More ministry before the pastorate?

If your gifts were recognised without the outward show of a title or appointment ( as you indicate was the case before your present appointment)then feel encouraged that you are working in step with the Lords calling now you have a church appointment.

yours, Jon.

 

Pastorba,

What a lesson to be learned early on. People expect religion from a pastor. Some will purposely avoid you for that reason. It shows the importance of teaching the people of the church how to witness in their daily lives.

Much of the pastor's time is given to visiting the members, the ill, conducting weddings and funerals and the day to day operation of the church.

The numbers game is for those who do polls, and I shouldn't get too concerned in that area. In one preaching engagement, I thought it was a lovely service, but there was no immediate sign of "results". This troubled me for some time. I got over it. Some 30 years later, a young Baptist minister came to me at a convention. He asked if I remembered preaching at Immanual Baptist Church in Barrie? Yes, I said. It was then he disclosed to me that as a teen that night he made a decision about serving the Lord. I checked my sermon files and discovered I had preached on Jonah and being called to preach God's word, and answering that call to preach. So, results? This one young man responded, but I didn't know. The Lord knew, and he knew. I discovered that we are not in the results game, but we are results oriented. There are results and God will reveal them in His time.

You will be amazed at the places your witness will bear fruit and only eternity will unveil it.

Cheers, and just be faithful in all you do and leave the results to the Lord.

Jim

 

As a somewhat informed layman (and pastor's son, pastor's son-in-law, pastor's cousin, pastor's brother-in-law, pastor's nephew, no wonder I'm warped), I'll weigh in with a FWIW:

Examine Acts 6 with a non-deacon bias. What you find is a model where the pastorate is freed for prayer and bible study and the laity is released to do ministry.

By training the laity for the ministry and overseeing their work, a pastor can essentially multiply his own effort. This does not mean that the pastor never gets to do ministry. To the contrary, it means that when the pastor does do ministry, he has a very capable and motivated core of laity to work shoulder to shoulder with him...not to mention a church that become less demanding of every minute of the pastor's precious time.

 

each and every Christian is called to minister and make disciples. The pastor is primarily concerned with the equipping the group under his care. At least that is what I am being taught by the experienced pastors who are discipling me. I know how you feel because when my wife and I worked with a youth group of 10, it was much easier to measure the results. Now, I lead the children's ministries and as such do not get to see a direct result of the work. But I know as I "lead my workers" and help them "develop as ministers" they are directly affecting His kingdom.