How can a church survive / recover when a pastor leaves?

All through the Bible, when a leader dies there seems to be failure following. This was true in the apostolic day Paul warned the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:29-30 saying, "after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." The power, strength and direction of the apostles' leadership was sufficient to keep at bay those evil things while they yet lived, but when they died it seemed a great barrier was removed and evil men began to work. This has always been true. In Christianity no matter how great the leader is, he pales into insignificance in relation to our great leader, our Lord Jesus Christ; the saints of God are never without a leader. We can always turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, "the Captain of [our] salvation" (Heb.2:10). He is always, and always will be, the head of the body, no-one can take this glory from Him. He is the great High-Priest (Heb.8:1), the Son over God's house, He is the One who is always available for His people, and it has been well said that God buries His servants and carries on His work - the servants may be great, but they are not indispensable. So we can take courage. We are sad that there are not more men of God amongst us compared with days that have gone by, more men able to expound the Scriptures, able to show us the way to live and to understand the truth and we would value their help today, but they are not here, so we must go on, and the Lord Jesus has vouchsafed His presence to us to encourage us and help us in spite of all the difficulty. From this passage there is the greatest possible encouragement. Dependence upon the Lord in prayer, whether individually or collectively, and practical fellowship with each other, are means that we can use at all times to combat the evil tendencies of the day.

419 Where were the other apostles? At Jerusalem. Peter, the apostle of the circumcision, leaves the gathering scattered by the destruction of Jerusalem. The chief of the apostles abandon to Paul the preaching of the gospel among the Gentiles, to which work the Lord Himself had called him at the first, and then again expressly, by the Holy Ghost at Antioch. To the other apostles, therefore, he does not entrust his ministry. Still less does Paul imagine that there can be successors in his office. He knows nothing of successors; but he exhorts the existing elders to faithfulness and watchfulness, commending them to God, and to the word of His grace, "which," he says, "is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified." Christ, ascended up on high, can still give evangelists, pastors, and teachers; and He does give them; but the office of personal apostolic care has disappeared. "After my departure," says the apostle. This is a departure without succession. It is sad, surely, yet true; and we have seen it in all that God has established among men. His grace continues, the faithful care of Christ can never fail. The Spirit has given His instructions for this time, as at the beginning, and the Lord is enough for the present condition, as He was faithful in the past. But such a thing as a succession to his apostleship is unknown to Paul when he speaks of his absence. God, and the word of His grace, are for him the refuge of God's people. They can meet together, and Christ will be in their midst; they can profit by the gifts He has granted according to His promise. The rules for our walk are contained in the word; but the apostleship, as a personal energy watching over the organisation of the assembly, has disappeared, leaving no succession behind it.

Thus, this epistle brings us to a sort of transition. It supposes the assembly in ecclesiastical order. But the Apostle's absence in person seems to be intended of God to prepare the Church for the absence of apostles entirely. Thus God graciously gave the Church a kind of preparation for their removal from the scene. Practically, even while Paul was on the earth, he was shut out from them, and gone from the scene, as far as regarded apostolic vigilance. The time was coming when there would be no longer apostolically appointed bishops and deacons. The Spirit of God was, it would appear, thereby accustoming the Church to find in God the only stable means of support when apostles would be no longer within reach of those who used to look to them and to claim their wisdom in their difficulties. But though the Apostle was not there, they had the "bishops and deacons," not a bishop and several deacons, and still less bishops and presbyters (or, priests) and deacons, but several of the higher spiritual guides as well as of the lower.

