EUROPEAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

YOUNG PASTORS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

PRESENTED TO

CARL SIMPSON, Ph. D. &

CATHY VAUGHAN, M.A.

SENIOR PAPER

PRESENTED BY

GABRIEL TILEA

KNIEBIS, GERMANY

15. JULY 2009

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CONTENTS

Chapter

I. INTRODUCTION 4

II. EXEGESIS 9

Word Study 9

Translation of the text from Greek and Text Criticism 11

Form 12

Structure 12

Verse by Verse Exegesis 13

Conclusion of Word Study and Verse by Verse Exegesis 17

III. THE 21ST CENTURY CHURCH 20

Postmodernism 20

Philosophy of the Church 21

Postmodern Church 23

IV. THE PERSON OF A YOUNG PASTOR 29

Daily Life Spirituality 29

The Minister as a Person 30

The Minister’s Home 32

V. A NEW PASTOR WITHOUT EXPERIENCE! 36

Being a Leader for Leaders 38

Church Growth 41

Outreach 42

Strategy 44

Setting a Goal 44
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VI. THE MINISTRY OF A YOUNG PASTOR 47

Preparing for Ministry 47

Youth Ministry 49

Pastoral Ministry 51

VII. CONCLUSION 54

BILBIOGRAPHY 57
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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

We are living in a 21st century society. What is the role of Christians in this society?

This society does not like Christians so much, even if the Christians are trying to do so much

for society. But did you ask yourself why they do not like Christians? The answer is very

simple; it is because Christians are not like them. Like Jesus said “I have given them Your

Word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the

world. I do not pray for You to take them out of the world, but for You to keep them from the

evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (MKJV; John 17:14-16). This

is the reason why people do not like Christians and why they do not understand the Christians

because Christians are not like the world.

There is also another question to ask, and that is “do Christians understand the people

from society?” Many times Christians say that they do but I do not think so. To understand

the people we have to become like the people, and here I do not mean to live in sin, but to

spend time with and to get to know the people: our friends from school and work, our boss

and the last man from the street. The people all need the help of Christians, but for this

Christians can not do anything, but Jesus can. He gave us his Word, as we have read above,

and from this Word, Christians can take good principles to follow, especially if as a church

leader or a future church leader.

What can the 21st century bring to the church today so that Christians can be thankful

and useful in the church? Society can give to the church a lot of things that Christians can use

in the church to reach the people in their own understanding, but many times Christians do
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not want to use them, and then society can not accept the church because Christians do not

accept them. I would like to ask another question, ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ Almost every

Christian wore a bracelet with this question. I did also but after I saw that I could not always

do what Jesus would do, I took it off. How many times are Christian like that? We like to

pray, “Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven” (KVJ; Mt. 6:10), but do we actually ask

ourselves how the will of God is done in heaven? I believe that the angels are waiting

anxiously for God to tell them something to do. If God will give the command to the angels to

evangelize the world in less than five minutes, heaven would be empty. But Christians have

become comfortable in their place and they do not want anyone to move them and sometimes

especially God, because to be honest sometimes Christians do not want to do the will of God.

Maybe God is telling his people to make some changes in their church, in the

evangelism style so that they can reach more people. If Christians are open to God to do his

will, he will open doors so that His plan can be fulfilled.

If the reader is young and you think that you can not be in ministry because of your

age, then you are WRONG! Let me introduce someone that received a letter from one of his

good friends. He was also a young man that was in ministry for many years. His name is

Timothy. The following quotation from the Bible was written for him to check how people

were doing in ministry, even though he was younger than them.

3:1 Faithful is the Word: If anyone reaches out to overseership, he desires a good
work. 2 Then it behooves the overseer to be without reproach, husband of one
wife, temperate, sensible, well-ordered, hospitable, apt at teaching, 3 not a
drunkard, not contentious, not greedy of ill gain, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not
covetous, 4 ruling his own house well, having children in subjection with all
honor. 5 (For if a man does not know to rule his own house, how shall he take
care of the church of God?) 6 not a novice, lest being puffed up he may fall into
the condemnation of the Devil. 7 But he must also have a good report from those
on the outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the Devil. (1 Timothy
3:1-7; MKJV).
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And let me introduce you another one, me, the author. My desire is to start ministry in

the next months and I trust God that he will help me and he already promised me that he will

be with me, as we have read above.

Pastor John Lataster told me, ‘If you want to start something new in your church; you

have to dream BIG, because if you dream small you will never achieve your goals. The

church has to see the change in you and if you are faithful then God will bless the place where

you will go and then people will like to call for you in their meetings because they can see

that the blessing of God is with you and they are blessed through your presence. If they do not

need or want you, don’t quit and keep your relation with God and go and plant a new church

and they will ask again for your help because they see that God is with you.’

In the following paper I will talk about being a ‘Young Pastor in the 21st Century.’

There are advantages and disadvantages of being a young pastor. First of all I want to look at

what the Bible says about the ‘pastor’ or leader of a congregation, so that we can understand

the Biblical principles of a pastor. I will also do a word study of the word “poimen” which

means ‘pastor’ in Greek.

My third chapter is called ‘21st Century Church’ and it will be an overview of the

church today. The philosophy of the church today is different and it can vary from one person

to another because of the age differences that are in the church. In a normal family there are

old people, adults, youth and children. I believe that the church should have the same

structure and should try to make them cooperate one with each other. The church should also

have special services for each age and by this the church shows respect and love to all

different ages.

The fourth chapter explains ‘The Person of a Young Pastor’ and I will headline some

basics things that a young pastor should do so that he will not burn out. It is very important

that a minister or pastor, especially if he is in the beginning of his ministry, should know how
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to deal with his time and family. I will also go into some detail about family life, not how he

should act in his family but showing that family it is more important than ministry. Many

times young pastors do not realize this concept. I chose on purpose to talk about family first

and then about ministry and I believe that it is the correct order, family and then ministry.

The title for the fifth chapter is ‘A New Pastor without Experience’ in which I will talk

about his attitude towards the church. There is a lot of authority that will be given to the

pastor by the church and he must use it wisely for church growth and setting goals. I will also

talk about the relation between the leaders and the pastor.

My sixth chapter is called ‘The Ministry of a Young Pastor.’ After the pastor sets his

family first and he has a good relationship with the leaders and together they have a goal, he

can start to minister to the people in different areas. In this chapter I will talk about a few

areas in which a pastor can work or in which areas a pastor can train people to work instead of

him so that he can deal with things of more importance. The twelve disciples choose seven

deacons to take care of the people so that they could focus on sharing the gospel.

Because I do not have any experience in pastoral ministry, there are just some ideas of

how I believe it to be a pastor. We will look at the life of many pastors that succeeded in their

ministry, taking what is good from them and what we can apply today in our society and in

the church.

One last statement, ‘I believe that a pastor should be open to all kinds of new things if

with them the church can reach many for Jesus and many can become followers of Christ.’
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CHAPTER II

EXEGEIS

Word Study

The word that I chose for a word study is pastor, which in Greek is poimene (poimene).

In the text Paul is using the word overseer as a church leader and not the specific word

‘pastor.’ In our days, an overseer is the one that is inspecting many churches; can this be all

the churches of a country and a pastor is part of the church leaders.

New Testament occurrences and usage

“The word pastor poimen (poimen) occurs 18 times, most often in the Gospels.

Outside the Gospels it occurs only in Eph. 4:11; Heb. 13-20; 1 Pet 2:25. The verb, on the

other hand, occurs only three times in the Gospels for a total of eleven New Testament (NT)

occurrences (Matt. 2:6, Luke 17:7; John 21:16) and four times in Revelation. The chief

shepherd arcipoimen (archipoimen) occurs only in 1 Pet. 5:4.”1

Jesus and Shepherds

A shepherd in the NT is seen as someone special. In the Gospels he is loyal to his

calling and is doing it with love and sympathy in true-to-life pictures. He knows each of his

animals, calls them by name, seeks the lost sheep, is happy when he finds them and is

prepared to risk his life to protect the sheep from the wolf. Jesus is using the figure of the

shepherd for God in his parables (Lk. 15:4-7). Jesus who felt compassion for the despised and

1
Horst Balz and Gerhard Schneider, Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, volume 3, (Grand
Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993), 126.
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the sinners and shared sympathy in their lives, shows the life of a shepherd that is highly

esteemed and stands in such striking contrast in the contempt of the Rabbis.2

Jesus the Good Shepherd

In the Synoptic Gospels and John 10, Jesus referred to himself as the Messianic

Shepherd that was promised in the Old Testament (OT). He uses a speech in three ways to

show this figure:

1. To describe his mission he uses an ancient motif of world renewal, namely, that
of gathering again the dispersed flock which is abandoned to destruction, Mt.
15:24; 10:6, the allusion to Ez. 34 is particularly plain in Lk. 19:10. As the
scattering is an image of disaster, so the gathering is an image of the coming of
the age of salvation.
2. In Mk. 14:27, Jesus uses the figure of speech to intimate to the disciples his
death and return.
3. Finally in Mt. 24:32, Jesus uses the image of the shepherd and the flock to
illustrate the execution of eschatological judgment. Like a scattered flock the
nations are assembled around the glorious throne of the Son of Man (v. 31) and
here there takes place the process of judgment, which compared to the
separation of the ‘white’ sheep from the ‘black’ goats, v. 32. The judgment is
followed by God’s gracious rule over His small flock.3

Shepherds as a Term for Congregational Leaders

In the NT shepherds are called congregational leaders, once in the list of offices in

Eph. 4:11. The pastors and teachers touj poimenaj kai didaskalouj (tous de poimenas kai

didaskalos) are from the same group because there is no article in the form of teachers

didaskaloj (didaskalos). This puts them into a single group because they both minister to the

individual congregation. However the term ‘shepherd’ is not yet an established title in Eph.

