{"id":2205,"date":"2012-10-16T17:25:11","date_gmt":"2012-10-16T21:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/?page_id=2205"},"modified":"2013-08-01T17:12:57","modified_gmt":"2013-08-01T21:12:57","slug":"david-king-10-points-on-pastoral-ministry","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/?page_id=2205","title":{"rendered":"David King: “10 Points on Pastoral Ministry”"},"content":{"rendered":"

10 Points on Pastoral Ministry<\/strong><\/p>\n

by David King
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1.\u00a0 Get as much help as you can as early as you can for as long as you can<\/span>.<\/p>\n

One of the things I lament most in ministry is having had so little practical instruction early on from older, wiser, experienced pastors.\u00a0 The help I did receive proved invaluable to me, so I can only imagine the benefit of having received more.\u00a0 Thankfully, churches tend to be merciful toward younger pastors, and God is merciful too.\u00a0 Still, I can’t recommend strongly enough the need to find mentors early in your ministry; to look for internships and associate positions as you get started; and, when you find yourself in the role of senior pastor, to gather some godly men around you and listen to them.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Don’t be naive<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Did you know the word naive isn’t in the dictionary?\u00a0 Seriously.\u00a0 Look it up.\u00a0 If you’re reaching for a dictionary right now, please keep reading.\u00a0 I have been naive in my ministry, and it has cost me.\u00a0 There was a time when I believed that if I could teach the Bible clearly enough and be kind enough, that everything would go well in the church.\u00a0 Don’t make that mistake.\u00a0 Regardless of the gifts and fruit of the Spirit in your life, people will still disagree with you, sometimes immovably, sometimes sinfully.\u00a0 The cure for naivete is found in your systematic theology under the chapter titled “The Doctrine of Man.”\u00a0 Now that’s <\/em>something you really ought to look up.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Fear God more than man<\/span>.<\/p>\n

If you fear people, you will be a bad pastor.\u00a0 What’s worse, you’ll be a bad pastor who probably thinks of himself as a really nice guy.\u00a0 Here are some fear-of-man diagnostics that should cause your check engine light to come on:<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 wanting everyone to like you;<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 being anxious about how people will react to what you say or do;<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 desiring the whole church to be happy;<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 having a hard time saying no to anyone;<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 avoiding difficult conversations and difficult people;<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 being distraught when a person disagrees or expresses displeasure;<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 being elated when people praise you.<\/p>\n

The fear of man is an idolatry of self.\u00a0 The idol is toppled through confession of sin and petition for the Spirit’s help; through remembering your responsibility as an under-shepherd of the Lord Jesus Christ; and by doing the next hard thing, no matter how small it may seem. Don’t rest until your actions show that you care even more about God than people.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Enjoy people<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Someone once said that ministry would be easy if it weren’t for the people.\u00a0 True!\u00a0 But flawed though they are (and we pastors too), one of the ways to love them is to enjoy them.\u00a0 People liked the movie Cars <\/em>not in spite of the quirky personalities in Radiator Springs but because of them.\u00a0 The church is similar.\u00a0 You’ve got slow talkers and fast talkers, nerds and hipsters, engineers and artists, criers and jokesters, and more.\u00a0 Appreciate the differences.\u00a0 Laugh at the oddities, including your own.\u00a0 Don’t be so righteous that you can’t enjoy people.\u00a0 As with the previous point, the fear of God is key (Eccl 7:16-18).<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Ditch the God-family-church pie chart<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Pastors are fond of saying that God is first priority, family second, and church third.\u00a0 That’s accurate in spirit, yet completely impractical with regard to time management.\u00a0 Is your quiet time supposed to be longer than the time you spend with family?\u00a0 Are you being unfaithful to your family if you spend more waking hours at the church than with them?\u00a0 The God-family-church pie chart doesn’t work, mainly because faithfulness to family and church isn’t distinct from faithfulness to God.\u00a0 A better approach, a wise pastor once taught me, is to ask regularly, Am I being faithful to my family?\u00a0 Am I being faithful to the church?\u00a0 Your wife can help you answer the first question; godly church members the second.\u00a0 And don’t believe the lie that faithfulness to both is impossible.<\/p>\n

