What is pastoral Leadership?

“What do you do during the week?” a friendly, but curious church member asked their pastor. The pastor felt as though the question accompanied a perception that being a pastor doesn’t have much work to it.  However, those who have served in pastoral roles know that pastoring a church is more than merely showing up on Sunday and preaching inspiring messages and then making a few phone calls during the week. 

Pastoral leadership begins with following Jesus the Good Shepherd who called his disciples to “follow him” and promised that he would make them “fishers of men”.¹  Following Jesus is the priority for any pastor or person who is going to effectively lead others in the “Way” of Jesus. Spiritual leadership, John Piper says, is about “knowing where God wants people to be and taking the initiative to use God’s methods to get them there in reliance on God’s power”.² As one gets closer to the Lord taking daily steps to follow his revealed will, they will increase in their awareness of God’s will for others and experience the empowerment to care for and lead others to follow Christ. And as the pastor cares for the church he too is being pastored and cared for by the Lord. The pastor is to take his marching orders for the Lord through Scripture and he declares what God has said. 

Pastoral leadership requires that one not only lead by instructing with words of exhortation and teaching but also lead by example. Pastors must model a life of godliness, prayer, and devotion to God. They must exhibit a fervor of spirit and priority for the gospel that they preach accompanied by conduct that adorns their message. As their cup overflows from their relationship with God, they will have what they need to give the people they lead spiritual nourishment, encouragement, and instruction.  Jesus appointed 12 disciples first to “be with him” so “that he might send them out to preach”³ .  Pastoral leadership is first about being with Jesus the “Chief Shepherd”⁴ and then being with the people entrusted to your care for the sake of their development and conformity into the image of Christ ⁵. Perhaps if we were to summarize what pastoral leadership is in a few words we might say it is a loving truth-filled influence⁶. This is what we experience from our relationship with the Lord and this is what pastors are to give their church family, helping them move towards God’s agenda for their lives.  God has designed pastors to represent Himself by declaring God’s word and ways and demonstrating character and conduct consistent with their message⁷ . Pastors are designed to lead, feed, protect, and care for the flock. 

Why is pastoral leadership designed to function as it does?

The Apostle Paul gave his spiritual sons Timothy and Titus the responsibility of setting in pastors or elders within the local church. And in doing he gave them specific qualifications and characteristics for those who serve in pastoral ministry.⁸  Here is the list that Paul outlined: blameless as a steward of God, above reproach, a faithful husband to his wife, self-controlled, sober, vigilant. sober-minded, prudent, of good behavior, orderly, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, and not a drunkard. The primary emphasis Paul had for pastoral leaders who were ordained in the church was a portrait of godly character. Only one qualification emphasized competency, and that was being able to teach the word⁹. The character of the pastor is to serve the local church ministry as a foundation does for a building, holding up the rest of the structure. The larger the building the stronger and deeper the foundation of that building needs to be to sustain its weight of it. Those who serve in pastoral roles and lack the character needed, end up faltering under the weight of the various responsibilities and end up hurting and disappointing themselves and others whom they lead. They dishonor the name of Jesus, whom they represent. Pastors are not necessarily required to be the smartest, strongest, and most disciplined in every area of life as if they are the special forces of Christianity. Still, they are expected to be mature followers of Christ, whose lives are marked by love, truth, and discipline. By living out an example before the church they set the pace for the rest of the flock to follow. Pastors must be mature and healthy both spiritually and emotionally. Healthy pastors are motivated by love and energized by grace as they seek to make disciples and care for souls¹⁰.  The primary role of the pastor is to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry so that the entire church is meaningfully involved in the mission¹¹. Pastors are not designed to do all the ministry for the church just as an athletic coach isn’t to jump in a game and run plays for his team. On a weekly rhythm, the pastor is to faithfully proclaim the truths of Scripture with a gospel-centered lens and point the saints to Christ and his will for their lives. As the pastor exposits the life-changing truths of Scripture week after week the people of God are equipped for every good work¹² and they are empowered to appropriately apply those truths to their relationships, work, finances, rest, and every area of their lives. Churches that have pastors fulfilling their role of equipping through faithful preaching and teaching move the church towards relational unity, spiritual maturity, doctrinal stability, and ministerial mutuality¹³.    

What does it look like in practice? 

Though preaching and teaching are very important aspects of pastoral ministry no pastor will complete his duty to care for God’s people without the ministry of presence and listening. Many wounded Christians seeking healing and wholeness from their broken past need more than just a spiritual leader who is going to tell them what to believe and what to do. They also need someone who cares enough to listen as they pour out their hearts and share their griefs, disappointments, hopes, dreams, fears, and frustrations. Many Christians need a shoulder to cry on and a lingering embrace when their child’s life is taken or their spouse is taken away by death or divorce. Pastors must learn to lead in doing what every follower of Jesus is called to do, namely “weep with those who weep” and “rejoice with those who rejoice”.¹⁴ Pastoral ministry is accompanied by many heartaches and joys¹⁵ resulting from being on the frontlines, spending and being spent, for the gospel’s sake. It’s certainly not an occupation to pursue for the one who is seeking comfort and security, for it requires risk, sacrifice, humble dependence upon the Spirit, diligence in study, relational commitment through conflicts, responsibility to address doctrinal and moral error and it necessitates the hard work of prayer and intercession.¹⁶  As the Apostle Paul expressed his gratitude for and commitment to praying for the churches in many of his epistles. So the pastor must do for his church family.  Perhaps many pastors would do well to adopt the commitment and conviction of the prophet Samuel who identified the necessity of intercession and instruction of God’s people when he said “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right”.¹⁷ This is what spiritual leadership and pastoral ministry require. Though the standards are high and the requirements are great for pastors the rewards are even greater. ¹⁸

Footnotes

1. Matthew 4:19 ↩︎
2.  Piper, John, The Marks of a Spiritual Leader 22-23, Desiring God 2014
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3. Mark 3:14 ↩︎
4.  1 Peter 5:4 ↩︎
5. Romans 8:29 ↩︎
6.  John 15:9, 17:17,17:26 ↩︎
7.  1 Timothy 4:12-13 ↩︎
8.  1 Timothy 3, Titus 1 ↩︎
9. 1 Timothy 3:2 ↩︎
10. Colossians 1:28-29, 1 Corinthians 15:10, 2 Corinthians 5:14 ↩︎
11. Ephesians 4:11-12 ↩︎
12.  2 Timothy 3:16-17 ↩︎
13. Ephesians 4:14-16 ↩︎
14.  Romans 12:15 ↩︎
15. 2 Corinthians 6:10-13 ↩︎
16. Colossians 4:12, 1 Timothy 2:1-3 ↩︎
17.  1 Samuel 12:23 ↩︎
18. 1 Thessalonians 2:19, 3:8-9 ↩︎