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In the Bible, some of the main characters often have a pastoral/spiritual guide to get Godly guidance or to get a better understanding of God's Will. King Saul --had--> Prophet Samuel King David --had--> Prophet Nathan King Hezekiah --had--> Prophet Isaiah Even some major evil characters had pastoral/spiritual guides King Ahab --had--> Prophet Elijah I suppose the following association is probably really really weak but if you consider John The Baptist's water baptizing Jesus Christ then Jesus Christ --probably had--> John The Baptist as a sort of guide if you take the water baptism into consideration but this is really a weak argument In any case, I don't want to kind of stray away from what my real question is going to be. When does a Christian person go directly to God Himself , and when does said person go to a pastoral/spiritual guide to get Godly guidance or to get a better understanding of God's Will ? One of the reasons that I ask said question is because (Mark 15:37-38) 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. 38 And the veil of the temple was Torn in two from top to bottom. Jesus Christ's death on The Cross allows us to approach God directly. Furthermore, I really do Not want to keep approaching pastoral/spiritual guides as if they were soothsayers/seers/fortune teller all the time. Therefore, When does a Christian person go directly to God Himself , and when does said person go to a pastoral/spiritual guide to get Godly guidance or to get a better understanding of God's Will ?

It would seem this is now becoming common place all over the world these days. It becomes equally tragic when an execution style slaying involves the senseless loss of innocent children and includes the pastor of a congregation. Attack church Burkina Faso, 14 people were shot dead By thenewmag - December 2, 2019 Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest WhatsApp Attack church Burkina Faso, 14 people were shot dead. The victims were attending a service at a church in Hantoukoura, in the eastern part of the country on Sunday. The identity of the gunmen is not known and the motive is unclear. Hundreds of people have been killed in the country over the past few years, mostly by jihadist groups, sparking ethnic and religious tensions especially on the border with Mali. A statement from the regional government said that many people are injured. A security source told AFP news agency that armed individuals carried out the attack, "executing the faithful including the pastor and children" Another source said the gunmen fled on scooters. Last October, 15 people were killed and two seriously injured in an attack on a mosque. Jihadist attacks have increased in Burkina Faso since 2015, forcing thousands of schools to close down. The conflict spread across the border from neighbouring Mali where Islamist militants took over the north of the country in 2012 before French troops pushed them out. https://www.serialpressit.com/2019/12/02/attack-church-burkina-faso-14-people-were-slain

Hello everyone. I'm a long-time member who pops into Worthy when I have the time. I'm a strong believer who has done my best to support the body of Christ for many years. Now I'm having a major problem, and I hope my fellow Christians can help. I'm trying to keep this anonymous. We recently moved to a new town. In need of a new church, we asked a local friend if we could join her church. She was excited for us to join. On our first visit, we were slightly disappointed to find a very small church (I mean like 10-12 members) which had used to be much larger before it started dying out. Everyone in leadership was older than 45. Very conventional, very repetitive, and very very routine. We're not the sort of people who reject small churches because they're small. We are not "customer" type members who want a church to please us. We believe in serving where we are needed. The pastor kept saying he was praying for growth, and he said that we seemed to be an answer to his prayers, so we agreed to stick around and see if we could help. By help, I don't mean that we want to teach a class or sing on the worship team. I simply mean that we wanted to make some friends, get involved in some fellowship, and labor where we might be needed. Unfortunately, in the past several months since, we've come to see why this church can't grow. There is so much immaturity that it's stunning. The pastor and his wife get into arguments during worship practice, then they talk about each other before service, and they're still in a bad mood during service. I've actually witnessed the pastor's wife come stomping into the fellowship hall, complaining about the pastor to another member, and start slamming dishes while she set up coffee and donuts. This should give you some idea of how the sermons go. This is the church's behavior across the board. There is always some petty spat going on between members, and it usually leads to some new childish policy. Church members come together for 2 or 3 hours Sunday morning, go through a well-worn routine, and then leave. We've invited people out to lunch, and we got no takers. When we asked about setting up a home group, we got a list of excuses that people were too busy or couldn't go across town. All these months later, we are no closer to having real friends there. We're not being fed, we have no friends, we feel like we're surrounded by children, and we never know when we're walking into another soap opera. And we can certainly forget about teaching a class or singing on the praise team because the old members are doing just fine without us. Church leaders tell us over and over that it's a sin to criticize pastors. I am sure that this pastor is depressed and overwhelmed. The last thing we want is to judge him. But what are we supposed to do? He's always too busy to meet with us. If we just stop going, we're quitters. If we tell him he may need counseling, we're critical. How do you take someone aside for a (loving) conversation about a problem when they're too busy for coffee, too overwhelmed for more bad news, and probably unable to do change anything?

What is the role of authority in relation to Christian churches? How do you view your pastor? How do you view your deacons/elders?