The pastoral imperative

I recently read a couple of books on ordained ministry. The more modern ones, and the blogs I read, have rightly identified leadership as a key skill and a key task ministers will have. It is something I’ve found difficult to reconcile with the representative role of the minister, which seems to seep through every part of their ministry. Leadership, after all, is a highly secular term and can happen independently. Until it hit me:

Christian leadership is not simply leadership in a Christian context. It’s not even some form of new and improved “Leadership+”. It is intrinsically different, because the greatest commandment is this:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’”
(Matthew 22:37-38)

Crucially, the Great Commission comes after this. What this means is that our leadership and teaching needs to happen in this context and this way. The first point is obvious, but sometimes needs reminding in a world where skills are increasingly labelled and compartmentalised: God sets the course, not us. However we might lead, we strive to do so as representatives of God. Secondly, in Christian leadership, we cannot afford not to treat people holistically in all circumstances. When teaching, when leading, we need to consider them as the same as when we’re counseling.

Photo of a sheep

Photo by Linda Bailey, reused under CC license

Sermons are not dissociated from the rest of church life. People don’t suddenly become empty vessels, ready and anonymous receivers. When preaching God’s love for them, there is a need to make sure that the entire congregation is understanding that; and if there are some who are at a stage in their life where they cannot respond to it, the minister cannot afford not to find them, through that sermon or through another means.

This pastoral imperative is not restrained to specific times or tasks – it has to permeate the life of the minister.

Crucially, though, pastoral care does not mean sugarcoating the truth, or leaving people comfortably sitting where they are. For one, we are not setting the agenda – God is. But let us also remember that being a pastor, i.e. a shepherd, includes leading sheep from one patch to another. Being pastoral means being a leader.

How do you (practically) integrate teaching and pastoral care?

When and why did we start dissociating leadership from pastoral-ness?

Pingback: The pastoral imperative « Ed's Slipper | Church Leadership
http://twitter.com/onemanandhishat Jonathan Chase

I think, perhaps, when wondering what Christian leadership ought to look like, we need hardly look further than Jesus Himself. He is King over all creation, yet He doesn’t grasp hold of that right but humbles Himself and becomes the servant of all.
A Christian leader isn’t a figurehead to draw attention to themselves like many of the world’s leaders are, but as Christ is the Good Shepherd, He realises that this is his role – to shepherd the congregation.

Practically on one level, I think teaching should be viewed AS pastoral care – or at least one of its forms. If preaching is just for intellectual instruction, it is ultimately not valuable. Preaching should connect with and move the heart, reminding people of the Gospel, which is essential for a healthy Christian life, and therefore is the most basic form of pastoral care. What do you think?
- http://edsslipper.net/ Pierre
  
  Thanks Jon. You nailed it there; Christian leadership is servant leadership. And that’s one of the ways in which Christian leadership is different from simple leadership.
  
  And yes, preaching is not a theology course – I can’t remember where I read that the litmus test of a sermon is whether the “so what” question is answered in it. There’s more than intellectual instruction. But even within that drive to be relevant to people’s lives, it is necessary to know who you’re preaching to, individually – not preaching in a vacuum. The people you’re leading are people you know, and just because you’re behind the pulpit, doesn’t mean you stop knowing them individually.
  
  This does not mean not being prophetic; but it means that even within the prophetic role, there is a pastoral element.
  
  I do like the idea of teaching AS pastoral, but there might be something missing from a pastoral-only approach?
  - http://profiles.google.com/jonathandchase Jonathan Chase
    
    I guess what I mean when I talk about preaching AS pastoral is that the purpose of good preaching is ultimately to lead us to know and love Christ better. And since the root of Christian holy living is out of love for God (rather than a sense of legal duty) good preaching will have a pastoral effect. It might not mean you only talk about specific practical issues like illnesses or bereavement, but Gospel-Christ-centred preaching is designed to warm the soul and encourage whether it’s specifically applied or more general. Sometimes it might not be possible to tailor something specifically – especially in a larger church, but a sermon that is all theological education and devoid of encouragement and love-creation is no better than what the Pharisees would’ve preached (and tbh, it’s not really theology at all…).
    
    I think that’s one of the big reasons why we have preaching actually. The fact that it is orated has an effect on the listeners – a sound but boring sermon isn’t equally as good as when that is engagingly delivered, because part of oration is the combination of content and delivery to bring a response in the listeners’ hearts. Like how we sing songs, rather than just read the Psalms – music is an inherently emotional thing, and whilst I don’t think it should be manipulative in worship singing, trying to keep music-created emotion out of it entirely is something of an oxymoron.
    
    Good speaking and good music create emotions that help to facilitate the connection of the truth to the heart.
    - http://edsslipper.net/ Pierre
      
      Amen to that :)
http://www.facebook.com/people/Stephen-Wigmore/61311392 Stephen Wigmore

”
Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,[c] 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,[d]28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom formany.” “

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