4:11. Because the examples from the following period give evidence that the congregational

leaders are called shepherds in a sense of a metaphor; the same is true of passages in which

the verb, ‘to pastor’ poimainei (poimainei) is used for the work of such leaders (1 Pt. 5:2; Ac.

20:28; Jn. 21:16) or the noun poimnoin (poimnoin) is used for the congregation. The leaders of

2
Gerhard Kittel, Gherhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of The New Testament, volume VI, (Grand
Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968), 490.
3
Kittel, TDNT, 492-493.
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the local church in (presbuteroi (presbuteroi) in 1 Pt. 5:1; Ac. 20:17; eposkopoi (eposkopoi)

in Ac. 20:28) are the shepherds, or the bishop, only in Jn. 21:15-17, which Jesus after his

resurrection appoints Peter as a shepherd. In (Ac. 20:28; 1 Pt. 5:2-4) the pastor’s task is to

take care of the congregation, (Mt. 18:12-14, Lk. 11:23) to seek the lost and (Ac. 20:29) to

combat heresy. Fulfilling this task, the pastor is to be an example for the flock, 1 Pt. 5:3. The

chief Shepherd will recognize the ministry of the pastors on His appearing.4

Translation of the text from Greek and Text Criticism

“3:1┌5 Trustworthy is the saying. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he is

desiring a good work.
2 Therefore, it is necessary for an overseer to be
above reproach:
a ‘one-woman’ man,
clear-minded,
self-controlled,
dignified,
hospitable,
skilled in teaching,
3 not a drunkard,
not violent ┳6
but gracious,
not quarrelsome,
not a lover of money,
4 managing his own household well, having submissive children with all dignity
5 (for if someone does not know [how] to manage his own household, how will
he care for [the] church of God?),
6 not a recent convert, lest having become conceited, he fall into the judgment of
the devil.
7 And ┳7 it is also necessary [for an overseer] to have a good reputation with those
outside, lest he fall into reproach, which is [the] snare of the devil”.8

Form

4
Kittel, TDNT, 497-498.
5
The variant anthropinos replacing pistos “trustworthy,” occurs in D* b g m; Ambst Spec.
6
me aischfokefden ‘not greedy for grain,’ is inserted after nlekten ‘violent’ by 326, 365, 614, 630 pm.
Nestle Aland 27th edition makes references to Titus 1:7 “…me tlekten me aischfokefden”

7
D 1739mg M inserts auton ‘him’ after de, ‘and.’ The omission is supported by ‫ א‬A F Gc H I Y 33 81
326 1739* 1881 pc.
8
William D. Mounce, Word Biblical Commentary – Pastoral Epistles, vol. 46 (Nashville: Thomas
Nelson Publishers: 2000), 152.
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Chapter three is the continuation of the former chapter where Paul talks about women

and leadership. This chapter takes the initiative and talks to men in leadership concerning the

personal qualities of church leaders and workers.9 “It is altogether likely that both ‘overseers’

and ‘deacons’ come under the larger category “presbuteroi” ‘elders.’ In any case, the

evidence from Acts 20:17, 28 and Titus 1:5, 7 indicates the terms ‘overseer’ and ‘elders’ are

partially interchangeable.”10 The offices are to be filled by the local congregation; therefore

Paul in the Pastoral Epistles (PE) gives us the qualifications for persons that can fill these

offices. A man may possess both gift and office, e.g. Paul was apostle and elder, as Peter and

others.11

Structure

“In contrast to Titus (1:5), Timothy has not been left in Ephesus to appoint elders.

Everything in 1 Timothy, and the evidence from Acts 20, indicates that there were elders in

the church. The evidence points to the character and activities of the false teachers. In this

regard two things must be noted: First, many of the items in the list stand in sharp contrast to

what is said elsewhere in the letter about the false teachers.”12

Second we can divide the list from 1 Tim. 3:1-7 in three parts. The first part

corresponds to (v. 1), where Paul commends the office of overseer. The second part is formed

by (vv. 2-3), where Paul is listing eleven qualities that an overseer must possess. The third

part is formed by (vv. 4-7), where Paul talks to three specific situations and to each of them he

gives a reason: the overseer must manage his household well, so that he can manage God’s

household (vv. 4-5); he must not be a recent convert so that he may not become conceited and

9
Mounce, WBC – PE, vol. 46, 152.
10
Gordon D. Fee, New International Biblical Commentary – 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, (Peabody:
Hendrickson Publishers, 1988), 78.
11
Homer A. Kent Jr., The Pastoral Epistles – Studies in I and II Timothy and Titus, (Chicago: Moody
Press, 1971), 121.
12
Fee, NIBC – 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, 78.
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fall into the same trap as Satan (v. 6); he must have a good reputation or else he may be

caught in Satan’s snare (v. 7). The dominant concern in the PE is the point which Paul starts

and ends; the church leader should be above reproach and should have a good reputation. If

we look at the grammar we can say that Timothy is told that he must be sure that the leaders

of the church are above reproach. “1 Tim. 3:2-6 Paul constitutes one sentence with a

parenthetical comment (v 5), and in (v. 7) begins a new sentence and repeats the initial and

primary concern.”13

If the identification of the false teachers as elders is correct, the reason why Paul gives

the list to Timothy is that he can check if they live according to their appointment, by their

standards. At the same time the church should also know the standards so that the church can

discipline the erring elders as well as find their replacement.14

Verse by Verse Exegesis

3:1 Trustworthy is the saying. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he is

desiring a good work.

This section begins with the second “trustworthy is the saying” in 1 Timothy. We

find the first one in 1:15. This means that what Paul is about to say has a special importance

and can be generally accepted as true. Is not about to run an office and to have a special

power. Also we do not have evidence in the NT about people that aspire to a position of

leadership in the church. What we have are evidences from the heads of households from

among the earliest converts who normally had this position. The word “saying” refers more to

the position than the person. He says that being in that position is a good thing and he is not

refusing people that have the desire to be in that position.15 “Paul has in mind the position of

the elder when he talks about overseer, as we can see this in Titus 1:5-7. These overseers or

13
Mounce, WBC – PE, vol. 46, 152-153.
14
Fee, NIBC – 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, 79.
15
Fee, NIBC – 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, 79.
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elders constituted a presbytery or board or presbyters or elders. With respect to age and

dignity, its members were called presbyters or elders, just as in Israel. The respect of the

nature of their task was why they were called overseers or superintendents”.16

3:2 Therefore, it is necessary for an overseer to be above reproach: a ‘one-

woman’ man, clear-minded, self-controlled, dignified, hospitable, skilled in
teaching,
3:3 not a drunkard, not violent but gracious, not quarrelsome, not a lover of
money,

Verse two starts with a series of positive qualities that an overseer should have. This

position of an overseer is a very important one in the church, and the ones that have this

position must have a certain character – above reproach. The personal behavior of a true

overseer should be a type of person that can counter the opponents and help the church to

regain its credibility. The following characteristics of an overseer are dependent upon the

phrase “it is necessary” in v 2. From the first characteristic “a one-woman man” we can

understand that the job was available just for men. This phrase is very difficult in the PE and

the most significant because the opponents have forbidden marriage (1 Tim. 4:3) and sexual

promiscuity is a serious problem (2 Tim. 3:6). This verse suggests that in Ephesus there were

serious problems with marital faithfulness. Paul repeats the same qualification in Titus 1:6 as

when he talks about “deacons” in 3:12. Because of the emphasis of the word “one” we can

have four basic interpretations which Paul could clearly say: (1) Must be married, (2) Not

Polygamous, (3) Faithful to his wife and (4) Not remarried/divorced.17

Clear-minded – we find this phrase in the description of deacons’ wives and older

men. The cultic meaning is “holding no wine,” includes objects made from the wood of the

vine. In the NT it describes a sobriety of judgment, clear-mindedness, with the nuance of self-

control. Paul uses the verb “to be sober” in a personal admonition to Timothy and from here

16
William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary – I-II Timothy and Titus, (Grand Rapids: Baker
Book House, 1957), 118.
17
Mounce, WBC – PE, vol. 46, 169-170.
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we can also assume that it means vine abstention. Self-Controlled –is also found in the

qualifications of an elder (Titus 1:8) and older men (Titus 2:2). It can carry the nuance of

(sexual) decency as perhaps it does in Titus 2:5. Dignified – refers to outward appearance to a

person. It balanced the more inward quality of “self-control” and it occurs in the NT when

Paul describes women’s clothing.18 “The words “Self-Controlled and dignified” often occur

together with pagan writings as high ideals of behavior. A Christian leader must be more than

that and therefore certainly not less than, such ideals.”19

Hospitality – it is required for overseers the widows who are to be cared for by the

church. In the early church and ancient society, hospitality is highly esteemed. Skilled in

teaching – the church elders must hold firmly to what they were taught, able to instruct and

refute those who are false teachers as it happened in Ephesus. It can also be translated as “able

to teach.”20

Verse three begins with a series of negative qualities to avoid. Not a drunkard – the

thought of not to be addicted to much wine is also repeated for deacons (v 8) and elders (Titus

1:7). It seems that was a very serious problem in the Ephesian church. To Timothy it is

permitted to take wine for medical purposes.21

“The next three qualities probably go together, and do indeed seem to reflect the false

teachers’ behavior. The overseer is not to be violent but gracious, not quarrelsome. The

description of the false teachers in 6:3-5, as well as in 2 Timothy 2:22-26, suggests that they

are given to strife and quarrels. The true elder is to be gentle even in correcting opponents.

