The Impact Of The Pastor’s Immoral Life In The Community: A South African Pastoral Investigation

Abstract

Pastors and ministers are highly regarded not only by church, but also by the society, the government, companies, media and other sectors of our society. That is why the pastor’s wrong doing easily find its way to front pages of our media and also affect many people, including no-church members. The escalation of public offences like rape, crime, killing, theft, robbery and violence has always been expected to be the deeds of non-christians and non-church members. The most worrying factor is that without condoning the immoral behavior and actions of the ordinary people, pastors and ministers who should be preaching peace and condemn all signs of immorality are becoming part of the problem rather than of the solution. It is therefore the intention of this article to unveil by way of research that for the pastors and ministers to be on front pages of the media for wrong reasons is the betrayal of the trust which the community, society and the country at large has invested in them, and that is playing a pivotal role in the growth of criminal acts as we observe. The article will also evaluate and give some pastoral guidelines as to the church’s responsibility in eliminating pastor’s immoral actions. The context of the study focuses amongst some of the impacts of South African pastors not only towards the church, but also in the entire community, considering that the society view the pastors as custodians of the moral regeneration also. It is within these confines that the church may through its pastoral leadership play a role in regenerating the morals which the country is already groaning about.