I never wanted to be a pastor knowing it’s not a simple job. But the more I am resisting, the stronger the inner grip of my pastoral calling. The years when I was trying to escape from the calling were also the years when God was preparing me. Nothing that happened was a waste but God used them so that I would accomplish his purpose in my life. When I responded to His call, it was a liberating feeling. I could not find peace then because I was trying to resist the peace that God was giving.
In 2006, I “officially” became the youth pastor when our Youth Pastor then left the church to pastor another one. Being part of the youth ministry team prior to my appointment was a great advantage. I had no difficulty in relating to the young people. I knew their language and culture; somehow I knew the dynamics of youth ministry, as I thought. But then I realized I was looking to what my naked eyes could see. When I started to see vision for the youth ministry, my world was shaken. I began to see my shortcomings. So I entered into seminary to be better equipped as youth pastor, but I ended up being pushed away from the youth ministry.
What happened to me recently, that is from being a novice youth pastor to a status quo of “no-youth” pastor, has caught me to reflect what I have done wrong. In my mind, I was trying to minister to the young people then, but not minding the message I was sending to the pastor. Personal experiences thought me that leaving has never been easy, particularly when I left the church that affirmed my pastoral calling. It was painful though, but it helped me understand my pastoral mandate outside the roof of that church.
I am currently connected with Life Source Christian Assembly, a youth church that was founded in the U-belt area under the Chi Alpha (XA) Campus Ministry of the Philippine General Council of the Assemblies of God (PGCAG). At the same time, I was invited to join Southern Tagalog District Council (STDC) Youth Department of PGCAG to help the Youth Ministries of local churches within the Southern Tagalog provinces including the National Capital Region. And as STDC Youth Staff, I am privileged to see in wider scope the diverse culture of Youth Ministries in the Assemblies of God. So my observations in the context of Youth Ministry and the freedom of education in the seminary help me frame my understanding of pastoral ministry to the youth. I am writing my own philosophy of pastoral ministry for which I can use to start anew in the future. I also allow these principles to be tested over the course of time and to be refined in the length of my journey as youth pastor.
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF PASTORAL MINISTRY
Pastoral Ministry is defined by its purpose. Pastors must understand why they are carrying out this mandate and how they are doing it. The purpose of pastoral ministry defines the characteristics of the pastoral ministry.
Expression of God’s Unconditional Love
Pastoral Ministry is the expression of God’s love. The Father’s unconditional love was demonstrated through the death of His son Jesus Christ. And as pastor who experienced his love, my ultimate mandate is to be God’s agent of love. No young person today is not struggling with at least one issue in life. The decaying morality of this post-modern world has added to the difficulties of biological parents in dealing with the issues of their children. For instance, dysfunctional families have caused the youngsters to face life in a wrong perspective. In some cultures, churches are no longer a safe ground to these vulnerabilities.
On other hand, these vulnerabilities are starting point to which they can draw closer to God. It seems easy for the hurting youth to immerse themselves in a trusted environment. Thus, a small amount of hypocrisy may defer an opportunity for ministry. When they experience a genuine love; it would be easy to lead them back to the loving embrace of the Father. They need to be accepted and loved regardless of who they are. Pastoral ministry must affirm that the love of God is unfailing and will continually pursue them forever.
Reflection of Transformed Character
Pastoral Ministry reflects the Christ-like character of the pastor and the church leaders. When the pastoral team models character transformation, challenging the members to do the same would be easy. The challenge for pastor is to be always ahead in spiritual journey at some sort. The Bible is clear that every believer must desire to grow in the knowledge and character of Christ. So the church does not stop at pacifying infant members but seeks to prepare them to digesting the solid spiritual food for mature person. Thus, the pastoral ministry that models and desires transformation of every believer is a reflection of Christ’s glory.
I once had a thought of quitting from the challenging job of pastoring the youth. But as I endeavor to join them in their pilgrimage, simple transformation in their lives encourages me to keep on going. After all, I had no power to transform every individual. It is only my thrust to ensure that the youth ministry is transformative but it is the Holy Spirit that transforms the person.
Dependence in the Holy Spirit
Every pastor reminds himself that Pastoral Ministry isn’t his ministry alone. Pastoral Ministry requires dependence on the Holy Spirit. The pastors can never replace the role of the Holy Spirit to transform the person. The moment we succumb to the perception of becoming a super pastor, it will make us feel inadequate. Pastor conveys the message from God while Pastoral Ministry promotes God’s agenda to the people. He seeks guidance from the Lord in carrying his mandate to God’s people.