Not lover of money is the last one of the list. According to 6:5-10, one of the “deadly sins” is

18
Mounce, WBC – PE, vol. 46, 173.
19
Fee, NIBC – 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, 80.
20
Mounce, WBC – PE, vol. 46, 173-174.
21
Mounce, WBC – PE, vol. 46, 175.
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turns out to be greed, being responsible for their ruin. Thus a word against avarice appears in

every list of qualification for leadership (3:8; Titus 1:7).”22

3:4 managing his own household well, having submissive children with all
dignity 3:5 (for if someone does not know [how] to manage his own household,
how will he care for [the] church of God?),

The overseers assume that they will be married but it is not required. The word

manage carries the sense of “to rule, govern” or “to be concerned about, care for.” This

expression goes together with the words from (v 5) care for and implies both, leadership and

caring concern, in the home and at church. The phrase with all dignity means that they will

be know for both their obedience and their generally good behavior, not so much because they

will be obeyed with respect. The church leaders who must indeed exhort people to obedience,

does not thereby “rule” God’s family. He cares for it in a way that they will be known as its

“children” because of their good behavior and obedience.23

3:6 not a recent convert, lest having become conceited, he fall into the judgment
of the devil.

In Greek, the expression can be translated literally “not newly planted person.” The

overseer must be mature in faith and the reason is that he may not become conceited. This

was important then because of the many false teachers that were in the church. To become

conceited means also to fall under the same judgment as the devil.24 The person needs to

be spiritually mature to be appointed to the office of overseer. For a new convert it is a

dangerous place. If they become proud of their quick advancement then they can fall into the

judgment of the devil.25

3:7 And it is also necessary [for an overseer] to have a good reputation with
those outside, lest he fall into reproach, which is [the] snare of the devil.

22
Fee, NIBC – 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, 82.
23
Fee, NIBC – 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, 82-83.
24
Fee, NIBC – 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, 83.
25
Mounce, WBC – PE, vol. 46, 180.
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A church leader must have also a good reputation with those outside. This concern

has to do with witnessing outside. The behavior of a leader is most of the times observable

outside. The emphasis seems to be that a bad reputation with the outside world will cause the

leader to fall into reproach and with him the entire church which is the snare of the devil. It

is a trap made by the devil when the behavior of the church’s leaders is such that outsiders

will be unwilling to hear the gospel.26

Conclusion of Word Study and Verse by Verse Exegesis

From Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus we can take many good things to check

people if they want to be in leadership. It is funny that they both are young and they have to

check people older than them or the same age. I am not saying that the ones that are young are

more acceptable for the job than the older ones but I believe that the young ones have more

fire in their hearts to work for God. It is also true that “hunger comes while you eat” so in our

case the fire grows if we stay close to God. Yes, close to God, I think that this is the good

thing that we need today for a church leader. If we look close to these verses, nobody can

fulfill them if that person does not have a strong relationship with Christ and a good

theological foundation.

In the case of Timothy and Titus, Paul built their foundation in the Lord. We can see

that Paul was part of their life because in the greetings of the letters Paul writes “my dear son”

or “my true son.” We can see that their foundation was a firm one and then Paul could ask

them to check others according to his teaching and his check list.

Looking at the word pastor, we can see that there are not many differences between a

shepherd and a pastor. In some languages is the same word for both but you just specify, e.g.

pastor of a church or pastor of sheep. And this gives more emphasis that the work of a church

leader is the work of a shepherd. I believe that church leaders and the pastors understand this

26
Fee, NIBC – 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, 83.
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concept of church as sheep but the church does not. For example, in a flock, the sheep are

multiplying among themselves and the shepherd is not multiplying them. It has to be the same

in the church, the pastor should not multiply the church members but the church members

should have this responsibility to multiply among themselves.

The mission of a pastor is to take care of the sheep and to feed them, and this many

times is misunderstood. The pastor believes that he is the one who has to multiply the church

and by doing so, therefore the church does not get enough food and they do not grow in

maturity because the pastor has misunderstood his calling.

If we look closely to what Paul is saying to Timothy we can realize that Paul’s idea of

a pastor is that the pastor has to be a man of respect and having other good requirements but

he is the one that takes care of the church. He is not saying that he has to multiply the church

therefore we can assume that the multiplication mission is a church member’s mission not a

pastor’s mission.

We went together through all the requirements that a pastor or church leader should

have. Paul has given us many reasons and objectives to check from the list of a church leader

or pastor and I think that is good not to put everyone in leadership just because that person

feels like it. I can say that I know people that wanted to be in leadership but they never could

accept the authority that was over them. They wanted to be there to change the things as they

believed would be better. One point that I like from the check list is in (v 6) no a recent

convert. I can say that I also experienced this point with people that wanted to be in

leadership, but while they were pursuing this position they slowly went into heresy. When

they were talking in front of the church people were astonished at their teaching which they

claim was from the Bible. They were right, they did support their teaching with Bible verses,

but they were taken out of context. They never wanted to make a true Bible study; they just

wanted to teach in the belief that they knew everything.

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This point takes us to the last requirement from (v 2) skilled in teaching. To teach I

think that is good to know in what your beliefs are based and being sure that the teaching is

according to the church and they are supported by the whole Bible not “Bible verses only.” It

is also important to get a good education in the area which you want to teach. The ones that

want to teach but can not, always take the example that God can use anybody, which is true

but for that you have to be God’s 100%. In being God’s 100% we can include other

requirements from the check list like, a ‘one-woman’ man, clear-minded, self-controlled,

dignified, hospitable, not a drunkard, not violent but gracious, not quarrelsome, not a

lover of money, managing his own household well, having submissive children with all

dignity and having a good reputation with those outside.

We can achieve these requirements only with God’s help and only if God really wants

us to be in leadership. If we dedicate ourselves to God it will not be hard to achieve it because

God is behind us and “we can do everything through Christ who strengthens us” (Phil. 4:13;

MKJV).
 19

CHAPTER III

THE 21ST CENTURY CHURCH

The church today it is not exactly how the church was in the early church. The whole

world changed throughout history and the church changed with the world, but still the basic

foundations of the church have to be the same as they were in the early church.

The church has suffered a few dramatic changes since its existence that changed

completely the direction of the church. The first big change was when Christianity became a

state religion under Constantine, the Reformation, and in the last century with the

enlightenment, modernism and now postmodernism.

This phase of postmodernism that the church is facing brings a lot of changes in the

church and if the church does not accept some of them, then the church can lose its mission.

The church should not accept all the changes, but at least should know how to deal with them

and which way it should respond.

Postmodernism

Postmodernism is a complicated term which emerged in the mid-1980s as an area of

academic study and is a set of ideas that appears in a wide variety of disciplines or areas of

study including art, architecture, music, film, literature, sociology, communications, fashion

and technology. It is not clear when postmodernism began. That’s why is hard to locate it

temporally and historically. Thinking about the movement modernism, from which

postmodernism emerged, perhaps is the easiest way to think about postmodernism.

Postmodernism is concerned with questions of the organization of knowledge. In modern

society, knowledge was equated with science. “On another level, however, postmodernism
 20

seems to offer some alternatives to joining the global culture of consumption, where

commodities and forms of knowledge are offered by forces far beyond any individual's

control.”27

Philosophy of the Church

What the Church Is Meant To Be

The church today is seen in different views by people. The church is meant to be the

bride of Christ. “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My

church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mt. 16:18; MKJV). In other words,

Jesus is saying He will build his church the testimony by Peter of who Christ is.

Peter in his life gave to Jesus reasons to trust in him, even if he denied Jesus three

times, Jesus knew that he will be able to take care of his church, and through his preaching the

church in the day of Pentecost grew. Peter was the only one that testified that He is the Christ

(Mt. 16:16) and to him Jesus is saying feed me sheep (Jn. 21). If the church really feels that is

the bride of Christ then the church will fulfill its mission and more than that, the church will

pray for the coming of Jesus.

Here without question we can say that Jesus was referring to the great harvest of the

redeemed that is still going on today. This will be His bride that will be united to Him finally

at the Wedding of the Lamb (Rev. 19:6-8). We can't deny that Jesus was referring also to the

multiple local churches that were planted in the Judea and Samaria and throughout the Roman

Empire and all over the world as we know it today. The church was meant to have its

foundations on Jesus and to be his bride.28

27
Mary Klages, “Postmodernism” (Last Revision 21. April 2003)
http://www.colorado.edu/English/courses/ENGL2012Klages/pomo.html; Internet; 3. June 2009.
28
Gene A. Getz, Elders and Leaders: God’s Plan for Leading the Church, (Chicago: Moody Publishers,
2003), 48.
 21

The Local Church vs. Universal Church

The Local Church

In the NT the word ekklesia is also used for the local assembly of Christian believers.

