Lately it seems that there is a rise in the discussion of church hospice care. This is an unfortunate result of the growing number of churches in the US that are dying. Now then, church hospice care occurs when a minister recognizes that the church they serve is dying and that there is no hope for recovery. The minister at this point has one of two options: 1) leave as quickly as possible (in the hopes of finding greener pastures), or 2) stay with the church and provide hospice care to help the church die “with dignity.”
Now it should be noted that a dying church is not a dead church. It is in fact possible for a dying church to comeback (see the book Comeback Churches by Ed Stetzer) and to be a healthy church. However this takes a great commitment from both the church leadership and the church membership. It should also be noted that church hospice care could be undertaken by the pastor with or without the church memberships’ knowledge. It will usually amount to a conscience decision by the pastor to not attempt to grow the church. The decision is made to simply maintain everything as well as can be maintained until inevitability the church is not able to even maintain the most rudimentary elements of church life. In other words, they can no longer pay the bills. A pastor will usually come to this decision either because he simply doesn’t care if the church grows or because he has realized that there is little to no chance of a turn around. If the decision to begin hospice care is because a comeback seems unlikely, then the pastor is also making the decision to continue to care for the congregation much as hospice cares for a patient. He simply will be looking to make the dying and eventual death a peaceful and comfortable experience.
Now a lot can be said as to why a church is not healthy and dying. A lot can also be said about turning a church around (if possible). However, that is not the purpose here. The purpose here is to ask the question: Is it biblical for a pastor to engage in church hospice care?
To say that church hospice care is biblical is to say that despite a church’s unhealthy status, there is in fact ministry still occurring. There are still people there who care for and love one another. There are people there who for example, will gather around a new widow to help her through the grief.
The purpose for asking the question here though hinges on what the calling of a pastor entails. Is the calling of a pastor primarily a calling to “equip the saints for the work of ministry (Eph. 4:12)?” If that is the case then one could argue that a pastor is equipping when he assist in ministry work such as in the example of the widow above. However, shouldn’t it be asked, what is the work of the ministry that the pastor is to equip the saints for? More specifically, what is the primary work of the ministry? It would seem that the primary work of the ministry is to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). Therefore, the primary work of the pastor would be to equip the saints to make more disciples who make more disciples. One may object here and say that the reference in Ephesians 4 states that the equipping of the saints is for the “building up of the body in Christ” and that this is in reference to bringing the saints together in unity of doctrine and love. But what is the point of saints building unified in doctrine and in love for one another? Indeed, as we see elsewhere such as in Acts 6, it was a legitimate ministry to see that the people are being fed. However, this was not the primary ministry. The ministry of seeing that people were fed was to assist in the larger ministry goal of feeding the people with prayer and the Word which is what equips the saints for ministry. And that ministry has as its goal the fulfillment of the Great Commission – go and make disciples (note the correlation of what occurs in Acts 6:7 with the decision of the Apostles in vs. 1-6).
So then, how does the primary role of the pastor fit into the question of whether church hospice care is biblical? If the primary role of the pastor is to equip disciples to make other disciples then can we say that it is biblical for the pastor to be in a church where this is not and where it will not be happening? In other words is it biblical for a pastor to stay in a place where he cannot equip the saints to make other disciples? Is it biblical for a church to even continue in its existence if that church has determined either explicitly or implicitly that it will not be a place that is determined to make disciples?
I don’t pretend to have the answer to these questions. In fact, I have many more questions and concerns on this matter which is why I am writing this. I am hoping that this will further the discussion. To be sure, this is not merely a discussion on the issue of church hospice care but it is a discussion on the nature and role of the pastor and the church. This is a discussion that anyone in ministry should always be asking. I look forward to hearing from you.
