I come from a family of pastors – My great grandpa was a pastor, my grandpa was a pastor my uncle is a pastor and so is my father.  The description of an overseer/pastor/elder in first Timothy three is pretty darn critical to their lives and due to the power of Christ in their lives, has not been something that they didn’t stack up to:

1 It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.
2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
3 not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money.
4 He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity
5 (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?),
6 and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.

Nestled in the middle of that description is the requirement that is most applicable to the focus of this site: Free from the love of money.  The Greek for the text translated about freedom from love of money is two words: not (μή) eager for base gain (αἰσχροκερδής).  The second word is a compound word combining disgraceful (αἰσχύνω) and gain (κέρδος), or a disgraceful, dishonest, wicked, embarrassingly motivated increase in wealth.  Practically speaking a leaders (elders) in a church should be focused on the edification of the saints and the maturation process of the sheep.  The leader should be focused on what God’s word says and not using that position of authority to maximize financial well-being.

Things this passage does not say:

• Overseers shouldn’t have money
• Overseers should be idiots with their money
• Overseers shouldn’t see an increase in their wealth
• Overseers shouldn’t be allowed to have nice things
• Overseers shouldn’t ever talk about money – especially when they’re teaching on Sunday mornings and there are visitors

This passage seems clearly oriented towards the character of the overseer and not the financial wealth of the overseer.  This passage does seem to indicate that the person is managing their household already.  That’s where many people fall into a stumbling block.  It is apparently common for paid leaders of small congregations to be in debt.  This is simply not a good thing for a long list of reasons (you can read a few of them here) but part of it is that financial strains can sometimes weaken the will and cause leaders to stumble.  In one town that I lived in a church’s pastor took the church credit card (why did such a thing exist?!) and maxed it out – on things for himself.  This not only should have brought him under extreme scrutiny, but it should have also alerted the congregation to the needs of that family on other levels.

I happen to know that the three elders/overseers at the church I go to are not broke.  I know that they have carefully and methodically increased their net worth outside of the church body [to imply without dishonest gain is an understatement]!  Instead, they have looked to manage their finances in such a way so as to take care of their families and reduce any financial strain on the congregation.  When the flock gathers at any given time under their teaching the focus is on God’s Word and not on funky distractions.  The result is a growing body of sheep with a great respect for their leaders.  You just can’t beat that!