For example, Ananias and Sapphira died because they lied the Holy Spirit, “and great fear

came on all the church and on as many as heard these things” (Acts 5:11; MKJV). The church

of Jerusalem was persecuted after the death of Stephen, “and in that day there was a great

persecution on the church at Jerusalem” (Acts 8:1; MKJV). The plural form it is also used for

local churches, “And concerning the collection for the saints, as I charged the churches of

Galatia, so also you do” (1 Cor. 16:1), and Second Corinthians 8:1 speaks of “the churches of

Macedonia.”29

The 21st century local churches were not the same as the churches in the NT period.

The NT writers were referring to the believers in a city or community as we see in the

examples above. “The definition of the word ekklesia is too narrow when we observe the way

believers functioned in the NT world. The biblical writers uses the word to describe

Christians whether they were gathered for worship and practicing certain rituals or scattered

throughout a particular community in their homes, at work, shopping, visiting relatives, or

recreating at the local spa. Furthermore each believing family in a given community, ideally

speaking, was to be the “church in miniature” and the father the primary spiritual leader.”30

The Universal Church

“The “universal church” is composed of all the believers that died and the ones on

earth at any given time, the one worldwide fellowship that transcends spatial boundaries.”31

The apostle Paul often uses the term ekklesia in the broader sense of the universal church. In

29
Stevens, Doctrine of the Christian Religion, 300.
30
Getz, Elders and Leaders, 49.
31
Stanley J. Grenz, Theology for the Community of God, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 1994), 467.
 22

the epistle to the Ephesians he talks about the believers that became part of the universal

church, that is the body of Christ, from Pentecost to that moment when the church will be face

to face with the Savior. Paul also uses the term ekklesia to refer to the believers that were

spread throughout the Roman Empire.32

“The book of Ephesians uses the word ekklesia only in this sense. It is found also in

Colossians 1:18, 24, and in Hebrews 12:23. Paul states that Christ is “head over all things to

the church, which is His body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:22-23; MKJV).

He also desires that the manifold wisdom of God “might be known by the church” (Eph. 3:10;

MKJV). The writer of Hebrews definitely includes those Christians that have passed on: “to

the general assembly and church of the first-born who are written in heaven” (Heb. 12:23;

MKJV). In Mt. 16:18 (see above) the universal sense seems to be the best interpretation; for

he apparently denotes the whole body of the redeemed for all ages.”33

The invisible church is the spiritual nature of the church. It’s impossible to tell

humanly speaking who belong to the church or not, but it is the company of the elect that

forms the church or not, is the communion of believers (the Anglican churches says that). The

ministry of the word is to understand that God’s word is needed for the church.34

Postmodern Church

In the following section we will look at some aspects that show the competition

between the Church and Postmodernism. We can also call it “Bible vs. Postmodern

Thinking.”

Postmodern Biblical faith

Emphasis Means or Implies But Jesus Said
Personal - with the group or "For if I still pleased men, I would not be a

32
Getz, Elders and Leaders: 48.
33
William Wilson Stevens, Doctrine of the Christian Religion, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 1967), 302.
34
Carl Simpson, “Systematic Theology,” European Theological Seminary, “Class Notes,” Freudenstadt-
Kniebis, Germany, 22. April 2009.
 23

Relationships community. Please bondservant of Christ." (Gal. 1:10)

people rather than God. - with God. "He who has My commandments
and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.” (Jn.
14:20-21)
Tolerance - for what God warned us “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man.
to shun. Forbidden things For from within, out of the heart of men,
are now okay. proceed evil thoughts ... All these evil things
come from within and defile a man.” (Mk 7:20-
23)
Truth & - subjective, always "I am the way, the truth, and the life...." (Jh.
Scriptures changing – little or no 14:6)
Biblical insight. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and
forever. (Heb. 13:8)
Pluralism - all religions lead to the "No one comes to the Father except through
same place, are valid Me." (Jh. 14:6); "No one can come to Me
paths to salvation. unless the Father who sent Me draws him." (Jn
6:44)
Authority - reject traditional "I have come down from heaven, not to do My
authorities. Follow own will, but the will of Him who sent Me."
feelings and group (Jh. 6:38) "Father, if it is Your will, take this
cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will,
consensus.
but Yours, be done." (Lk. 22:42)
Faith view of Based on feelings, Based on God's Word:
the Future imagination, mysticism "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those
and group consensus. who will believe in Me...." (John 17:20-21)
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness." (2
Tim 3:16-17)
Spirituality Seeking spiritual power, "...we know that the Son of God has come and
favor, knowledge or has given us an understanding, that we may
wholeness. know Him..." (1 Jh. 5:20)
Continual - inner adaptation to "If you were of the world, the world would
Change cultural transformation love its own. Yet because you are not of the
world, but I chose you out of the world,
therefore the world hates you." (John 15:19) 35

In the chart above are some of the emphases that should make a distinction between

the church and the postmodern world. Sadly, some of the churches accept the postmodern

thinking and mix it with the biblical belief. In this manner the church is open to accept people

as they are, but many times the church does not deal with the problems of the people. The
35
Kjos Ministries, “Biblical vs. Postmodern Thinking” (Last updated 7. July 2008)
http://www.crossroad.to/charts/postmodernity.htm; Internet; 8. June. 2009.
 24

postmodern church sometimes is like the hospital that accepts the sick and injured people but

is not working so hard in their healing because of the profit. Sometimes the church accepts

people with problems but the church does not deal with the problem of the people completely

because of the profit that they get from the people. By taking profit from the people the

church is losing the vision, love, mission that is called to do.

Stretching Jesus to fit to all Sizes

In the coming years both Christians and ministers will be pressured by the pluralist

world view to concede that Jesus Christ is merely a way to God and not the way. Eventually

everyone will be saved through Christ but meanwhile others systems of belief are valid to

direct people to Christ. The battle that will arise will be to maintain Jesus as the sole mediator

between God and mankind and not bend over the pressure to embrace other people. Christ is

more than a simple messenger which brings God’s message; He is “the way, the truth and the

life”, the person which was “crucified, buried and risen again.” We can make it simply by

explaining in whom to believe and not in what to believe.36

The message of the Bible is simple: Salvation comes just through a personal encounter

with Jesus. Because of the records founded in the Gospels about Jesus, people can be

rejecting or accepting Jesus and this makes our preaching simple and difficult at the same

time in a postmodern culture. The ones that reject Jesus can not answer the question that Jesus

asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They tend to see Jesus as a person through

which God worked and did wonders, but not as equal to God. 37

Preaching the message of God has to bring a challenge and to face the person with the

truth, which is Jesus. The church can not be successful by preaching the “elastic Jesus” and

not showing to the people the real Jesus which is not anymore the historical but whom is the

36
Graham Johnston, Preaching to a Postmodern World, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books House Company,
2001), 96.
37
Johnston, Preaching to a Postmodern World, 97.
 25

real God. By giving to the people something that they already have or something that is lower

than their expectations, they hardly will accept Jesus.

“The other thing is that now we understood that the evangelization in the
society, we have to do it backwards as we did it before. Let me explain myself:
before the fundamental of the church was to expose of the truth as an evangelical
principle. We expose the truth, and the people accept it and by this they have the
experience. That model does not work anymore, at least with the Catalan Culture.
We give freedom to the activities of the evangelism and we let them have the
experience and they by asking about the experience we lead them to the truth. We
have to know that the experiences are different and they are focused first to the
accepting and second to the communication. When a culture has rejection to a
different aspect, the Catalan Culture has rejection by its trajectory as Catalan
Culture of persecution of many years, and language and country, with everything
that is new we must be careful. For example the Protestantism is new for the
Catalan Culture so they look with different eyes everything that is new so that’s
why before we communicate truths we have to communicate experiences, the
experiences of the life with Christ and communicate it in a practice manner.”38

Challenging Listeners

Instead of being a Christian that when preaching the Gospel makes it annoying, be one

that preaches the Gospel by making relationships and become more rational. Unlike the

Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons who knock on your door, rather establish a friendly

dialogue with the person. The inability to dialogue creates problems. The pulpit of the church

must be a viable conversation partner, which means that the preacher must be willing to

understand and listen to postmodern people.39

Understand the issues, concerns and the interaction of people’s daily lives. Then

preaching can help the listeners to interpret their world from a biblical standpoint. “The

preacher in the 21st century will be one-part theologian, one-part evangelist, and one part

mystic – a person who genuinely encounters God.”40

38
Jaume Torrado, Overseer of Church of God in Cataluña, Spain, Interview by Blayne Waltrip,
Translated by the author, Blanes, Spain, 15. March 2009.
39
Johnston, Preaching to a Postmodern World, 77-78.
40
Johnston, Preaching to a Postmodern World, 79.
 26

The only way to get people to listen to the Gospel is by challenging them. The

Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses have some good things that the church can take out and

use them to reach the postmodern people. The first thing that the church can take is the

commitment that they have. By going from house to house and being rejected almost every

time by people, their faith is growing and they rejoice like the disciples did: “then indeed they

departed from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be

shamed for His name” (Acts 5:41; MKJV). This rejection gave to the disciples a stronger

commitment to the Gospel and it gives the same commitment that the Mormons and

Jehovah’s Witnesses to their “Gospel.”