Take, for instance, the choice of a minister. People, Christians, say, We must send for ministers, and choose between them who is to be ours. I am willing to conceive care and conscience in exercising their judgment. But where is the warrant for choosing any one whatever to preach the gospel, or to teach the Church? Is there one precept, or one instance, in all the New Testament? Did God, then, not foresee the difficulties and the wants of congregations? Surely He did. Why, then, is there absence of all such directions for them? Because it was a sin to do it; not only not His mind but contrary to it. There is not a single case, nor anything like it, in Scripture from the time the Holy Ghost was sent down at Pentecost. Yet multitudes of churches are spoken of in Scripture. What, then, is a congregation to do when they want a minister? Why not search and see the Scripture way of meeting the need? The difficulty arises from their being in a false position already. The central truth of the Church is the presence of the Holy Ghost. I am speaking now of the Christian assembly, wherein the Spirit is personally present to act according to His own will in the midst of disciples there gathered for the purpose of glorifying God and exalting Christ. In such a meeting the question of choosing a minister would not arise. So that, if you take this common Protestant tradition of choosing a minister, it is in distinct opposition to the word of God. It might be good for a Christian assembly to feel their weakness. There might be none with any special gift among them: some might be able to help in worship and prayer, though not in preaching or teaching. But the blessed comfort is that, even if there were none specially gifted in the Word, the Holy Ghost is able to edify the saints without such. God in His wisdom may be pleased to raise up none in a particular assembly, or He may send there two, three, or more to minister. I do not believe that any one man has sufficient gifts for the Church. The notion of having a single person to be the exclusive organ of the communications of God to His people is a wrong to them and, above all, to the Lord. At the Reformation the point was to get the Bible that poor souls might learn of Christ for their salvation. But nearly all that was known of the truth ended there. The Reformation never touched the true question of the Church. The reformers had to deal with a very rough enemy. They had to blow up the masses of rock in the quarry; and we must not find fault if they could not fashion the stones nor build them with equal skill. But we ought not to stop at their hewings.

It is an immense comfort to know that, if apostles have ceased to be, and local offices are not to be perpetuated in the present ruined and broken state of the Church, the Lord in His tender love continues to His beloved people all they really need. Evangelists, pastors, and teachers He still gives, and guides He has always raised up when needed. The work of elders and deacons is done, without assuming the title, in every Assembly of God.

It is no doubt a state of weakness, but if in this state God is waited on, and if He is honoured, "to him that hath, shall be given"; He will honour our endeavour. But this is how our brother continues, 'In the meantime, let us choose, for the sake of order and decency, governing men to carry on the work, who, according to the gift that is in them, may fill up every day, as well as they can, offices which are not yet manifested.' It is then acknowledged that, pending God's action, man's intervention to fill up offices not yet manifested is necessary. That is the knot of the question. Where is such a thing to be found in the word? Where the trace of such a principle, of such an idea? The result is, that if any true gift of ministry, or eldership, is manifested, the organisation being already complete, it follows, that the provisionary substitute must be deposed from his presidentship - an operation calculated to produce the most painful results that could happen to a body of Christians. Such an act would look like ingratitude and selfwill; by many it would be termed revolutionary, and might nourish in the body habits and dispositions most hurtful to true sanctification. This is what will take place necessarily if one will act previous to God's action. Should not these consequences be arrived at, then the true elder will remain outside his office, and the faithful will in consequence suffer a proportionate loss. The fact is, that the most ordinary effect of this proceeding is the almost entire prevention of the development of real gifts.*

