I spoke to a pastor recently who is in the middle of regular-pastor work.
He said – it’s not glamorous work.
Just faithful, hard work.
As he balances the tasks of visioning and paying the bills and caring for his congregation, I asked him what was helping him these days.
His answer – a framework for approaching pastoring that he learned a few years ago.
He said that it’s just stuck with him and has proven helpful multiple times over.
Even though there’s lots of challenges and he’s feeling stretched, what he learned years ago from a leadership course is helping him pastor well.
It’s thinking of pastoring as leading, developing and caring.
Leading as in setting direction, aligning their resources, motivating, managing.
Developing as in teaching, modelling, coaching.
Caring as in knowing the congregation and community, connecting, providing, protecting.
It’s been a gift from God as he carries on with the work God has put in front of him.
Photo credit: Luca Bravo (Unsplash)