The disciples were committed and in a few years they conquered all the known world

in their time. If the postmodern church commits to the Gospel, reaching the whole world

today is not going to be a great deal, because Jesus promises that He is with His church, and

the church can do all things through Christ who strengthens the church.
 27

CHAPTER IV

THE PERSON OF THE YOUNG PASTOR

Spirituality in Daily Life

Devotion & Ministry

As a pastor with experience and many years of preaching, teaching, counseling, and

taking care of the church, it is important to have a spirituality in one’s daily life which

includes daily devotion with God. As a young pastor that is just starting ministry and has no

idea how everything will work, and who will see that not everything will work after his

expectations, it is more important to have strong devotion with God.

My opinion is that the young adults go through more temptations than the old ones,

especially the temptation of sexuality. The pressure comes from the friends around and if they

did not have any sexual contact is hard for them to keep themselves until the weeding. If the

minister is not married and he is in ministry is hard for him to keep focused on all the spiritual

work by having to deal with a lot of temptation plus the work in the church. I believe that it is

good for a young pastor to be married and then a lot of the temptations will not be there

anymore and he can concentrate more on the spiritual life.

“Devotion precedes theology. Without devotion there is a great danger that the

minister may lose the essence of the thing studied. The faith experience is a Person-with-

person Christ-experience. The minister’s own personal faith should be a continuous, vital,

dynamic and living experience.”41 Christian faith is a total commitment. If the pastor is

grasped by the Holy Spirit then all his works will be grasped by the Holy Spirit. His concerns

41
Franklin M. Segler, A Theology of Church and Ministry, (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1960), 94.
 28

will change from himself to Christ and other people. The will enjoy his work because it will

not be a ministry of self glorification but a ministry to glorify God. The devotion will make

the minister loyal to Jesus.42 “The pastor needs a living encounter for the sake of his own

growth. Genuine devotion involves the remaking of life in dynamic relation with God. We

must never permit our religion to be “reduced to comfortable dimensions which we can

accommodate without rebuilding our petty selves.”43

Everybody should have a devotional life, especially a minister, and it should depend

from the person. The minister should know by the time he will be a minister how or in which

ways God speaks to him and how to listen to the voice of God. Still it is never too late to start.

Some ministers believe that they can do it all by themselves and after a while they realize that

God is the only One who can move in the church, and then they start to have devotions and

listen to is the Word of God for the people. “Today’s spiritual quests are the working out of

the tendencies deeply rooted in the Emersonian44 conception of the individual who must find

God in himself and herself, and of an experience with the divine affirming that he or she is

known and loved in a personal way.”45

Beyond your daily devotional time with God, He wants more than an appointment in

your schedule. He wants to take part in every activity, problem, thought and conversation. Not

having a schedule for God means “pray without ceasing” (1 Th. 5:17; MKJV). This is

practicing the presence of God anywhere you are, shopping, driving, working, or performing

any other every day task. Practicing the presence of God will change your attitude toward

what you do. This becomes a skill and it can be developed. This must not be done to feel good

42
Segler, Church and Ministry, 95.
43
Segler, Church and Ministry, 96.
44
Russell Goodman, s.v. “Emersonian,” in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
http://plato.stanford.edu/search/searcher.py?query=Emersonian; Internet; 13. June 2009. Comes from Ralph
Waldo Emerson who was an American essayist, poet, and popular philosopher. Emersonian themes as power,
fate, the uses of poetry and history, and the critique of Christianity.
45
Johnston, Preaching to a Postmodern World, 121.
 29

but to do good. It is not about the feeling but the awareness of the reality that God is always

present.46

The Minister as Person

The Calling

The minister is a person and not a robot. The church has to see the minister as a pastor

or a leader of the church but also as one more member. Many times the church expects great

things from the minister and if he can't deal with all of them he is good for nothing. This is

scary for a person who wants to be in ministry. Let’s see some of the statistics:

“Consider the following sobering survey results of the personal and professional lives

of the clergy:

- 90% of pastors work more than 46 hours a week

- 80% believed that pastoral ministry affected their families negatively
- 33% said that being in ministry was an outright hazard to their family
- 75% reported a significant stress-related crisis at least once in their ministry
- 50% felt unable to meet the needs of the job
- 90% felt they were inadequately trained to cope with ministry demands
- 70% say they have a lower self-esteem now than when they started out
- 40% reported a serious conflict with a parishioner at least once a month
- 37% confessed having been involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with
someone in the church
- 70% do not have someone they consider a close friend”47

To face all these frightening statistics and to handle a ministry comes the calling of

God into action. The minister should be sure of his calling and that God called him to be in

ministry. All the people that succeed in ministry were called by God. God prepared them in

one way or another and then he called them when God thought that they are ready, not when

they thought. The call of God comes in the heart and if the minister has in his heart to minister

then he is called by God. Bill Wilson said, “If you see the need you have the calling.”

46
Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 87-90.
47
H. B. London Jr. and Neil B. Wiseman, Pastors at Risk, (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1993) 22.
 30

And the Scriptures?

Scripture clearly tells us that there is a responsibility to seek God’s will. God’s

promise of guidance is coupled with a clear command to use our minds to discern, (Ps. 32:8-

9).48

One interesting verse in the Bible about the Word of God is “I have hidden Your Word

in my heart, so that I might not sin against You” (Ps. 119:11; MKJV). This verse shows that

the Word of God is fundamental for the life of the Christian. By knowing God’s Word and

paying attention to it, the Christian is in control of the temptation. Jesus answered all three

temptations to the devil with the Word of God, “It is written…, it is written…, it is written…”

(Mt. 4). Jesus knew the Word of God and with the scriptures Jesus could stand and overcome

the temptations. In making decisions in our life, the Bible has a significant role. To know how

to apply the Bible in his life, the minister has to study the Bible.

“1Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and has not

stood in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the seat of the scornful. 2But his delight is only

in the Law of the Lord; and in His Law he meditates day and night. 3And he shall be like a

tree planted by the rivulets of water that brings forth its fruit in its seasons, and its leaf shall

not wither, and all which he does shall be blessed.” (Ps. 1:1-3; MKJV) We find that the man

who delights himself in the Law of the Lord is blessed. That man has to give constant

attention to God’s commandments and teaching. The second thing says that the man will be

fruitful. Even if the man is compared with a healthy tree does not mean that that man will live

a healthy and prosperous life. The psalm assures that the man will be fruitful for Christ

because he lives according his will. Meditating day and night on God’s Word, the person will

be empowered to live for God.49

48
M. Blaine Smith, Knowing God’s Will, (London: Ark Publishing, 1979), 54-55.
49
Smith, Knowing God’s Will, 56-57.
 31

And the Prayer?

Another thing on the same level with the scripture is prayer. In the Devotion &

Ministry, prayer is mentioned a bit. In the same way the minister needs the scriptures for

devotion, he needs prayer also. Going beyond devotional prayer, what about other prayer?

Outside the devotion life person can use prayer in a different way. Prayer can be used for

people, or to pray for ourselves. Prayer can be use to hear God’s voice.

Prayer raises an important question, “How much time should the minister spend

praying?” To answer this question depends on the individual. Everyone should pray as much

as he feels that the Lord is answering his prayers and that he is in God’s will. Prayer also

brings responsibility and this makes prayer a bit harder.50 E.g. if someone wants to teach he

should not just pray about it but also try to prepare himself and become skillful in a certain

area and then to start to teach.

Minister’s Home

Home vs. Church

The most significat institution for the pastor in his life is the home and not the church.

Some persons will aruge that the church is more significant but the home is more significant.

The home posseses the same faith and love (agape) and fellowship (koinonia) which are also

possessed by the church.51 As we can also see in 1 Tim. 3:5: „For if a man does not know to

rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?” (MKJV). Even Paul puts

the house before the church. This passage can have also another understanding and that is that

the one who can manage well his house can also manage well the church. The first

interpretation sounds more reasonable considering what the majority of people are saying.

Everybody puts God in the first place in his life, and then comes the family and then the

church. It should be the same with the minister. Because the minister is paid by the church

50
Smith, Knowing God’s Will, 51-52.
51
Segler, Church and Ministry, 116.
 32

does not mean that the church is more important than his house. The minister swore

faithfulness to his wife/husband and not to the church, and God blesses the family with

children, and the children come immediately above the church when it comes to choosing

between them or church.

She is Special

The wife of a minister also plays an important role in the family. “An experienced

church leader says, “Let the minister’s wife be the queen at the home – not the handmaiden of

the congregation.” Her price is far above rubies, and no one can estimate the contribution that

a good pastor’s wife makes. She is all at once the companion of her husband, the mother of

her children, and the servant of the church.”52 “She is like no other human ever created, and

the combination of talents, abilities, and gifts she has is different from anyone else’s. Because

of who she is, there are things she can do and other things she cannot do.”53

These quotes prove what my mother many times said. Behind every great man of God

there are the prayers of his wife. The prayers of the wife can build a minister and can also

bring him down. If the wife is with the minister in ministry then they both will have a

successful ministry, but if there is division in the family because of the ministry, then the

minister can not have a successful ministry. She many times told me that if I want to serve

God and be in ministry find a wife that wants the same even if we both know that ministry is

not easy.

