Pastoral Epistles: 1 Timothy 5:20-21 - Addressing Sin in Leadership

If churches everywhere maintained that high standard for elders, unqualified men would be eliminated from the pastorate. Even they manage to get in, their incompetence will soon show and lead to their public removal. In today’s lax church world, a man who is disgracefully removed from one church can often soon find a position in another. There is no excuse for that. It’s simple enough to determine a pastoral candidate’s history. But that isn’t usually the issue. Churches fail when they consider the history forgiven and the man contrite, therefore elevating him to a position in their church from which he was shamed in the previous one.