Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

Romans 12:10

Honour is a beautiful and wonderful thing. We’re encouraged by scripture to follow the example of Jesus who loved and served those around him.

A key facet of Jesus’ teaching around honour was to make sure that our honour was impartial. In other words, we honour people because they are made in the image of God. Not because they have position or power or wealth that could somehow benefit us. This is especially shown by how we treat those who are perceived as least or less.

It’s strange to me that despite the many warnings of Jesus around this type of partiality and preference, it seems to me that a hyper and often uneven honouring culture is not only rife amongst the church today but also encouraged and taught as healthy leadership.

What we honour shows what we value. And what we value is what we will prefer and focus on. As a pastor, I believe that an unhealthy emphasis on the importance of pastors and leaders will actually cause the wider church to be ineffective. We end up devaluing the role of the ordinary Christian and indirectly (and sometimes directly) encouraging people into the role of the leader as the highest possible goal.

Perhaps if we address this imbalance, we might see churches that release more creativity, excel and influence in the work place, build strong families and much much more. I believe that everything we want for the church will actually come about when we fix the focus of our honour to be firstly on Jesus and then on the least of us.

Here are some ways honour culture can show up in an unhealthy way.

1. Discipleship pathways that seek to make everyone a leader in the church.

Being a disciple is about being a disciple of Jesus. Whilst we benefit greatly from good teaching and great examples of church leaders, our ultimate goal is to be formed into the likeness of Christ, not in the likeness of our leaders.

If everyone becomes a church leader then obviously society will not work very well. If the church gets all of our energy then our families and our workplaces will suffer. We need people to show up fully present in their workplace with a vision for what they do. When our very design for discipleship is around activation into church teams and taking responsibility in the life of the church, the end result is often that there is little energy left for the other aspects of a person’s life.

In simple terms, we give everything on Sundays and we don’t show up quite as awesomely on Monday morning or Thursday afternoon. I lived this life for many years and saw the fruit of it in myself and others. This is what happens. People get tired. They neglect non-church areas of their life. Sadly some even burn out too, trying to manage it all. Others feel the pressure and don’t feel able to say they’re struggling and eventually leave without notice.

Strangely enough, this over-focus on the church is actually very insular. We may grow the church numerically (these models work for a reason) but we stunt its power and presence in the world.

It’s well worth considering the metrics we use to ultimately measure success. I recorded a podcast episode about this here.

2. An over celebration of up-front ministry gifts

Being a preacher is something of prestige in today’s culture. It’s celebrated. It’s envied. It’s even coveted. When people come up to you and call you ‘pastor’, it does something to you. It makes you feel special. Personally I have a distaste for it and encourage people to use my first name instead.

This puts an unhealthy desire in many to be on the platform. We’re only human and we are all looking for validation. But it also puts an unhealthy slant on how church leaders see themselves. You begin to believe that you are more important.

And of course pastors are important. But so are single parents. So are baristas. So are sanitation workers. So are accountants.

Often we say one thing but our actions say another. We applaud when we welcome a preacher or some form of visible ministry. We almost never applaud ministry that no one hears about.

Because of course… no one hears about it. But it’s just as important.

  • If we serve preachers better than we serve parents, we’re doing something wrong.
  • If we respect pastors more than we respect baristas, we’re doing something wrong.

The list goes on.

It’s fascinating that the phrase ‘full-time ministry’ immediately offers a picture of a pastor, not a lawyer or a data analyst. Side note: If you’re a Christian creative looking for coaching and support for your business or dream then do check out The Garden. It’s free forever.

Serving is not really about the camera operator or the kids worker on a Sunday (although it can be!) It’s about the person who is gracious to their grumpy colleague. It’s the parent who persuades their kid that school is a valuable use of their time. It’s the friend who is available to help you move house.

All of this overemphasis harms the church because Christians are being conditioned to think that what they do throughout the week is not particularly significant or valuable. But it is. Is there any wonder that the place of the church in society is slipping? Our energy is going into the wrong things.

When we celebrate and honour the things that are being ignored, we’ll help the church become what it needs to be in society.

3. Closed minded structures that are resistant to change

The Pharisees were frequently criticised and challenged by Jesus. They were resistant to change and saw his teaching as unlawful when in actual fact it was getting back to the real essence of the law.

The problem with honour culture is that it continues to perpetuate itself. When pastors see themselves as having divine or ultimate authority, any challenge is seen as an attack on the church, God himself or divisiveness.

No one liked the prophets because they frequently said what the establishment did not like to hear. This was absolutely true in the case of Jesus.

The fruit of honour culture has been well-documented in recent years in the evangelical/pentecostal side of things. We’ve also seen it in the Church of England too with the historic abuse at the hands of John Smyth. Hyper honour leads to unhealthy cultures that are more likely to facilitate and cover up spiritual abuse. Pastors are humans too. Just because we are gifted and called by God does not mean we shouldn’t be held accountable to the power we hold.

I recently recorded a podcast episode on church hurt which I believe might be healing for many who have sadly experienced some level of abuse in the church.

Most pastors I know are good and faithful servants of God. We would never dream of using power to take advantage of people. But we can still be a part of wider cultures that are unhealthy. We can be tempted by examples around us that may teach and encourage us to lean into this sort of honour culture.

I encourage us all to work against it, challenge it and build the exact opposite for 2025. A culture that truly reflects the words of Jesus below in Matthew 20:25-28:

But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”