The primary ministry of the pastor’s wife is that of encouragement. She may serve

also in the church in worship, teaching, children’s ministry, or even preaching, but there is no

greater ministry than being an encouragement to the man she married. Pastors are humans and

also have their time of weakness, doubt, discouragement, just like other man. Their wives

52
Segler, Church and Ministry, 118-119.
53
Robert C. Anderson, The Effective Pastor, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1985), 79.
 33

claim that. God is using three ways to encourage the minister, through his Word, Holy Spirit

and his wife.54

“Most important, a pastor’s wife needs to establish and maintain her relationship with

God. Despite, or should I say because of, her demanding schedule she needs to set a definite

time each day to be alone with the Lord and in His Word. Nothing will defeat her sooner than

a lack of spirituality resources. Yet when the pressures of life invade us, spiritual renewal is

often the area we neglect first. How foolish we are no to recognize that such a lapse is

precisely what Satan desires.”55

“Her best friend should be her husband. There are many things she should ask of him,

in turn. Because the children are equally theirs, she should expect him to arrange for a time

each week when she is released from her mothering responsibilities so that she and her

husband can do something enjoyable together that has nothing to do with church duties. If the

wife does not take the initiative on this matter, the husband will often lose himself in his work

and their relationship will deteriorate.”56

Advice from a Pastor’s Wife

i. “A wife should never criticize her husband’s messages. When asked, she should
point out the good points first and then share her ideas on how her husband may
improve.
ii. The pastor’s wife should never attempt to pry information out her husband from
one of his counseling session. If he feels that the information is pertinent, he will
share it with her.
iii. A pastor’s wife should keep her home a welcome one. Not only should she
invite people in when they knock at her door, and not keep them standing
outside on the doorstep, she should be sensitive to why they have come. Are
they in need, or they are simply making a friendly visit?
iv. On Sundays in the church building, the pastor’s wife should be friendly to
everyone, not just to her special friends.
v. A pastor’s wife should be a good listener, and she should be slow to give advice.
vi. A pastor’s wife should speak cautiously. Many times it is better to leave things
unsaid. If in doubt, don’t say it!

54
Michele Buckingham, Help! I’m a Pastor’s Wife, (Altamonte Springs: Creation House, 1968), 137.
55
Anderson, The Effective Pastor, 82.
56
Anderson, The Effective Pastor, 81.
 34

vii. An informed pastor’s wife should be familiar with her husband’s library. Often
she will be asked questions on vital issues such as marriage, death and prayer. it
is nice to know where she can find some of the answers.
viii. How busy a wife wants to be in the church should depend not only on her
abilities, but how busy her husband wants her to be.
ix. If a wife is employed, no matter how enamored she may be with her position,
her husband’s ministry necessarily demands the highest priority.”57

He is the Husband

The husband is not left out in the life of his wife because of the church. He should

know and remember all the promises that he made by marrying his wife. He should not just

forget about his wife because of the church and he should take care of his wife, in the same

way that Jesus cares about his church. The minister should not allow his wife to think that he

forgot about her, and that she needs him in her life as her pastor but also as her husband. It is

not always wise to fill the wife with all the problems of the church.58 The ministry of a pastor

should also be available at home. But he should not mix ministry with problems with family

problems even if he is the one that has to deal with both. He should deal in different ways

with each one. The minister should be also husband not only pastor, and by that I mean to

fulfill the duties that a husband does; e.g. going out for dinner, spending time with his wife,

finding a balance between church duties and home duties, pleasing his wife and even taking a

Sabbath. Not many pastors take a Sabbath. They say that the Sabbath is on Sundays but for a

pastor a Sunday is a working day. If he has to go to preach and be in the church and have

meetings with the staff, then that is not a Sabbath. The Sabbath may be used to spend with his

family and especially the wife. Of course also holidays should be available to the pastor.

Teaching in Home

The daily problems that every person deals with can be solved also from a Christian

viewpoint. If the minister and his family choose this way to solve problems then they can

build a home which will be a worthy example for other homes in the community. Usually the

57
Anderson, The Effective Pastor, 82-83.
58
Segler, Church and Ministry, 117-118.
 35

minister’s home will have some additional problem besides the normal family problems. Still

the minister is obligated to take care first of the family problems and then the church

problems, but many times he has to chose the church first and then the family in different

situations. Working together as a family in the problems can solve them faster.59

It is also important in the family in the teaching process to teach them to have their

own Bible study and worship. The consequence of being with the whole family in connection

with God is that everyone from the family can be helpful in different situations.

In a pastor’s family, it is important to have a lot of prayer. Not only do parents have to

pray but they must teach their children the value of prayer. For a parent it is a special feeling

and warmth inside when a child comes and asks his parent to pray with him. The parent will

never let a child alone when he comes and asks for prayer. “This confidence in the power of

prayer did not just happen in my children’s lives. It was developed from the cradle. In fact,

there was a time when I was not at all sure I would survive parenthood, much less have three

children who would grow up loving Jesus.”60

The greatest desire of a minister parent is to see his/her children loving Jesus, and

much more being in ministry. If their children serve God, then the parents feel that they

accomplished their parenthood mission on earth, and they feel pleased and respected by their

children. If a child does not grow up in the manner that the parents expect, there is always

deception and not only in a Christian family but in any family.

One pastor said once, “What use is it if in my ministry many people give their lives

to Jesus but my own children do not follow God?” This quote hurts a lot, because the children

that God gave as a blessing, with whom the parents can make many plans to serve God in

different ways and to receive blessing from God, turn around in a different way. Many times

the problem is not of the parents but the problem is the people around. They judge them

59
Segler, Church and Ministry, 121.
60
Buckingham, Help! I’m a Pastor’s Wife, 239.
 36

because they expect them to be the best in everything and they just forget that they are also

humans and they can not be normal children. This pressure is made many times without

noticing what will happen next. The child starts to be rebellious in his spirit and the parents

can not do anything about it. This is one of the most powerful weapons of Satan to destroy a

minister’s family because he knows that if the family is hurt, then there will be difficulties in

leading the church. He will prepare the people to judge the minister’s family and they start to

be discouraged. That’s why prayer is important in the families and much more the unity in the

church in these situations.

Maybe it can be an embarrassment for the family to tell this to the entire church,

because they are supposed to be “the perfect family” , but if the church loves their pastor then

the church will be an encouragement and many people will help with prayer and encouraging

Bible verses. With the whole church behind them, things can change and they will change for

good and God will work in such a way that the lost child will return home.61

61
Buckingham, Help! I’m a Pastor’s Wife, 221-227.
 37

CHAPTER V

A NEW PASTOR WITHOUT EXPERIENCE!

Being a Leader for Leaders

Age Problems

The leadership team is good if it is built with people with experience. They want a

pastor with the experience of one over fifty-years-old, with the strength of twenty to thirty-

years-old. That combination is good, but is impossible to have. A young leader can make

many changes in the church because he understands better what is going on in the life of the

young people and is easier for him to interact with the young people.

If we look at the Bible, there is no rule on how old the leader should be. In the

qualification of a pastor, (see Exegesis), we do not find any references on the age of the leader

of the congregation. Sometimes the word presbuteros, which means “elder”, is translated as

“older”, and from here some get the idea that only an “older man” can be a leader or elder.

“However, we cannot derive the same guideline from the meaning of the word episkopos

which means “bishop” or “overseer” which was used interchangeably with the title “elder.”62

The young Timothy was around twenty-years-old when Paul selected him to be part of

his second missionary journey. For many cultures this is considered very young, if the person

has to occupy an important position. Timothy was around thirty-three when Paul left him in

Ephesus to select and appoint elders. “This is why Paul instructed him, ‘Let no one despise

your youth, but be an example of the believers, in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith,

in purity’ (1 Tim. 4:12; MKJV). Timothy demonstrated that it is possible to be a mature

62
Getz, Elders and Leaders, 288.
 38

leader at a very early age. In fact, Paul had sent him on some very difficult assignments,

probably when he was in his mid- or late twenties (Phil. 2:19-24; 1 Thess. 3:1-2).”63

A young person can do the job of an older person. If the young person has a good

mentor, a strong foundation in what he believes and strong relationship with God, he can be a

great leader for the church. Almost all the mega churches in the world today were planted by

their pastor when he was young. Many judged them because they evangelized in different

ways that were not traditional, but now those churches are the ones that are looked up to.

Servant Leadership

“The essential nature of the ministry is service. The primary differences between the

offices in the early church were functional and not vocational. With God there is no

distinction between “clergy” and “laity.”64 One thing that the church needs today is people

who serve and not people who want to be the boss. In my opinion every leader has to be a

servant example in every little thing. Today the leaders like just to sit back in a suit and listen

to the preaching or preach, and because they are leaders they want to have authority. Jesus in

his life was called “Master” but he was a servant. Jesus showed us the way and how to go on

the way, but many times the people in authority make changes in that way so that the people

can recognize them. If they want to be recognized, then Jesus will not be recognized any

more.

