Two Kinds of Pastors

There are a lot of bad ways to pastor, and one counterintuitive good way.

It’s tempting to lead a congregation without a strong set of convictions. It’s easy to pastor while keeping an eye out for increasing one’s Twitter followers. It’s tempting to want to create a name for ourselves outside of our local church. Many things happen too easily that shouldn’t. For example, talking down to the lowest common denominator, focusing on the podcast audience instead of the people in the pews, and moving through the week without properly connecting with Christ and preparing to support our community.

Then there is the counterintuitive way to pastor. It’s my privilege to know pastors who serve this way.

They love their people. The greatest privilege is to serve them. They have a wider influence, but they know they will give an account for the people they pastor, and so they focus their attention there. They work diligently to feed on Christ and to show up with something to give their people. They stand up in the pulpit and point to Jesus with every ounce of their being. They are not necessarily the most gifted people, and they know it. But a few things are clear: they love Jesus, they love the people, and they’re willing to suffer. This is more than a job to them.

God, grant us more pastors like this: pastors with conviction who are willing to endure suffering and engage in the long, difficult work of loving a specific group of people. May they be prepared to sacrifice over an extended period, often in obscurity, to fulfill their duties faithfully. The world needs more pastors like this.