Candidates for ministry know they will soon wade through a variety of expectations from their churches and communities. People might expect them to be a Bible expert, counselor, mediator of quarrels, visionary leader, community organizer, and church growth expert in addition to a range of other roles they might or might not feel gifted to fill. They will very likely be compared to previous pastors and feel pressure to either be more like their predecessors or to be nothing like him or her. So maintaining a healthy, differentiated pastoral identity requires a persistent focus on the Bible’s descriptions of this role.
I want to highlight a few biblical images of pastors that I have come to appreciate:
Pastor as gift: Ephesians 4:11 tells us that pastors are gifts to the church from Christ himself. But Paul also makes it clear that pastors aren’t the only gift to the church. Alongside apostles, evangelists, and teachers, they equip the body of gifted believers for acts of service. All members of the body are deeply connected to each other through the Spirit, and each offers gifts that are indispensable to the shared work of building the body of Christ into maturity. To become a pastor who does everything would throw the body all out of whack. Healthy ministry comes from faithfully leaning into the particular graces you’ve been given while enjoying and empowering the gifts of the rest of the body. Pastors often need to remind themselves when experiencing the pressures of leadership that Christ is the head of the church and that their job is simply to respond to Spirit-sent signals.
Pastor as witness: After Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, John described himself and the other apostles as witnesses who testified about the Word of Life who had appeared to them and whom they had seen and touched for themselves (1 John 1:1-2). But those who had physical encounters with Jesus were not the only ones to be called apostles. The outpouring of the Spirit has made all believers “witnesses … to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8), and the pastor’s responsibilities of preaching and pastoral care provide unique opportunities to live out that call to be a witness. Effective witnesses give primary attention to their own journey of knowing and experiencing Christ. Pastors who regularly embrace the truth of the gospel for themselves can proclaim it effectively—not as abstract theological truth, but through real testimonies of what they’ve seen and heard Christ do in their own lives and in the lives of other first-hand witnesses. This kind of joyful, courageous, vulnerable proclamation inspires people to follow!
Pastor as shepherd: Maybe it goes without saying that a pastor is a shepherd—it’s the literal meaning of the word. But sometimes pastors’ expansive job descriptions can leave them scrambling to accomplish their shepherding tasks of guiding, feeding, and protecting. And even more important than those specific tasks is the heart condition that each shepherd needs to attend to and cultivate. Whether administering the sacraments or cleaning up the mess left after a potluck, the motivation of deep love for God’s people develops through daily communion with the Good Shepherd, who also gives the strength, courage, and wisdom needed for every task God lays before them.
Through the many high and fluctuating expectations that our pastors might face, I pray first and foremost that their identity will stay rooted in Christ.