The philosophy of Jesus is self-realization through self-sacrifice. “If anyone desires to

be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all” (Mk. 9:35; MKJV) is his basis for the

Christian ministry. “The meaning of ministry is service in the name of the Master who

became the personification of service to God and humanity. The minister approaches his work

63
Getz, Elders and Leaders, 288-289.
64
Seger, Church and Ministry, 57.
 39

with the same quality of character as do other members of the church. The difference between

his place and theirs is in the work he does and not in the quality of the person or the office.”65

Building a Leadership Team

There are five things that are important in building a leadership team. These guidelines

will help to identify and develop the people that will form the team:

1. “Focus your time and energy to equip current leaders and develop future leaders
2. Select and recruit people with leadership potential
a. Marked by the love of God and man (Mt. 22:37-40)
b. Willing to serve (Mt. 20:26)
c. Willing to learn (Phil. 3:12, 13)
d. Growing in Christian character (1 Tim. 3:1-13)
3. Agree on areas for training and development
4. Recognize the dynamics of an affective process
5. Schedule regular appointments for ongoing reporting, encouragement, and
accountability.”66

Some people say that leaders are born and not made. That has to be the choice of God;

if He wants somebody to be a leader in a certain time, then God will make everything

possible so that will happen. I agree that not anybody can be a leader, but if they really want

they can work on it. Some people are not made to lead as not everybody is to be an athlete.

The types of leadership differs from one place to another. That’s why sometimes it is hard to

find a right place where to lead, or is hard to be accepted in one place to lead. These

guidelines from above are good ones to make a leader or to check if that person really is a

leader or wants to be a leader.

Characteristics of Turnaround Leaders

1. Turnaround Leaders consider leadership an act of service

2. Turnaround Leaders accept responsibility for the turnaround
3. Turnaround Leaders avoid a church which does not desire to become healthy
4. Turnaround Leaders establish the critical rules of engagement before they arrive
5. Turnaround Leaders never backtrack
6. Turnaround Leaders keep close reign on their temper
7. Turnaround Leaders are discreet about what they share with others

65
Seger, Church and Ministry, 60.
66
Carl F. George and Robert E. Logan, Leading & Managing Your Church, (Old Tappan: Fleming H.
Revell Company, 1987), 106-111.
 40

8. Turnaround Leaders are willing to confront the sin of divisiveness

9. Turnaround Leaders possess “growth vision”
10. Turnaround Leaders are action orientated and bold”67

These are ten characteristics of turnaround leaders and they are special in some ways.

It is not that they want to be different but I believe that they match a leader that wants to take

action in today’s society and not just relax. These characteristics are for “turnaround” people.

They are people that will do anything for a change, anything to go and share the gospel. These

characteristics fit the leaders of the early church and the apostles. They will die so that God

can move through their life. They are people that dream big and they do not comfort

themselves with just a normal church service and not having people getting saved during

those church services.

Church Growth

With turnaround leaders it may be easier to have church growth. Church growth is the

desire of every pastor, minister, leader or even a church member. But many times for the

church to grow the church needs to make a lot of changes. The church can not reach today’s

society in the same manner that the church used fifty years ago. The church has to turn and

move on with the society and that will make an easy way for reaching people.

Jay Pankratz led a church from four hundred to over two thousand. He suggests that he

needed to make some changes:

- “From decline to growth

- From maintenance to outreach
- From traditional to contemporary music
- From one/two services to three or four
- From an old name to a new name
- From old facilities to new/improved facilities
- For one site to an additional satellite church site
- From borrowing to no debt
- From ethnic homogeneity to ethnic diversity
- From current staff to new staff
- From a cumbersome constitution to a streamlined constitution
- From multi-boards to one board

67
Gene Wood, Leading Turnaround Churches, (Saint Charles: Church Smart Resources, 2001), 87-149.
 41

- From lecture classes to small groups

- From committees to teams or task forces
- From pastor as caregiver to pastor as leader
- From a board of “nay-sayers” to permission givers
- From a past focus to a future focus”68

And I might add a few more

- From dream small to dream big
- From one evangelizing department to many evangelizing departments
- Making children ministry attractive to the children
- From just words to new experiences

The growth is desired by the Lord and a minister must understand and believe this. A

church can grow in different ways and in different speeds. During the growth of a church God

wants His church to be healthy, alive and growing. God’s will for the church is to win the

lost, make disciples and spread the Gospel. God does not want that this will happen just once

a year but in the everyday life of the church. However, growth may be visible or not at the

end of the year. “Some churches exist in a highly transient area – people are moving in and

out. In essence, the church functions somewhat as a nursery or incubator, sending workers

and healthy Christians elsewhere; but there will always be an element of spiritual and

numerical growth in the healthy church.”69

Outreach

Some people take outreach like somebody shooting arrows. If someone is practicing

archery he can shoot the arrows and where they stop he can go there and draw targets, in that

way he will never miss. Sometimes church outreach is the same, a few shooting arrows of

good news and if they hit someone we say “that was our target.” We need planning and

strategies. Some people claim that they want to reach everybody and that is good and is the

goal of the Great Commission. No local church can reach everybody. For that, it takes all

kinds of churches to reach all kind of people. To have an idea about the different kinds of

68
Wood, Leading Turnaround Churches, 105-106.
69
Homer G. Rhea, Planting and Growing Churches, (Cleveland: Pathway Press, 2003), 305-306.
 42

people just sit for half a day in a airport terminal and the first thing that you can see is that

God loves diversity. If a method goes good do not criticize it.70

To make outreach in one city or country, it may be useful to know as much as possible

about the culture of that country, society, the community of the city and about the people. A

good questionnaire may be used to ask people questions about God and the church, and that

can give the topic or theme for the outreach. The people from the streets tell what they need

and, by knowing that, the outreach team should go and perform activities for the need of the

people. There are three things that pastors and leaders should do, and those are learning to

train, equip and delegate. To delegate means to work yourself out of a job, by allowing people

to minister. They should give assignments to their disciples and trust them to do the work. A

disciple or volunteer 50% of the time will work in a different way than the pastor, but that

does not mean that is wrong. If his plan is to win souls, build and extend God’s kingdom, then

he should follow his plan. The goal must be the same as the pastor’s but in different ways and

methods.71 Methods that feel comfortable to him and by his experiences can be done in

different ways.

In our days there are different opportunities for outreach ministry, e.g., fellowship

groups, bus ministry, literature distribution, radio and television, hospital visitation,

convalescent homes and retirement centers, athletic teams, etc. Every city and community has

its own outreach possibilities and the church must know which one of them is working the

best. Thomas F. Zimmerman, general superintendent of the Assemblies of God, for many

years often said, “God has called us to be fishers of men, not keepers of the aquarium.”72

70
Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995), 155-
156.
71
Thomas E. Trask, Wayde I. Goodall and Zenas J. Bicket, The Pentecostal Pastor – A Mandate for the
st
21 Century, (Springfield: Gospel Publishing House, 2000), 276-277.
72
Trask, Goodall and Bicket, The Pentecostal Pastor, 481.
 43

Strategy

Everything that a person does has strategy. Maybe no one realizes it, or even the

person does not, because it was always like that and the person thinks that it is just a natural

action. Doing that action is a personal way and sometimes it is better than another person’s

action. We can call it strategy and that is the difference between the way I do my action and

another person does his action.

Many people like fishing but many have no idea about fishing. Someone who goes

fishing knows in which part of the lake the fish are, in which part of the day the fish like to

come out, what they like to eat, which bait or lure to use, depending of the type of fish.73 By

knowing these things, one can develop a strategy of how to catch fish. These small things

make a person’s strategy better than the another and people start to use the best strategies to

catch fish.

An important question that is always asked when it comes to strategy is, “Which

strategy of growth can be used in the community or in my community?” Every community

has a different answer, but the pastor of the church of that community may know the answer.

God can reveal the perfect strategy for each church. Walking with God step by step He can

reveal strategies moment by moment at the right time. One church involves six hundred

people in making and finding new strategies. There are thirty-one committees of twenty

persons believing that for the next five years that will bring a growth from five thousand to

ten thousand. One year they will study and strategize, and the next four they will implement

the strategy for growth in each department of the church.74

Setting a Goal

In a soccer game the only thing that matters is to score goals and the more the better.

The coach prepares strategies, the players warm up and before the game the coach is

73
Warren, The Purpose Driven Church, 185.
74
Trask, Goodall and Bicket, The Pentecostal Pastor, 478-481.
 44

motivating them or one to another. The players go on the field with one thing in mind, using

the strategies so they can score goals, and if the strategy is good they can score many goals

and by that they win the game.

It is the same in the church today. Some churches keep their strategies for years, and

try to make them work better, but they have never tried them to see if they really work. The

workers want to have a perfect strategy with all the details, and when it is time to go for the

goals, the strategy does not fit at all. Another view is that when it is time to go for it, then they

start to pray about it and wait for the answer from the Lord. Finally when everything seems

ok, the strategy does not work anymore and there are no goals reached.

Having the strategies and the sincere motivation, it is time to set the goals and go for

them. Once the church starts to make goals, they must put into the hands of people enough

resources to reach those goals. Maybe one of the goals was to reach fifty people, but it could

only reach thirty. There should be no discouragement, praise God for those won. In that way

maybe they are helped to improve that goal, and by doing so the goal can reach fifty or more

people. The goal of Paul was “… forgetting the things behind and reaching forward to the

things before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”

(Phil. 3:13-14; MKJV).75 “That means that he was working and giving his best to achieve the

final goal, which was the resurrection from death. He could only relax after he will receive his

crown.”76 If Paul had goals, why not the church have them? “Pastors should plan for growth,

strategize for growth, and set meaningful goals for growth.”77

There is one way to know for sure if the goals that the church has set are achievable.

