To be a Pastor or not to be a Pastor

The saying years ago was, "IF you can do anything else, do it." This was the test to one's calling to ministry.

Cheers,

Jim

 

I will be praying for you. Remember that pastoring is more than preaching and it is more than ministering to a particular age group. It is about the whole church.

There is no burning bush needed, but there ought to be a clear call as God shows you in the Scripture. Begin to ask him to speak to you through the Bible. (For me it was a passage in Luke 4).

Talk to your pastor about it. As time passes, the desire to pastor will either grow or decline. If it continues to grow, ask your pastor to mentor you and take you with him when he does pastoral stuff such as Deacon's meetings, leadership team meetings, SS leadership. (I hope you have a pastor who will help you to do that).

btw, Welcome to BB.

 

I really like that Jim :thumbs:

 

If you believe you can do anything else and stand before God with a clean conscience then do it. If you believe you would have to stand before God not having done what God has called you to do then become a pastor. Many a church has called men who have no business in the pulpit. So do not rely on the calling of a church for confirmation. Seek God's face and look to the day you will answer for your life.

I have wanted to quit several times over, not because I do not want to do it but because the trials of pastoring can be overwhelming and tiresome. But I do not have the right to decide that I just do not want to take it anymore. God calls men to represent Him regardles of the circumstances. And my conscience would not let me walk away. Read the Word and rely on the HG. Everything else is overly pragmatic.

 

A wise man once told me, "You'll never be ready to pastor until you become a pastor." It is not unlike marriage. If you wait until you're ready for marriage, you'll never get married. I didn't understand that until I began to pastor. The very first week as pastor I faced situations that were not covered in my college classes. That will be true of your ministry as well.

God often calls those who feel a sense of inadequacy because then we know for sure that it is all Him and none of us (John 15:5).

My advice would be to seek counsel from those men of God who know you well. They can help you seek the will of God. God will burden your heart for a group of people, or a city, or just give you the desire to lead and feed others. There will be no fireworks, just the still, small voice of God leading you as you seek Him.
Ps 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. (KJV)

 

After serving as an assistant for several years, I finally became THE pastor :laugh:. The first monday after the installation on Sunday we had a deacons meeting. We had been discussing some issues when one of the men said "Pastor, what do you think?"

And all of a sudden, I realized they were talking to me. No more waiting until the Pastor gave his opinion, I was the one they were asking. It was a scary moment. But God does give wisdom.

 

I am what you would call a lay-minister. I am also an ordained deacon.

Both things I have been called to do by God.

If God calls you, it will be as plain as the nose on your face.
You will have our prayers.

Pastor Bob hit the nail on the head when he said:
God often calls those who feel a sense of inadequacy because then we know for sure that it is all Him and none of us (John 15:5).

 

I was a music minister for over 15 years and loved it (most of the time). I never dreamed of pastoring. But... well, let's just say that God gave me a new dream. God began to speak to me both through His still small voice and His Word. His voice and His Word got louder, stronger and clearer until I could no longer deny His call to preach and pastor His church. So I said yes (even though my music buds thought I had turned to the "dark side").

Where I am now I am both pastor and music guy - the best of both worlds. Is this what I'll do the rest of my life? I don't know. Whatever God leads me to do is fine with me.

Trust God and listen to him. He won't lead you wrong.

 

There doesn't need to be a burning bush sign. 1 Timothy calls it a "desire." Find out what that word means in this context and listen to what those around you are saying and noticing. This will be your "sign."

 

I think that Scripture teaches the internal call and the external call. There should be an inner compulsion that literally makes you sick to think of not being in pastoral ministry. That's true of me and most others I know. The one chap I feel certain is not called to ministry is the critter who bangs up against a pulpit and exclaims "I don't want to do this...I hate to do this...but God called me to do this." Usually it takes no more than five or ten minutes to see he should be doing something else....ANYTHING else.

Second, there's the external call. Do other Godly men see this gift at work in you? Does the church affirm your calling? While some argue this is not Baptistic, Spurgeon and others affirmed this. There should be external confirmation. Not the "Momma wants me to be a preacher" kind of thing. But do others uniformly see the gifts at work in you? Sometimes we are our own worst critics and evaluators. Sometimes the best judge of what's happening in me is what others see happening in me. Thank God for a body of believers willing to practice discernment.