85 It is true there may be so evil a state, as that men will not endure sound doctrine; but for this there is no remedy but the direct intervention of prerogative mercy, in sending some one able to bring them back. The church, then, has a right to the profit of all the ministry, with which God has endowed any of the brethren, for its edification; those who cannot do so, must, of course, be silent, for it is God who alone can provide, and He will shew His prerogative by giving it by whom He pleases. If any one be exceedingly gifted of the Lord in knowledge and wisdom - in that affectionate and watchful discernment of the state of souls, and ability to minister the right remedy in Christ - to control the unruly in the manifested power and energy of the Spirit of God - to detect the devices of Satan - his value in feeding the flock of God will soon be felt; the godly part of the church would soon be apt to cling too much, rather than too little, to such an one for guidance, comfort, and support; and he is bound to exercise his ministry according to the measure given to him, whether locally or more extendedly. If any one be able, with much gift from God, rightly to divide the word of truth, though he may not have such qualifications as previously spoken of, he may teach with as much, or more even, of profit than the other, yet not hold the same place of service among the brethren; he may have a word of wisdom, though not of knowledge, or the converse; the church is entitled to all. Whatever He gave, He gave to the church to profit withal; how shall we get it, if it be not exercised? That Christ will demand the account of the talent is certain; but there is much more gained than merely the exercise of whatever gifts God may give: for, the Spirit of God being owned, the power of communion is there, and, the Spirit of God being honoured, blessing accompanies all in the power of grace and communion otherwise unknown. We quite acknowledge, then, Christian ministry, but not to be altogether in the hands of those who would thus confine it to a single individual, whatever his extent of qualification. There may be persons who have a constant gift of a given character, and it is their duty to exercise it; a word of profit might be given to any at any time. If there are those who are experienced, through divine grace, in the guidance and governance of the church, the saints will, guided of God's Spirit, be in subjection for their own profit; yea, all will be subject one to another. Where the Spirit of grace and love is, all will be well; where not, it will be surely ill, unless the Lord in mercy interfere, by sending someone able to control the unruly, and convince the gainsayers. The Lord will surely afford for His church all that is needful for its good, though He may, for our profit, keep us waiting very closely upon Him for them, and thus teach us dependence upon Him. If He were more looked to, we should have fewer difficulties, for He would act more - perhaps I should say, more manifestly to us. Further, I add, that while every office or gift is a blessing to the church, and to be fully recognised, it is the clear privilege of any two or three Christians, where not done in the spirit of schism, to meet and break bread together, should they not have any ministry at all, nor any office whatever. It is their privilege as Christians - the rest is their profit, of course, as saints, and to be gladly welcomed and ministering to the other, but, indeed, no way to be compared with their actual abiding privilege of communion together, their privilege and duty and substantially the everlasting part of the whole matter. The necessity of a priest for this, for such it in fact comes to, is a mere remnant of the principle of apostasy in the church, though where there are many, whoever may preside, one who is an elder would be the natural person to fulfil such an office, as someone manifestly must; public sanction before, and by the world, is not at all necessary for any office. This is what is called being a clergyman, and is one of the seals and marks of apostasy; the union of the world and the church, whether in the Establishment or Dissent. If this is what is meant by being a minister, I would utterly disdain and abhor it in such a sense: nature, I am sure, likes it: the authority to minister comes from the competency given of Christ; its recognition by the church is therefore a responsibility which solemnly rests on them; if the Spirit of the Lord be amongst them, He has ever, and will ever, order all things needful for this and for the expulsion of error. When I speak of authority to minister, it is, indeed, a deep responsibility, to be exercised according to the word, of which Christ will take sure account, and judge our neglect.

The Lord furnishes His people with ministerial gifts (Eph. 4:11-16), and where the Holy Spirit is depended upon and free to act, He will call forth. energize, and use the gifts that are present in each local Assembly for the edification and care of the saints and for the preaching of the Gospel to the unsaved. There is no need to go out and hire a preacher, etc. Whereever believers come together around the Lord, there He has given talents and provided some ability for ministry. Though it may be given forth in all simplicity and feebleness, it is of the Lord, for five words in the Spirit are better than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue, or of man's eloquence and not of the Spirit (I Cor. 2:1-4; 14:19).

The gifts of the Lord are various and each believer has a gift of some kind and a function to perform as a particular member of the Body of Christ. "Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ" (Eph. 4:7). These gifts may need to be discovered, stirred up, and developed by use, but they are there and are given for the help and blessing of all. When believers meet in the name of the Lord alone, recognizing the liberty of the Spirit to use whom He will, each believer is made to feel his responsibility to do his part in maintaining a testimony for the Lord, and so gifts and abilities are discovered, called into activity, and developed. Whereas, when one man is appointed to take over the entire responsibility of ministry, there is not this activity and development of all the gifts which may be present in the Assembly. The Scriptural path, then, for the Lord's people is for them to gather together around the Lord simply as Christians in dependence upon the Holy Spirit to use the gifts in their midst and to raise up others. He may also send some gifted servant of God to them on a visit, whoever and whenever He chooses, for their building up, for the preaching of the Gospel, or for any special spiritual help which may be needed.

But it is still necessary to entrust surveillance of all this to leaders who have the right to make themselves heard. Nehemiah, through the authority which God confided to him, chooses two men for this purpose. Similarly, we later see Paul choose Timothy and Titus, in virtue of his apostolic authority. The Church no longer possesses this delegated authority, and it were outright presumption to pretend otherwise; but, in spite of ruin, God does not leave His Church without resources, and His Spirit affords the help needed. The activity of the Spirit will never fail the Church.

It is a fact, that it is not given to every congregation to have a pastor (this is counted among the practical changes which, it is pretended, we have provided for in our theory); it is a fact, I say, and a subject of prayer that it may please God to grant a remedy wherever it be needed.