6.\u00c2\u00a0 Trust God to work through the simple preaching and teaching of his word over time<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The church won’t be formed into the image of Christ by virtue of your winsome personality, your exceptional gifts, or your well-reasoned plans (as helpful as all those things may be).\u00a0 To think otherwise is to misunderstand how God uses pastors.\u00a0 We are heralds, sowers, ambassadors, stewards, shepherds, workmen.\u00a0 John Stott once observed that all of these Scriptural images emphasize the “givenness”\u009d of the message with which we are entrusted.\u00a0 So give that message to the people!\u00a0 Give it to them simple and steady, week-in and week-out, month-in and month-out, year-in and year-out, and watch God work.\u00a0 The cumulative effect may astonish you.\u00a0 Not that your people will remember many of your messages – they won’t.\u00a0 But neither do they remember many of the meals they’ve been served over the years.\u00a0 In time, though, it becomes clear whether they have been well-fed.\u00a0 So feed them, and trust God.\u00a0 Then do it again.\u00a0 And again.\u00a0 “Sanctify them in the truth,”\u009d Jesus said, “your word is truth”\u009d (John 17:17).<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0 Resist ministerial lust<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Comparing yourself to other pastors or your church to other churches has always been a problem (2 Cor 10:12).\u00a0 The advent of the internet and social media has only made the temptation worse.\u00a0 On virtually any day of the week your Twitter feed, your Facebook timeline, or your favorite blogs will reference something that could arouse envy.\u00a0 Take a deep breath and remember that despite all the positive things people say about their church, they deal with negative realities too, just like you.\u00a0 The only perfect church will be in heaven.\u00a0 Learn this lesson, or be eaten alive by ministerial lust for something better than what you have.\u00a0 Besides, you don’t know how your obscure but faithful work will be used by God to affect the course of history.\u00a0 You may in fact be as pivotal as the 20th <\/sup>Maine at Gettysburg, charged with holding a wooded hill called Little Round Top.\u00a0 These men weren’t fighting on the main field of battle for all to see, yet if they had failed in their task the Union army would have been flanked.\u00a0 The entire battle depended on them holding their unseen but vital position.\u00a0 Pastor, be assured that your work is just as important.\u00a0 Fix your bayonet, and hold that ground for the kingdom.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0 Brace yourself for rigorous but rewarding work<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Twitter, Ray Ortland once tweeted:\u00a0 “My spirit was not at rest” (2 Cor 2:13).\u00a0 “Our bodies had no rest” (2 Cor 7:5).\u00a0 Serving Jesus costs at every level.\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 Okay, as in, go into the ministry with eyes wide open.\u00a0 Some ministries are harder than others, no doubt, but no faithful ministry will be easy.\u00a0 Faithful ministry necessitates getting close to people, and that can be a really messy business.\u00a0 And yet, seeing lost people saved and saved people growing will be some of the most rewarding labor of your entire life.<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0 Consider unreached areas<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The whole earth is a plane ticket away.\u00a0 Keep that in mind as you prepare for ministry.\u00a0 Parts of the Northeastern, Northwestern, and Western United States are 2% or less evangelical.\u00a0 These areas need vibrant gospel pastors and churches.\u00a0 The 6000+ unreached people groups need them too.\u00a0 Why not go?\u00a0 Maybe not as your first assignment (see point #1), but the second one will do.\u00a0 I know, I know, I know – God doesn’t call everybody to stray far from home.\u00a0 Will you pray about going anyway?<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0 Keep your heart happy in the triune God and his glorious gospel<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Remain enthralled.\u00a0 Stick your mouth down in the river of God’s grace and drink deeply.\u00a0 Don’t allow your soul to shrivel.\u00a0 If you fail on this point, one of two things will happen, maybe both: (a) your spiritual vitality will be replaced by lifeless methodology and empty professionalism, or (b) you’ll quit.\u00a0 The glories of Father, Son, and Spirit are limitless, and you won’t find the bottom when exploring the depths of the gospel.\u00a0 So go for it!\u00a0 Read, meditate, pray, fast, enjoy God.\u00c2\u00a0 God wants to make you the kind of pastor who speaks of things he knows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

10 Points on Pastoral Ministry by David King     1.\u00a0 Get as much help as you can as early as you can for as long as you can. One of the things I lament most in ministry is having had so little practical instruction early on from older, wiser, experienced pastors.\u00a0 The help I …<\/p>\n

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