However, while we attempt to wrestle with God’s will, sometimes it is our will that prevails. True ministry success measures the total dependence in the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Pride only impedes the progress of any ministry and will keep the person rationalizing his action. Humility is the key to be completely dependent on God. It is not saying we know nothing, instead we just know less.
Most of my failures in Youth Ministry are due to the arrogance of self-reliance. Having the knowledge and talent to carry out the task gives me confidence to resolve things on my own. Fortunately, it didn’t turn out the way I figured out. I would realize that I have ruled out the role of the Holy Spirit. Those humbling experiences reminded me of my shortcomings that only God can fill in. I can never do what God wills apart from God. In fact, the longer I go my way, the more frustrated I become.
THE CORE OF PASTORAL MINISTRY
Pastoral Ministry focuses on people. The pastor must understand the dynamics of relationship. To be surrounded by people who share the same passion and gift of caring for people makes the pastor more effective.
Accountability and Community
Team-based ministry is an effective leadership model for today’s postmodern world.[1] Understanding the priesthood of every believer, one can realize that even pastoral ministry requires a community of leaders. In other words, pastoral ministry operates in the context of communal accountability of the leaders. Pastoral Ministry is not a ministry of one person. The book “Can The Pastor Do It Alone?” speaks itself about how effective it is to designate some of the pastoral role to lay pastors who have the gift of pastoring.[2]
The team-based ministry protects the integrity of the pastor and the testimony of the church. We have seen great ministers who have fallen from grace. It damaged not only to the person responsible, but the community of believers. This tainted reputation of the church has caused believers to wander in faith and unbelievers to doubt the mandate of the church. It is a very loud call for pastors to have ministry partners who will check the alignment of their spiritual and private life.
I have understood this principle in my early experience as Youth Pastor. I never intended to do it all alone. In fact, it is even encouraging to share the ministry with fellow young adults. It was an exciting journey for us as a team. Ministering to the youth is demanding but ministering alone is depressing. The rewards to Pastoral ministry are great when we realize the advantages of teamwork.
Developing Leaders
At some degree, pastoral ministry is restricted by the pastor himself except when he has a team that can do what he does. It’s a pressing need in Pastoral Ministry to develop leaders- the key to a team-based ministry. Pastor becomes more effective when he delegates some of his roles to other people. This requires developing leaders and equipping them to be his ministry partners. The pastor who doesn’t develop people consumes all his energy and becomes frustrated in the long run. Doing pastoral ministry as a team provides opportunity for pastor to replenish his lost energy. This will keep his passion on burning.
Developing leaders takes time and requires great amount of patience. The pastor may even hurt in the process. But that’s how it goes. That’s the cost of our pastoral calling. We must remind ourselves of Jesus’ sacrifices. No matter how hurtful the process is, we must be faithful to our job of equipping potential leaders.
Caring Pastoral Team
Team Pastoral Ministry plays a significant role in shepherding the flock. Like nurses in the hospital, the pastoral team knows how to care. Pastoral “care giving” becomes available to all because of shared pastoral ministry. The pastor cannot be in different places at the same time but with the help of his pastoral team, church members are accommodated.
Having a pastoral team does not necessarily mean taking away the function from the pastor. In the urgency of situation, the pastoral team can give the first aid medication. It would wise for the pastor to develop a ministry framework for his pastoral team as precautions.
THE COMPONENTS OF PASTORAL MINISTRY
Pastoral Ministry is not about program. Programs are only means to accomplish the purpose. Creating programs without a purpose accomplishes nothing. Pastors must understand that the components of pastoral ministry such as discipling the members, training for evangelism, mission and ministry, pastoral care, etc are not the end in themselves.
Pastoral Ministry prepares the people to honor God in their respective lives. It is therefore redemptive in nature. So the pastor must equip the members to grow in faith, knowledge, and character- the result is transformation! In a team-based ministry this challenge becomes ministry opportunity for the pastoral team. The pastoral team becomes a great aide to the pastor’s equipping ministry.
In my observation, most of the Youth Ministries are entertaining while less emphasis is given to the equipping of young people. I think of two reasons: first, young people enjoy the program; and second, youth ministers are not equipped to equip the youth. There is nothing wrong with former, but there should be a greater emphasis on the latter. Pastoral ministry should put a highest value to eternal components in its efforts to reach the younger generation. Most of young people are struggling with issues in life; the Youth Ministry is where they find comfort and care. For this reason, youth ministry must be grounded on a strong discipleship.
