Does Divorce Affect One's Ability To Serve Vocationally In A Local Church

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It is important for me to say that one who is disqualified from the position of elder or deacon or pastor can still teach, preach, serve, pray, worship, and play an important role in the church.
How does divorce affect one's ability to serve vocationally in a local church? First, scripture does allow for divorce in marriage in exceptional circumstances (Matthew 19:9; 1 Corinthians 7:12–16). An elder/deacon/pastor or any vocational position is to be a person whom the church and community can look up to as an example of Christlikeness and godly leadership. If a past divorce and/or remarriage detracts from this ideal, then one should not serve in the position of leadership. I feel the same way about someone who is actively practicing sin should …show more content…

So, there are at least three possible interpretations of the phrase “husband of one wife” in 1 Timothy 3:2. First, it could be saying that a polygamist is not qualified to be an elder, a deacon or a pastor. Second, the Greek could literally be translated as “one-woman man.” In other words, one must be absolutely loyal to the woman he is married to. Third, the phrase could also be understood to declare that, in order to be an elder, deacon, pastor, a man can only have been married once, other than in the case of a remarried widower; in other words, a pastor cannot be divorced. Interpretations 2 and 3 are the most prevalent today. The first qualification of an elder, deacon, pastor is to be “above reproach” (1 Timothy 3:2). One of the first things we have to do differentiate if one was divorced before they became a Christian from one who was divorced and after becoming a Christian. An otherwise qualified man should not be excluded from church leadership because of his actions prior to coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior. All divorces do not disqualify one from serving as pastor; you are disqualified in my opinion if your divorce wasn’t based on biblical

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