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Paul E. Wilson 6552 Horncliffe Drive,
Clarkston, MI
48326 Ministry Perspective The Bible uses many word pictures for the church including His Body, His Bride, the Temple of His Spirit, His Flock, His Army, His Family, His Garden and His Building. These word pictures help to describe how remarkably complex the church is. But basic to all these images is the idea that God has purposed to make his name known in this world through placing individual believers into a living relationship with himself and with other followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Matthew 16:18 God has been building the church since the day it began in Jerusalem at Pentecost. To be a leader in the church is a high calling. The standards for Christian leadership are given in I Timothy 3:1-13, 2 Timothy 2:1-13, Titus 1:5-9, and Acts 6: 1-6. The qualifications listed in these passages may be summarized in five words: Calling. I believe that ministry is first of all a calling from God to care for the people of God. As the word implies, it is listening to the One who calls. It is not a career but a life style of hearing, following and obeying the Lord Jesus Christ as he leads through the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. Commitment. The Christian leader must have a transforming relationship with Jesus Christ having been born again and continually growing in grace. Truly effective ministry flows and grows out of this relationship with the Head of the church the Lord Jesus Christ. Competency. The pastor must have skills and spiritual gifts to lead the family of God well. The Bible must be his main textbook from which he feeds the flock under his care. Relational skills are necessary for caring for the many and varied needs of people. He must also do the work of an evangelist in bringing the message of God’s love to all who will hear. No matter how competent, he cannot do it alone and will need the assistance of other gifted leaders within the church family. Character. Integrity is essential to spiritual leadership and the standard is the Lord Jesus Christ. The leaders of the church are to be moving in the direction of greater and greater Christ-likeness. A partial list of leadership requirements include: being self-controlled, gentle, not easily angered, having children that are under control, the husband of one wife and above reproach. Respect is the currency of leadership and integrity is its gold standard. The Apostle Paul, when thinking of this high responsibility said: “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?” 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 NIV No one leader has all the spiritual gifts, acquired abilities and natural talents to meet the expectations of the pastorate. Pastors are just like other people but with the added responsibility of the calling to serve God and his people. The church family is best served when both leaders and followers walk together in harmony working towards these common goals. The pastoral ministry, as I see it, is a balance of head, heart and hands. With the mind, or head, the leader is to follow the Word of God and be wise in his thinking. With the heart, or emotions, he serves with compassion all people. And with his hands he reaches out to help. Leadership effectiveness in ministry and life is maintained by balancing knowing, feeling and doing. It was said of David, “So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them with his skillful hands.” Psalm 78:72 NASB David’s leadership is the basis of this Pastoral Prayer:
May God enable me to shepherd his people Amen.
Leadership Challenges My philosophy of ministry is best described as Partnership in Ministry. The role of pastoral leadership is to equip the saints for effective ministry. The Bible says: “It is he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works for service, so that the body of Christ may be built us until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11-13 The Apostles and prophets laid the foundation for the church. Evangelist and pastor-teacher are to build the church upon that foundation. Evangelists bring new members into the church family through the proclamation of the Message. The pastor-teacher helps these new believers to grow up in Christ Jesus so they can use their gifts in ministry for others. In my pastorates, we have worked hard on building up the church through equipping the saints. We have benefited from Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Church. The five purposes presented in this book are activities that all Bible believing churches aspire to do. The key is how well we do them within the cultural context of a given church. Doing church in our time is not getting easier. In fact, it continues to be more and more difficult. Not long ago pastors were teachers of doctrine, public symbols of the sacred, care givers and always present at the rites of passage such as birth, marriages, baptisms and burials. These roles largely characterized the pastors of yesterday. However, respect for the local pastor has fallen as his roles have expanded. Yes, the pastor should give himself to the Word of God and prayer, minister to the needs of his people and be present at the main events of life. The expanding expectations of pastoral performance go beyond these historic roles making the work of the ministry much harder. Some of these additions and shifts in ministry expectations include: · Pastor as visionary leader · Pastor as organizational engineer · Pastor as leader of change · Pastor as leader in new ways to reach the world—as urban missionary · Pastor as leadership developer My experience agrees with these additional expectations. I don’t see this as a bad thing. Rather, it is our opportunity to flex with the changing needs of our culture while remaining true to the Word of God. This is a matter of form and function or revelation and relevance. The Bible remains true and its principles unchanging but cultures constantly change. So our challenge is to be true to the Bible while being relevant to our cultural setting. It takes the whole church family to build a healthy church. Each person has something vitally important to contribute. This is truly a Partnership in Ministry. |