While it is through evangelism that the young people become believers, discipleship is the next crucial task to behold. They should not remain as believers but to become followers of Jesus Christ. Pastoral Ministry to the youth should be equipping them to grow in the knowledge of God. Pastors must look at eternal impact of discipleship- the method for which transformation could happen. It would be natural for believers to evangelize, participate in missions, and join a ministry team, etc. when they are equipped to do so.
THE CALIBRATION OF PASTORAL MINISTRY
Pastoral Ministry deals with different people and diverse personality. The pastoral team works out to build relationship with the members. In as much as we want to avoid it, conflict comes out in the church. It is within the DNA of the church. However, conflict should never influence the preaching. Pastor must preach a sermon that is for everyone not for one. He must stand behind a bias-free-pulpit. When the pastor preaches out of anger, it makes the conflict even worst.
Whenever there is conflict, pastoral ministry is at stake. Pastoral Ministry plays a significant role in resolving the conflict. The pastor must secure that confidentiality is exercised. It is a challenge for pastoral team to create an environment of trust where sensitive issues could safely be discussed. Because gossiping is contagious, resolving conflict must be done in private manner. Team-based pastoral ministry also plays a significant role when the pastor is the subject of the conflict.
Conflict is also on the surface of the conference table. While liberty to express personal opinion is encouraged, differences in stand at one issue sometimes cause personality clashes. Pastoral Ministry must promote freedom of expression among the leaders without destroying the relationship. Leadership team must acknowledge and respect everyone’s opinion. The conflict between leaders must not destroy the leadership agenda.
Pastoral Ministry must seek to smooth out the relationship between the leaders (including the pastor), the relationship between the leaders and the members, and the relationship between the members. Church unity is the goal of pastoral ministry. Unity among the believers pleases the Lord and reflects his glory.
CONCLUSION
Pastoral Ministry reflects the unconditional love of God and never fails to pursue God’s people until they are completely transformed. It also manifests the works of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the pastor and his team.
Pastoral Ministry creates a communal accountability of leaders to protect the church and her testimony. It seeks to develop leaders as ministry partners of the pastor who can do what he does. It makes the pastoral care available to the church.
Pastoral Ministry prepares God’s people to become Christ’s disciples. As a result, it becomes easy for them to go out to evangelize, go away for missions, or get in service.
Pastoral Ministry preservers church unity. It works out reconciliation between conflicting parties. Pastoral team endeavors to establish an environment of trust. Pastors are called to accomplish God’s purpose for the church and to execute it through Pastoral Ministry. Pastoral ministry must not deviate from its redemptive mandate.
As of the moment, I could not sense the strong grip of pastoring a church- only a portion of it, the youth ministry. So my definition of pastoral ministry maybe confined within the boundaries of youth ministry. But my role as pastor transcends beyond a defined scope of ministry. A sound philosophy of pastoral ministry will guide the pastor in carrying out his pastoral role. On the other hand, lack of guiding principles in pastoral ministry leads to a tragic mess. Philosophy of pastoral ministry serves as roadmap to the pastor in his journey with the church.
WORKS CITED
[1] Cladis, George. "Building On A Receptive Cultural Environment." In Leading the Team-Based Church, by George Cladis, 17-29. San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass, 1999.
[2] Steinbron, Melvin J. Can The Pastor Do It Alone? Ventura, California: Regal Books, 1987.
God answers prayer... really?
We pray, and pray, and continue to pray, until God answers. Certainly, He does answer prayer. Question: Did God really answer your prayer? The question is not whether God answers your prayer, but whether God answers your prayer. The emphasis is not on the capacity of God to answer our prayer, but on our capacity to pray for God to answer it. What is our participation in the act of asking a petition? Do we really have to sound convincing?
Let us validate whether the supposed answer was really our prayer. What if it’s the result of someone else’s prayer for us? Or what if God just want to give it to you and me? Can we really say that God heard it that way? While prayer can be a form of conversation, it also teaches us to be in the right position (attitude) before God. In the event that we get a positive response, it should remind us of the goodness of our Lord, not our greatness in prayer. In the final analysis, our character can testify to our prayer life.
Let us validate whether the supposed answer was really our prayer. What if it’s the result of someone else’s prayer for us? Or what if God just want to give it to you and me? Can we really say that God heard it that way? While prayer can be a form of conversation, it also teaches us to be in the right position (attitude) before God. In the event that we get a positive response, it should remind us of the goodness of our Lord, not our greatness in prayer. In the final analysis, our character can testify to our prayer life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)