There is nothing like the ministry of the local church. It is as big as the globe and as grainy as the broken toilet lever in the ladies restroom. In one moment we comfort the sick and dying and in the next we celebrate the new baby of the couple who thought they could never have kids. We show and tell the beauty of the Gospel, and then by God’s grace we pick one another up when we fall short of the glory of God.
The unique challenges of soul care can wear on those who serve in vocational ministry. We are all very human and are prone to err. We have leadership limitations, personality bents, and a few battle wounds that do not always help the people around us.
Challenges, however, are not unique to those who serve in full-time ministry. Every believer who desires to live godly in Christ Jesus experiences opposition, constraints, and hardships. In the echo chamber of church ministry, we can adopt a martyr’s mentality that assumes pastors have it harder than everyone else. Absent honest assessment and loving accountability, that mentality can lead to a sense of entitlement, which then leads to decisions that hurt the people we are called to serve.
The apostle Peter understood the danger as he both exhorted and warned the local church pastor with these words:
Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but freely, according to God’s will; not for the money but eagerly; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 1 Peter 5:2-3
Whether Peter was guilty of abusing his office or had simply observed it in others, we do not know, but he wrote with candid insight into the dark side of pastoral ministry. Pastors should oversee the church with an enthusiastic love for people, but we are prone to allow the demands of leadership to create resentment and even anger in our hearts. Pastors who give their time to the ministry should be compensated, but when financial gain is the motivating factor in our work, reproach will surely come. Further, Peter instructed pastors not to “lord it over” their people because conflict and division erupt when pastors depend on the power of the office rather than the influence of our lives to lead the church.
This dark side of ministry lurks just around the corner for every pastor, and given the opportunity it will ruin our character and undermine the congregation’s health.
So how do pastors avoid these dark tendencies? Consider this teaching moment from Jesus’ ministry:
Jesus called them over and said to them, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and their men of high positions exercise power over them. 43 But it must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave to all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life —a ransom for many.” Mark 10:42-45
The King of kings and the Lord of lords declared that His purpose in putting on flesh and dwelling among us was not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life up for us. This was not what His disciples expected. Nothing suggests they desired power for corrupt purposes, but the most familiar model of leadership to them was where those who held power were served by those who did not. Jesus turned that model of leadership upside down.
Jesus’ power is unlimited which means He could have done whatever He wanted to do, but He chose to submit to the will of the Father and to serve others. Leaders do possess power. Those who lead the local church do have options. We hold discretion over how we invest our time and energy. We have a measure of authority, both explicit and implied, to make decisions. According to Jesus’ leadership model, however, any power, discretion, or authority has been given that we may serve, not be served.
It’s a wonderful notion to give ourselves up so that the Gospel may take root in the lives of other people.
Many of Jesus’ first followers were impressed by His heart of service, but as it became evident that following Jesus would require greater sacrifice, many people walked away. Servant leadership is more than a noble idea; it is a calling that has practical implications.
So let us consider three ways pastors are called to serve.
Pastors serve Jesus.
Jesus is the “Chief Shepherd.” He is the One who calls, prepares, and assigns pastors to positions of leadership. By His grace, He calls people with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and abilities to serve His Bride, the local church, in various capacities. While we are joint-heirs with Jesus, we are also redeemed and purchased by Him. He is our master, and we are His servants. And as Peter wrote, we are ultimately accountable to Him.
It is well noted that the longer the apostle Paul served Jesus, the less value he placed in his titles, credentials, or position. Instead, he considered everything as dung compared to knowing Christ Jesus his Lord (Philippians 3). Pastors are called to know and serve Jesus with this same kind of abandon.
The accolades of the world, the notoriety of our peers, the prominence of our ministry are nothing compared to serving the One who has redeemed us and set us apart.
Our love for Him produces an allegiance to Him that outweighs our biggest fans and our harshest critics.
Pastors serve the congregation.
The local church is the Bride of Christ, and pastors are called to serve her. This calling is also a job that demands spiritual maturity, a variety of skills, strong character, faithful family life, and personal availability. Whether the church is small or big, shepherding the flock requires much energy and commitment from pastors.
Over time and with any measure of success, however, pastors can begin to focus on privileges rather than on responsibilities. The respect shown, the authority given, and the accolades earned through faithful leadership can stir the heart of the leader to expect more from the congregation than we intend to give.
At that point, a pastor may become more autonomous with his schedule, slack in work habits, less accountable with money, or inappropriately demanding of church members and staff. A pattern of entitlement develops where his work environment becomes more important than the needs of the congregation. This results in congregational dysfunction as working relationships and operational systems are strained.
This is not the way of the servant. The congregation does not exist to hire and maintain the personal expectations of the pastor. The office of pastor exists and pastors are called by God to serve the congregation by being enthusiastic, sacrificial examples to those who follow.
Pastors serve the church’s mission.
Jesus’ last words on earth clarified our mission to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). Ultimately, the mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus who will make disciples of Jesus so that peoples from every nation, tribe, and tongue will worship Him.
Congregations tend to lose sight of this. We tend to turn inward and isolate from the world. We forget about people who are far from Christ. We adopt selfish agendas. All of this is the natural result of a sinful, fallen nature, so God has called pastors to “oversee the congregation,” which means to cast vision, articulate direction, and then lead according to the purpose of God discovered in Jesus’ last words to us.
This work of oversight, then, often asks church members to become something they have not been and to do things they have not done. This work of oversight creates tension in the hearts of our people, and as a result, puts pastors in a difficult position. We are constrained on the one hand by the will of God and pressured on the other hand by the will of our church. It is in this tension that many of us who shepherd the flock of God turn into domineering ogres. Our passion to fulfill Jesus’ will sours into a selfish insistence on our will. We assume that if people are not following us they must not love Jesus or want to follow Him. So we double down and use the power of our position to force conformity to our leadership expectations.
Let us quickly agree that church members can be mean, self-willed, and disrespectful. They can reject the will of God and oppose the pastors and leaders over them with unrelenting vengeance. When we meet those church members, we should speak the truth in love and call them to repent. We should love them and pray for them, but never concede to their carnal agenda.
So wise pastors discern the times, know the people, and then lead with integrity and skill (Psalm 78:72) in a way the congregation can clearly see what Jesus is asking all of us to do.
This calls pastors to the heart work of humbling ourselves. It means we reconsider our goals in light of what God is doing rather than what we think He should be doing. It means we see our people as souls Jesus has redeemed rather than as means to fulfill our career aspirations. It means we decrease in our own eyes so that Jesus might increase in the eyes of our congregation.
When Peter said for pastors to “shepherd the flock among you,” he knew pastors needed to tend to our own hearts first. The work of pastoral leadership does not begin in the seminary classroom, leadership seminar, or bookstore. It begins and grows with the soul work of the Spirit of God preparing our heart to serve rather than to be served.