 

Tom, did you follow me around? This describes me exactly.

 

I left the pastoral ministry for a short term of a few years. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but used my architectural training to become an administrator of an 800 bed hospital addition in the small city where I first pastored a baptist church.

The local newspaper published that "Rev. Jim" was employed at hospital. Old parishioners came by my office and greeted me as "pastor". Doctors were stopping off for advice, counsel and prayer...again, think "pastor".

When the job was completed, an opening came to pastor and teach, and I had no option but to accept it. That is where I am now, some 32 years later.

I say this just to show how inner desires and outward revelations combine to affirm a call. I think it works the same in routine "calls" to ministry. God moves in mysterious ways.

Cheers,

Jim

 

To be a pastor is to invite the attacks of Satan on your life and your family. It is even worse than what you get as a youth pastor. The Scriptures tell us that (paraphrase) the one that desires the office of a Bishop desires a good thing. Do not take this lightly and seek much counsel. It has been the greatest thing I have ever done with my life and I would not turn back for anything. However, God gave me the desire and I know it and have never questioned it, even when we didn't have enough money for the electric bill. Seek God, Counsel of those in the ministry that know you personally, and listen to your wife, sometimes they are used by God to confirm things like this. Besides, she will be a pastors wife and it would show respect for her to include her in the decision making process.

 

I believe that was C.H.S., but I would like to offer a different take.

Do what you are called to do for the particular season of life. If it be youth ministry, do that. If it's pastoring, do that. If it's plumbing or gardening or construction, do that, as well.

In other words, I wouldn't suggest romanticizing the idea. Do whatever it is that your called to do.

 

First of all, brother, thank you for your service to the Lord by ministering to his young sheep; this is important work. Having come from a youth ministry background, I am aware that many see youth/children's ministry as the minor leagues where young ministers struggle to one day get called up to the major leagues of pastoral ministry. I have always resisted such an idea. I think it causes harm to the seriousness with which other ministries are taken.

Having stated this, I cannot deny that God calls youth ministers to be pastors, missionaries, etc. The real question is of examination. What evidence do you personally see of this call? What evidence do those around you see? I also loved preaching, but I was already doing that several times a week as youth pastor. What made me begin to realize God's call was that He began to shift my ministry. He began to put me in positions where adults were being ministered to as well as adults. Finally, some adults began to hear my sermons and feel that the entire church needed to hear them. To make a long story short...God led me every step of the way. It sounds like God is doing the same for you since you are now ministering to adults.

Remember, God has a plan. Take your time and make sure what he wants you to do. If God has called you to pastor a church, he will continue to make it evident to yourself as well as to others. Whatever you do, don't force it; as you know, His timing and will are perfect.

 

As Jaigner stated, it was Spurgeon who stated this, but his point is often taken out of context. Spurgeon also states that a minister should be able to do just about anything else...and do it well. He argued that minister's should not be incompetents who fail at every other task, but should be capable men. His point with this quote concerned the inward call. If one cannot say, with the Apostle Paul, "Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel", this is an evidence against the calling.

The reason that I bring this up is that I have actually heard men tell young prospects that the fact that, in addition to an interest in pastoring, they seem to be talented in another occupation is evidence against their call....they always use this quote in doing so. CHS's point was not if you are good at another occupation persue it instead; his point was that if you could persue another occupation instead of ministry and not feel that woe, then that is evidence of not being called.

 

While churches have certainly called men whom God has not, we need to be careful in dismissing the role of the church in this process. God ordained his church to be the place to discover, hone and use gifts. One of the primary functions of the church, then, is to consider whether or not young men are called tot he ministry.

While the church calling an uncalled man is a problem, a bigger problem is the number of men whose own church won't recognize "their calling", so they jump from church to church trying to find one that will. If God puts a man into a church and he works for an extended time ther and, after seeing his service, the church does not see evidence of God's gifting to pastoral ministry, it should give anyone pause.