How Long?
"How long ought a man's legs to be?" was a question a wag once put to the long-legged Lincoln. The typically Lincolnesque answer was a laconic, "Long enough to reach the ground."
"How long ought a preacher to remain in the same work?" is a perennial question on the lips of those interested in such things. Lincoln's answer, with slight modifications, might well be appropriate, "As long as he has his feet on the ground."
Which all adds up to saying there is no "accepted", "normal" or "usual" length of service for such work. Some preachers are only beginning to realize their full usefulness in a place after eight or ten years; others have exhausted their possibilities for good in some places after six months. It all depends on the place, and the preacher. On the whole we believe there has been far too frequent readiness on the part of both preacher and congregation to "make a change" at the first sign of difficulty, or the first major hurdle to be cleared in a given field. One of the longest terms of service we've come across was the forty-five years work of M. C. Kurfees in Louisville, Kentucky, with the old Campbell Street (later moved to Haldeman Avenue) Church. Other faithful men have done outstanding work for fifteen or twenty years in the same location. Floyd Thompson worked for nearly twenty-one years with the Birch and Fairview Church in Santa Ana, California, and is now in his fifth year with the Berrydale Church in the same city, a congregation growing out of Birch and Fairview. Truman T. Carney worked with the Spring and Blaine congregation in St. Louis for nearly two decades; other men have no doubt remained as long, or even longer, in their fields.
But there is one thing always present when a man is able to do an effective work over many years: he is a conscientious WORKER. He probably has a deeper interest in reaching souls with the gospel, and a more zealous desire to build up the congregation than any other member there. He works both in his study in the preparation of gospel sermons, and, following Paul's example at Ephesus "from house to house" in earnestly persuading men to become obedient to that gospel. Without WORK (both pulpit and personal) a preacher's usefulness is soon exhausted in any community.
We deplore the tendency, developing rather widely in recent years, to regard the preacher as "chief organizer", "promoter", and "executive vice-president" of the congregation. Sadly enough some preachers seem to conceive that to be their role. They are barely located in a place until they want to "organize" or "re-organize" the whole program of church work, assigning tasks and responsibilities, appointing committees, laying out projects for various groups, etc. Such is not a preacher's field, nor should he permit himself to be maneuvered into any such activities.
There is another problem, and in some ways an even more serious one, which develops when the preacher conceives his ONLY responsibility to be that of going into the pulpit and delivering two sermons on Sunday and another one on Wednesday night. It is not our disposition to be critical of brethren who preach, and we are truly in sympathy with great sacrifices that many faithful men are now being called upon to make for the gospel's sake, but we cannot escape the conviction that far too many men (and ONE would be too many) who are firm and straight in their conviction and teaching on current issues are "missing the boat" in their failure to buttress and back up their pulpit preaching by HARD WORK — going personally into the homes of both Christians and non-Christians to teach. In these crucial days when the church is threatened with a major apostasy, when thousands of baptized believers are in jeopardy of being swept into the swift flowing current of modernism and the social gospel, leading to certain spiritual death, we can have little patience with the preacher who stands on his dignity and declares, "It is my job to preach; it is your job, and not mine, to make the calls and do the personal work." When there is work to be done, it is EVERYBODY'S responsibility — everybody who loves the Lord. Some preachers need to go back and read the story of General Washington in Valley Forge, and how he threw his own strong arms and mighty shoulders into the task of raising the log to its place in the wall, while some of his lesser officers stood aside in detachment, considering the dirty backbreaking work of lifting the logs to be beneath their station in life.
"How long should a preacher stay in one place?" Let him stay there as long as he is truly productive in the work of the Lord. Indeed, when this is the case the preacher's length of service is usually at his own discretion; for he will have many opportunities to move, but will choose to remain where he feels he is doing good. But if a preacher is not going to work, (and work hard!), he has already outlived his usefulness in a congregation the day the moving van unloads his furniture!
The kingdom of heaven needs LABORERS, and preachers should not be exempt.
— F. Y. T.