Some Anti-Located Preacher Arguments Considered

In the past, there have been those who opposed a preacher’s locating with a congregation and laboring with it if the congregation had elders or overseers. Years ago Daniel Sommer of Indianapolis was willing to sign the negative to the following proposition: “The one-man preacher-pastor (feeder) practice, in which a preacher, usually imported, preaches every Sunday morning and night, in a church with bishops is in harmony with the New Testament.” Others who held to Sommer’s view were W. Carl Ketcherside and Leroy Garrett. Both of these men debated the issue with faithful brethren. F.Lagard Smith in recent months has been echoing the sentiments of Sommer, Ketcherside and Garrett of bygone years. Therefore, it behooves us to defend the ground won years ago by brethren Totty, Wallace, Colley, Dehoff and others. Battles fought and won must sometimes be fought again.

It is argued that a church with bishops or overseers cannot hire a preacher to preach to the congregation. We are told that God gave the responsibility of feeding the flock to the elders. Therefore, they do not need to hire a feeder.

My response to that is, “Why not?” Why cannot the elders hire a man to preach? The New Testament certainly teaches that elders, or bishops, are to feed the flock, or the church, of God that is among them. Paul commanded, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28.) Peter wrote, “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.” (1 Peter 5:1-3.)

The responsibility of the elders, however, to feed the flock does not mean that they have to do all of the feeding. They are to be apt, or able, to teach (1 Tim. 3:2), but that does not mean that they are obligated to do all of the teaching. They must see that the flock is fed properly. Therefore, they by divine authority might delegate some of the feeding of the flock to others, one of whom might include a preacher of the gospel.

To argue that a preacher cannot stay in a congregation if it has pastors, or elders, is in conflict with the New Testament. The church at Ephesus had elders, or pastors, when Paul commanded Timothy, “As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine. “ (1 Tim. 1:3; See Acts 20:17-32.) Those in the last 50 to 100 years who have argued against located preachers were willing to go to a congregation that had elders and conduct a series of meetings for them. Therefore, for that period, whether it was two weeks or six weeks, those preachers were located.

Those who argued against located preachers have called these preachers “hirelings.” Others, who might favor a located preacher, might recognize some preachers as mere hirelings. One could be a hireling whether he is standing still or moving. If one looks upon preaching as a job or a position like any other occupation, hiring himself out to the highest bidder, then the charge has some merit. The Bible, however, teaches that preachers have the right to receive financial support (1 Cor. 9:1-18; Gal. 6:6). The fact that the salary is stipulated does not make it wrong or that the one who is receiving it is a hireling. A great deal depends on the preacher’s attitude toward his work. Is he supported to preach the gospel, or is he preaching the gospel to be supported? E. A. Elam used to say, “If a man could be hired to preach, he could be hired to quit.” (“The Pastor System,” a tract by L.L. Brigance.)

It is also argued that the word “evangelist” means one who travels to preach the gospel. The word is found in the singular twice in the New Testament (Acts 21:8; 2 Tim. 4:5) and in the plural once (Eph. 4:11). The word means a bearer of glad tidings. One can be a messenger of glad tidings for many years in one place. Albert Barnes says,

The word does not elsewhere occur in the New Testament. What was the precise office of the evangelist in the primitive church, it is now impossible to determine. The evangelist "may" have been one whose main business was "preaching," and who was not particularly engaged in the "government" of the church. The word properly means "a messenger of good tidings;" and Robinson (Lexicon) supposes that it denotes a minister of the gospel who was not located in any place, but who traveled as a missionary to preach the gospel, and to found churches. The word is so used now by many Christians; but it cannot be proved that it is so used in the New Testament.”

It has also been argued that we are to preach the gospel to the world, but teach doctrine to the church. However, Paul did not make such a distinction. He taught the doctrine of the Lord to the world (Acts 13:12) and was ready to preach the gospel to the saints at Rome (Roms. 1:14-16). G. K. Wallace tried to get Ketcherside to show a distinction between “teaching” and “preaching,” but Ketcherside would not take Wallace up on the challenge.

It was argued that the evangelist could go to a congregation that did not have elders and could “run” things under the pretense of setting things in order (Titus 1:5). The truth is that no man has the right to dictate to a congregation. A man by his preaching the truth can help set things in order, but he has no authority to “run the church.” There is no room in the Lord’s church for a Diotrophes (III John 9-10). All are under the authority of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23).

It is scriptural to invite a preacher to work with a congregation, to support him in his preaching and to keep him as long as he is faithful to the Lord and the elders see fit to keep him. The duration of the evangelist’s stay is a matter of judgment that is left to the elders or the men if there are no elders in the congregation.

The Informer

Vol. 56 No. 10

January 5, 2003