Some of you who are regulars to the blog. Have been following several blogs on Success in Ministry. Today is the final installation on “Liberating Ministry From the Success Syndrome, by R. Kent and Barbara Hughes. The picture on the blog is in fact Kent and Barbara a few years ago.
Last but certainly not least, when we speak of a successful ministry you must include the church members, parishioners, congregation or how ever you refer to those you minister to…..
The last chapter in the book is entitled “Helps”. This chapter starts out with a great story; Barbara tells the story of the wife of close pastor friend.
The wife recounts how she woke up one night to find her husband asleep on his elbows and knees at the foot of the bed. His arms were cupped before him as if he was embracing the base of a tree, and he was muttering. As she called out to him and asked what he was doing, he replied, Shhhh (he was still asleep) I am holding up a pyramid of marbles and if I move they will all fall down.
A classic pastors dream. One because of the subconcious revelation of a pressured parson. Love the illiteration. Secondly, as a pyramid of marbles is an apt metaphor for a pastor’s work.
Each marble represents a different aspect of a pastors job. The individual sins of some, the family difficulties of others, the marital problems of another, life style inconsistencies, difficulties between the members themselves, the conflicting opinions on how “church” should be done. Not even counting personalities and differences with the lay staff.
So we move on to the subject….. HELP.. oops I meant Helps… well I thought I heard the voices of pastors everywhere crying Help. Don’t think for a minute that pastors everywhere aren’t calling for help.
The first thing the Hughes remind us is, your Pastor was called to his position. Unlike most of those he shepherds, he did not choose but was chosen. He must accept God’s call and seek to bring glory to the Lord as he shepherds the flock. A colleague of Pastor Hughes once said when he was asked how he was doing,”Things could be worse, I could be doing this for a living.”
A man called by God to shepherd the Good Shepherd’s flock must NEVER consider his calling as a “job” with set hours and benefits. My husband says it this was. “I am not paid to preach. I am paid so I am able to preach. Consider this, the outcome of a Pastors teaching may be life or death…eternal life or death. We read in James 3:1 Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly
The time demands on a Pastor are tremendous. Most Pastors spend at least 20 hours a week studying the word of God to prepare for the Sabbath Sermon. Then you take into consideration all of the meetings and events he must attend, visitation, counseling, preparing for a Wednesday night or leadership training….. 60 hours is a minimum for most.
Bruce Theilman says this about preaching: The pulpit calls those annointed to it as the sea calls its sailors; and like the sea it batters and bruises, and does not rest….To preach, to really preach is to die naked a little at a time and to know each time that you must do it again.
So now to those things you can do for your Pastor:
~~ Pray for your Pastor continually;
~~ Be an encouragement to your Pastor by living a Christ Centered life;
~~ Be a blessing to your Pastor by freeing him from being a part of EVERYTHING…
~~ Be a blessing to your Pastor by providing for he and his family… the world says pay them in line with the median income of the members of the church. The bible says take care of him. Every church has different financial abilities; however, whether you have a “wealthy” church or a “poor” church be good stewards of what THE LORD has provided.
~~There are many ways to bless your pastor and his family and help provide. Baby sit for the children so he and his wife can have some personal time, make some meals, arrange for a special offering for one time items such as braces…be creative.
~~Treat your pastor with respect, we all have a tendency to “pile on” at the end of Sunday service…. don’t. Some people think that if they provide a parsonage, that this means they can “drop” in on the pastor and his wife…don’t. The pastor wife has cleaning day, hanging out in pj’s day etc. Be considerate call ahead.
I will close with a humorous poem entitled:
The Ideal Pastor…
is always casual but never underdresed,
is warm and friendly but not too familiar ,
is humorous but not funny,
calls on all his members but is never out of the office,
is an expository preacher but always preaches on the family,
is profound but comprehensible,
condemns sin but is ALWAYS positive,
has a family of ordinary people…who never sin,
has two eyes, one brown and one blue……
Please spend some time asking yourself…..what have I done for my pastor and his family lately? If the answer is nothing…. do something about it!
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