Pastor, Preacher or Both?

My thoughts would be that a pastor can be a good pastor and a good preacher at the same time. However, the measuring stick of the pastor's success is not the expectations of the people, it is the expectations of the Chief Shepherd.

There is no way that a pastor, even in a small church, can satisfactorily meet the expectations of everyone. Everyone has a differing opinion of what a pastor is and what he is to do.

 

Jonathan Edwards got fired for not visiting his congregation.

It's not a new thing anyway.

 

Pastor Bob

I agree with you. I have pastored churches for 34 years, and it never ceases to amaze me of the different concepts people have on what a pastor should or shoudn't do: and what he should or should not be.

In my humble oppinion a called of God man into the ministry, must have both qualities. We are admonished not only to feed the flock, but to the best of our ability to tend the flock...this requires close communion with them.

But I must quickly add...it is not only the pastors job to visit and care for the flock. If I understand Pauls writting about the church in I Cor.12:14-27 every part of the body is to take care of the other parts.....this includes visiting.

 

Amen, Brother Steve!

I encouraged people in my flock that I pastored to be of a caring heart. I shared with them because of my eye problem and inability to just up and drive somewhere, that they could exercise that which I taught from the pulpit and equipped them to do; show christian love daily.

The pastor should get out when able and do all these things, but the Bible teaches us in Eph. 4:16 that every joint supplieth. We do not equip their minds with the Word of God to show Christian charity only in the church, or only amongst themselves.

 

Elders (plural)is used in Scripture. Most churches want the (sole) "hired gun" to take care of everything. There are some larger churches that have Associate Ministers I guess but I am not familiar with them first hand. I guess it would also depend on if you are full time or not what the church might expect.

 

Ephesians 4:11,12 says, "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:"

The comma between 'saints' and 'for' causes some confusion. The job of a pastor is to prepare the saints for ministry. The church is a body, a bride, a building, a flock , and a family. Each one speaks of unity- i.e. we all have a responsibility to each other. A church where the pastor is doing it all is NOT a NT church IMHO.

 

Yes, certainly.

 

PastorSBC1303
will depend on the churches definition of "good" and "pastor" and "preacher"

 

Preaching is only part of pastoring. The qualifications for a pastor are in 1 Timothy 3:1-8 and 1 Peter 5:1-5.

 

Amen Bro. Steve!!!

 

I think its a tall order, but I have seen people who were gifted at both.

Part of it, I think, depends on what a "pastor" is. SOme people think a pastor is a sheep petter, and some pastors would rather be out finding sheep.

But, yes, i think there are a few rare birds that can handle both.

 

Took the words right out of my mouth, Pastor Bob!! A Pastor would do well to maintain a "balance" of the two---obviously a scan of Acts 6 will find an overwelming demand placed upon the early Apostles to "minister"(visit--if you would) the tables of the people in need!! So much demand---that the Apostles were spending all their time "waiting tables" that they began to neglect their Bible studies----so on the Lord's Day what was happening was---the Apostles were showing up to preach and were "duds" in the pulpit!!! So they fell behind the Spirit led option of electing men to help see the needs of tables which released them to spend time in study---when that happened---the Apostles showed up and preached like a man jugglin' Nitroglicern!!

A balance of the two can be achieved by a pastor who develops time skills---knowing he can spend "such and such" amount of time in study and use the remainder of time ministering himself alongside the other diciples he is teaching.

 

Took the words right out of my mouth, Pastor Bob!! A Pastor would do well to maintain a "balance" of the two---obviously a scan of Acts 6 will find an overwelming demand placed upon the early Apostles to "minister"(visit--if you would) the tables of the people in need!! So much demand---that the Apostles were spending all their time "waiting tables" that they began to neglect their Bible studies----so on the Lord's Day what was happening was---the Apostles were showing up to preach and were "duds" in the pulpit!!! So they fell behind the Spirit led option of electing men to help see the needs of tables which released them to spend time in study---when that happened---the Apostles showed up and preached like a man jugglin' Nitroglicern!!

A balance of the two can be achieved by a pastor who develops time skills---knowing he can spend "such and such" amount of time in study and use the remainder of time ministering himself alongside the other diciples he is teaching.

This too!!! If I were a regular church member---say, a deacon or a SS teacher---or just a Plain Joe member---when I show up for church on Sunday morning---Sun Nite---and Wednesday---I would want the preacher to have "somethin' to say" from the word from the Word!!! If he shows up and doesn't have nothing to say---its because he's probably needing some help visiting---to the which if I want him to spend more time studing---I myself as a deacon would need to spend more time visiting!!! The move visits I can make as a deacon would mean that the preacher can do more time studying---so therefore---he's always got something to say and is not wasteing my time on Sundays and Wednesday---and the necessary people are getting visited as well!! Thats just my observation!! The more I visit--the more he studies--and the more he studies--the more I get out of it---and the more I get out of it the more I want to visit!!! </font>[/QUOTE]

 

Brother David,

sounds like circular reasoning, but I like it.

Acts 6 does indeed show that certain were set up 'to wait tables' so that the man behind the pulpit could attend to study more.

If so many were not just pew warmers in our churches today, think of the impact we could have in our communities and the dynamic messages the pastors could preach to equip us more!

 

I think there are those who can do both very well. By the same token, I know some elders who are excellent shepherds, but can't preach their way out of a wet paper bag. On the other hand, I know some outstanding preachers who have very little people skills. (I also know evangelists who can't preach a sermon on anything other than salvation.)

In a healthy church, if the pastor is a good preacher, the other elders and the deacons should be helping to minister and visit.

 

I agree with you PastorSBC, most pastors are gifted and/or prefer one or the other.

I think you can manage to survive being one or the other, although some people will complain (but they will complain no matter what)...but if and when someone is not much of a pastor or much of a preacher, there are problems. (BTW...in all of the churches i have been in as a member or as a visitor, i have only seen that once).

At my current place of service i have not heard any complaints about my preaching (which i am not sure how good it is anyway)...but i have heard some complaints from a few people about my pastoring skills (but these are the people that have been after my job for at least a year now...and have done the same to nearly every pastor for the last 30 years).

The key is to do what God wants me, you or any other pastor to do.

 

bobbyd "The key is to do what God wants me"


Off the topic a little but bob makes me ask a question:

What if you know where God wants you to be but the church He wants you at (and they have called you) want you to do something else?