household in order that he can adequately handle the affairs of the church? One of the qualifications is that he can rule his own house. If he is single, who does he rule over in his home?

Paul was not a pastor and we have no Biblical proof that Timothy was not married. We can say from Scripture that Paul wasn't married, but we can't Scripturally support Timothy being single. He may have been, but I don't recall any Scripture saying so explicitly.

While Paul encouraged singleness, he also gave the qualifications of bishops, elders, deacons, overseers, etc.