On being a Pastor, think about these things first...
Check with your wife.
If you are married, and God calls you to pastoral ministry, he will call your wife as well. This does not mean that she will immediately share the vision or even like the idea. But it does mean that your family comes first, and if God wants you to lead the church he will lead your wife to support you in this calling.
Determine your calling.
Is this something you think you can do, or is it something you believe God says you must do?
How can you know if God wants you to go into the ministry? Though this is a bit simplistic there are three things to begin with: 1) Do you have an unquenchable, passionate desire to do the work? This of course assumes you know what the work actually is. It is not simply preaching sermons on Sunday. 2) Do you bear fruit when you engage in the work related to this calling (teaching, leading, serving, etc.)? 3) Does your local church affirm your calling? If you can answer yes to these questions be encouraged.
Pray.
Many think about going into pastoral ministry without really talking to God about it. Prayer over this. It is no small idea or decision.
Talk to pastors you respect.
Get the insider’s perspective. Find out from them first-hand what makes ministry so hard. Ask these men to give you reasons not to be a pastor and take those answers to heart. Seek counsel as you move forward following God’s will. As you prepare for pastoral ministry training it is critical that you remain connected to the church and her leadership.
Read. A lot.
As you consider this calling – read.
If you are married, and God calls you to pastoral ministry, he will call your wife as well. This does not mean that she will immediately share the vision or even like the idea. But it does mean that your family comes first, and if God wants you to lead the church he will lead your wife to support you in this calling.
Determine your calling.
Is this something you think you can do, or is it something you believe God says you must do?
How can you know if God wants you to go into the ministry? Though this is a bit simplistic there are three things to begin with: 1) Do you have an unquenchable, passionate desire to do the work? This of course assumes you know what the work actually is. It is not simply preaching sermons on Sunday. 2) Do you bear fruit when you engage in the work related to this calling (teaching, leading, serving, etc.)? 3) Does your local church affirm your calling? If you can answer yes to these questions be encouraged.
Pray.
Many think about going into pastoral ministry without really talking to God about it. Prayer over this. It is no small idea or decision.
Talk to pastors you respect.
Get the insider’s perspective. Find out from them first-hand what makes ministry so hard. Ask these men to give you reasons not to be a pastor and take those answers to heart. Seek counsel as you move forward following God’s will. As you prepare for pastoral ministry training it is critical that you remain connected to the church and her leadership.
Read. A lot.
As you consider this calling – read.
The Pastors Relationships
There is this idea that people come to the pastor with ideas, visions, plans and even dreams about ministry with the idea being to get the pastor onto their page. Nothing wrong with that is there?
Top Tip:
Don’t try and get your pastor onto your page, you will be wasting your energy trying to do that.
I am not trying to be clever or prideful but it is actually your role as a staff member to get on their page and behind the church vision they are trying to filter everybody else’s ideas including their own through. They are not going to make a decision based on your idea alone. They will filter your idea through the leadership structure, staff base, vision mission and values statement and their own view on the season church is in, so please don’t expect a same day answer.
That is why they are the senior or lead pastor and often are trying to do 2 things at once.
1- They are trying to make the language in the house coincide with the church set of values.
2- They are trying to create events that go along with the teaching & season.
Your pastor is not only trying to find leaders but develop leaders once they are found.
Your pastor is identifying staff capacity to lead and create a span of care from about 1-75 people in chunks. They are trying to see if you have capacity to be a Leaders of 5’s 10’s or 50’s and they know they need leaders with these different capacities. They believe that disciples disciple.
They will be doing a further 4 things:
1- Teaching leaders. (reproduction teaching)
2- Working out how much time to spend with you. (proximity teaching)
3- How much can they trust you with inside information? (trusting teaching)
4- Increasing your responsibility based on your response to the above 3. (faith teaching)
Obviously I am not talking about membership and people joining a church but I am talking to those who wish to serve, lead and make a change. Even with those great desires you still have to work with a Pastor who is employed to pastor, love, lead, laugh, grow, try, fail and see things in big chunks and seasons.
Top Tip:
Don’t try and get your pastor onto your page, you will be wasting your energy trying to do that.
I am not trying to be clever or prideful but it is actually your role as a staff member to get on their page and behind the church vision they are trying to filter everybody else’s ideas including their own through. They are not going to make a decision based on your idea alone. They will filter your idea through the leadership structure, staff base, vision mission and values statement and their own view on the season church is in, so please don’t expect a same day answer.
That is why they are the senior or lead pastor and often are trying to do 2 things at once.
1- They are trying to make the language in the house coincide with the church set of values.
2- They are trying to create events that go along with the teaching & season.
Your pastor is not only trying to find leaders but develop leaders once they are found.
Your pastor is identifying staff capacity to lead and create a span of care from about 1-75 people in chunks. They are trying to see if you have capacity to be a Leaders of 5’s 10’s or 50’s and they know they need leaders with these different capacities. They believe that disciples disciple.
They will be doing a further 4 things:
1- Teaching leaders. (reproduction teaching)
2- Working out how much time to spend with you. (proximity teaching)
3- How much can they trust you with inside information? (trusting teaching)
4- Increasing your responsibility based on your response to the above 3. (faith teaching)
Obviously I am not talking about membership and people joining a church but I am talking to those who wish to serve, lead and make a change. Even with those great desires you still have to work with a Pastor who is employed to pastor, love, lead, laugh, grow, try, fail and see things in big chunks and seasons.
