Pastors Must Be Teachers

The general care of the Christian flock is the work of a pastor and, to this end, some receive the gift of being a pastor (Ephesians 4.11).  By its very title, it compares to the work of a shepherd caring for his sheep, the word “pastors” being the translation of “poimenas,” a word meaning, literally, “shepherds.”  A pastor is one who leads, provides, protects, and cares for his flock.  As in the natural figure no small skill is required to care for the flock properly, so, in the spiritual reality, a pastor needs a supernatural gift to be, to his flock, all that a pastor should.

A significant insight into the character of a true pastor’s work is afforded by the close connection between pastoral work and teaching.  In Ephesians 4.11, the use of “kai” ["and" - RZ] linking pastors and teachers instead of the usual “de” ["and," but can also mean "but" or "also" - RZ], implies that one cannot be a true pastor without being, also, a teacher.  The principle involved is of tremendous significance.  While it is not necessary for a teacher to have all the qualities of a pastor, it is vital to the work of a true pastor that he teach his flock.  It is obvious that a shepherd who did not feed his flock would not be worthy of the name.  Likewise, in the spiritual realm, the first duty of a pastor is to feed his flock on the Word of God.  Quite apart from being merely an organizer, promoter, or social leader, the true pastor gives himself to preaching the Word.

From: The Holy Spirit: A Comprehensive Study of the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit by John F. Walvoord (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1958), p. 170.

John Flipse Walvoord (1910-2002) was President and Professor of Systematic Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas, from 1952 to 1986.  He then served as the school’s Chancellor until shortly before his death.

 

The Consultant Pastor

Learning to pass on to professional carers cases which are beyond the pastor’s ability to help enables him to concentrate upon real pastoral work, supplementary and complimentary to the public ministry, for then he is not dealing with those who are torn with irreconcilable inner conflicts but with those who wholeheartedly want Christ and want to live the Christ-life fully, in the church and in the world.  The will to do is half the battle.  Our help to such is, largely, to clarify, specify, and apply the publicly ministered Word to their particular total situation.  Here is where the so-called “consultant pastor” comes into his own.

It is important to make it known that you lay yourself out for this.  If you are not holding down a little church merely until you can get a big one, but really care about people – at least as much as you care for your own wife and children – then you must convey to them a real awareness that you are interested in their problems.  If you are not interested in the problems of sincere, ongoing Christians, you ought not to be in the work of ministry at all.

Of course, you have to deal faithfully with those who are attracted to you and want to be that little farther bit in with you than their sparring partners, and you will have to deal with those who like attention and who manufacture problems, or even excuses, to draw inconsiderately on your time.  Some even love to see a queue waiting to speak to you after a service and maliciously drag out their story to keep others waiting.  But remember, when you are brokenhearted about the sheer cussedness of some, and bitterness, enmities, jealousies, grudges, and feuds seem to rock the boat, remember that, in time – you don’t need to go out of your way to dot Mrs. Brazenface on the nose from the pulpit! – in time, it will all be dealt with by the systematic preaching of the Word.  The answer to every problem, even the ones that have no full and final earthly solution, is in the Word.  Pin your faith to that.  Let the Word solve or settle all.

From: The Work of the Pastor by William Still; reprint (Edinburgh: Rutherford House, and Fearn: Christian Focus Publications, 2001 [1984]), pp. 41-43.

William Still (1911-1997) was pastor of Gilcomston South Church of Scotland for 52 years (1945-1997).  This book is based on lectures the Rev. Still gave to theological students in 1964 and 1965.

 

J. I. Packer Week – 6

PR: For a pastoral leader, what are the most common blocks to the study of Scripture?

JP: The blocks come along two lines.  One is, quite simply, the pressure of endless day-to-day calls on him, which cry out for his concentrated attention from morning to night.  He has to be strong-minded to make room for anything else.

Studying in the early morning, before anyone else is about, is the simplest way to manage it.  But, that assumes that one can get to bed at a reasonable hour, which pastors can’t always do.  One who is in pastoral responsibility often has to be out late in the evening.  That could mean that he’s just not able to maintain a routine of getting up early to study.  I have sympathy with pastors who have problems at this point.

Then, there is another source of blockage, something quite different.  In the modern church, particularly in the seminaries, there is, often, great confusion about the Scriptures so that trainees for pastoral work never learn to study them in a way that is spiritually fruitful.  I think that many pastoral leaders are in difficulty because of this, as well.

PR: How much time should a pastor devote to personal study of Scripture?

JP: I hesitate to make rules for other people because, after all, we differ a great deal.  But, if one thinks of an hour a day as the ordinary common-sense rule, and then says to oneself, “Well, now, if it’s going to be less than that, I’ve got to justify that reduction of time,” one will be doing well.

I think that the priority for every pastoral leader must be his own personal time with God over the Scriptures, and anything that he does by way of preparation ought to flow out of that.

The first requirement for authoritative, perceptive communication of the Word of God is that you, yourself, should be experiencing the power of it.  The Puritan, John Owen, said, “A man only preaches that sermon well which first preaches itself in his own soul.”  He was profoundly right.  I would verify that from my own ministry…

PR: …How important is it for a pastoral leader to know the Psalms?

I took about twenty years to get into the Psalms.  I think it is, partly, that I was so concerned, in the early years of my Christian pilgrimage, to get clear on correct notions – and the Psalms, of course, do jump around.  They don’t analyse notions, they’re meditative, they’re exclamatory.  The format usually does not follow a line of expository argument the way that, say, Paul does.  One doesn’t when one worships.  But that made it difficult for me to tune into them.

The other thing that threw me was that they are, simply, so exuberant.  The way that we are conditioned by much of our culture, both Christian and secular, means that we are not really prepared for the kind of uninhibited expression of ourselves before God that the Psalms model for us.  And, as long as a person feels that the psalmists were rather uncivilized fellows because they expressed themselves so wholeheartedly, even fiercely, he will find it hard to identify with them.  That was a problem for me at that time.

I am thankful to say that, as the years go by, I feel much more in tune with the Psalms, and I am sure that is how it ought to be.  Living in the Psalms helps to turn little souls into big ones, and that is something we all should covet for ourselves.

From: “Knowing Notions or Knowing God,” in The Collected Shorter Writings of J. I. Packer: Volume 3: Honouring the Written Word of God by J. I. Packer (Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 1999), pp. 241-242, 245.  “Knowing Notions or Knowing God” was originally published in Pastoral Renewal 6.9 (March, 1982), pp. 65-68.