That is, by asking God and waiting for his answer. Aligning your goals with God’s goals and

75
Rhea, Planting and Growing Churches, 311-312.
76
Forestell, J. Terence, “Christian perfection and gnosis in Philippians 3:7-16,” Catholic Biblical
Quarterly 18, no. 2 (April 1956): 126.
77
Rhea, Planting and Growing Churches, 312.
 45

your desires with God’s desires will help to get rid of a lot of anger, anxiety and depression.

The pastor that based his goals to win the city for Christ, to have the best youth ministry and

to increase in missions, is headed for frustration, anger and depression.78 By having the same

goals as God and knowing for sure that God is behind every one of them gives a strong

assurance that that goal will work.

God can bring new people with the same vision into the church, and He can also

change the ones that are already in the church to embrace the new vision as well. With a clear

vision and dream this will be reproduced in the lives of the people that are part of the goal and

the vision.79

Concluding this chapter one last thing remains and that is the application. It is easy to

talk, think, prepare and pray but when it comes to application, the people often go one step

back and start to question if the things will work or not. I think that it is better to question

things after the application and to question them in a different way, e.g., what did we do

wrong? How did everyone feel? How did the people respond? What should we do to

improve? These questions must not bring down somebody. Instead the questions must build

them up and strengthen them, and show the mistakes that were done so they will not to do

them anymore.

78
Trask, Goodall and Bicket, The Pentecostal Pastor, 168.
79
Trask, Goodall and Bicket, The Pentecostal Pastor, 278.
 46

CHAPTER VI

THE MINISTRY OF A YOUNG PASTOR

Preparing for Ministry

Before the Ministry

The ministry of a pastor is not that easy a job to do. It can not be done over night. It

requires continuous preparation and, before a pastor should start ministry, it is good to get

some fundamental teaching and basis for his life. It is also a good thing if the pastor is

prepared for his ministry in a young-adult age.

Ministers are made, not born, with all the qualifications and training essential for an

effective ministry. The same as automobiles will perform over the years, the pastor can

function and perform over the years. The “man of God”, in his preparation for ministry,

requires more than simply feelings. There are four categories in which a minister may require

preparation: (1) inner character development, (2) general culture, (3) acquisition of

professional knowledge and skills, (4) and the development of proper emotions and attitudes.

This includes all his being characteristics.80

One thing is clear, that no man can change another man, in this way; just God can

change a man and then the man will be changed forever. All these categories are good for a

person and the person can learn about them. For the first category only God can do an inner

change of character. The second one is not that hard to find. The person should agree to start a

Bible study in this case. The third one is personal experiences and the experiences from others

80
Segler, Church and Ministry, 124-125.
 47

where the minister can lean. And the fourth one is also developed over time with the practice

that a person gets in the ministry.

During Ministry

In the fourth chapter, one of the main points is the devotional time of a minister and

how important it is for ministry. There is another part that I would like to talk about now, that

the pastor must be updated daily or weekly with new information about everything so that he

can keep in his ministry a balance. Every day there are new articles about what is going on in

the world, and the pastor must know and have an idea about what is going on. Karl Barth said

that the best way to preach is with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other one.

This is true. The pastor must keep a record of how the culture and the society are changing.

“We are shaped by the culture that is transmitted to us by our parents; from adults we learn it

as children. The culture changes every 9 years.”81

Time Management

There is a problem with time, and it affects only humans. Because God created of all

and created time, means that time does not affect God and just affects his creation. “In the

Beginning [of time] God… (Gen 1:1; MJKV). From the beginning of this world’s history

events are measured by time. Benjamin Franklin, a pioneer in the modern subject of time

management wisely noted, “Do you love life? Then do not squander time, for this is the stuff

life is made of.”82

Time

“Time is money” is what they teach the kids in schools and in homes in Northern

Europe, U.S. and Canada. The schedule is important to any human and its interruption does

81
Blayne Waltrip, “Foundations of Missions,” European Theological Seminary, Class Notes,
Freudenstadt-Kniebis, Germany, 02. April 2009.
82
Trask, Goodall and Zenas, The Pentecostal Pastor, 67.
 48

not seem good. Black and Hispanic cultures make more room for the personal dimensions of

life and relationships.83

Time Management

The good work of managing is sharing the work, equipping others to take over certain

duties and to function as the inspirational part of the team effort. The manager who tries to

impress people by how hard and much he works just shows that he is skilled and managing.

“The pastor who is able to survive a long and successful ministry is one who is able to

manage his time and talents appropriately.”84

If the pastor can handle time well, then it is more than a blessing. Time can run against

somebody or in favor or somebody. Because God created time, He can help us manage time

and time can run in our favor. There is an old expression that people use, “I have no time!”

That expression is one of the biggest lies ever. Managing time, the person can realize that for

many things there is space and possibility.

Youth Ministry

The young minister many times has to do other ministries until he gets to the Pastoral

Ministry. Usually the young ministers have the desire to work with youth and the youth

ministry is much easier for them because they identify better with youth. Also if the minister

is also a musician, usually he shares the ministries of youth and worship. He will be the

worship pastor and the youth pastor in that church, and I believe that is a good start. Many

from the worship team usually are from the youth and the relationships become stronger. It is

the easiest way for the minister to be exposed the congregation.

Youth ministry in a normal church has one or two leaders. The main point in youth

ministry is to have spiritually healthy leaders. This means that the leaders should walk in the

power of God. Many times the leaders forget God by trying to look for new ideas and

83
Trask, Goodall and Zenas, The Pentecostal Pastor, 184.
84
Anderson, The Effective Pastor, 282.
 49

programs to make for their youth. After a while going in that direction, the youth ministry

ideas and programs start to be more important than intimacy with God. If his happens, our

hearts become hard and it will be impossible to hear God’s voice and purpose for the youth. A

healthy youth ministry is not made with new ideas and programs, but with spiritual leaders.

The key to make a youth ministry work is not by hype, but by spiritual leadership because the

health of the ministry is more important than the hype.85

When I was in Spain, I started a small group ministry among the youth. The idea was

basically prayer and growing in the Lord, and we met once a week in someone’s home. We

started with four persons. In a few weeks my brother and my sister joined, and many other

from the youth. The youth pastor also joined and he took control of the meetings, which were

basically just prayer and fellowship. Then I had to leave Spain to go to the seminary and in a

few months the group canceled. I do not know exactly why, but I can assume that it was

because the relationship broke a bit among them and this brought in the end the closing of the

group.

In a small youth group, building relationship is easy and necessary. Some of the youth

need an adult person with whom they can talk about things that they can not talk about at

home. If they start to trust the youth pastor, then he becomes a role model. The personal

atmosphere will foster spiritual growth and discipleship. As Jesus used the small group

ministry to train people, we can also do it in our days for training. Every small group should

have a leader, and the leader of them should be initially the youth pastor. Leadership and

discipleship principles and relationship building skills must be taught and practiced in the

groups. The members of the group can become the leaders of a new small group, and by this it

is easy to keep an eye on each young person’s growth.86

85
Dough Fields, Purpose Driven Youth Ministry, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998),
27-28.
86
Tony P. Lane, Changing Ministry in Changing Times, (Cleveland: Pathway Press, 2000), 63-64.
 50

Pastoral Ministry

Pastoral Ministry differs much from youth ministry. It requires more preparation, more

maturity. You have to deal with adults, and not teenagers or young people. He will still be the

pastor of the entire church both youth and children, but that’s why the church needs also a

youth pastor and children pastor so that the church pastor does not have to deal with all the

small things or problems. If there is a bog problem that the youth or children’s pastor can

resolve then they should come to the church pastor. A pastor’s job in the church should be

involved in all the areas, e.g. Christian education, youth, worship, fellowship, leading and

creating programs, counseling. Plus he is the one that has to take care of the special services

like Lord’s Supper, baptism, evangelism, weddings, funerals and child dedication. Of course

the pastor can choose someone else to do these services or part of the services, but if

something goes wrong it is the pastor’s responsibility.

Christian Education

The great commission includes teaching as part of the church’s mission, “teaching

them to observe all things, whatever I commanded you” (Mt. 28:20; MKJV).87 Christian

education is important to set the foundations of the new believers in Christ and to strengthen

the ones that are already believers. Pastors should be able to teach (1 Tim. 3:2).

In the church it is important to have good teaching. The pastor is the most able person

that should teach this teaching. In these teachings he can teach about different topics, Bible,

missions, worship, communication, fellowship, and so on.88 It can be done also by other

people that are gifted in this area. Rom. 12:6 tells us about the different gifts. People should

use their gifts, because God put in them the gifts and he gave them the church to practice

them. One purpose of these gifts is to develop others for ministry and another one is that

87
Segler, Church and Ministry, 186.
88
Andrew W. Blackwood, Pastoral Leadership, (New York: Abingdon Press, 1974), 173.
 51

people will become like Christ. To reach maturity in Christ is necessary and by unity in the

faith and knowledge of Jesus it can be proved.89

Christian education should not be taught just in church. At home the children should

get enough education to live their lives according to their education. In a Christian family the

parents should feel responsible before God for the development of their own children’s

character.90 Teaching a child in God’s way, the parents accomplish five important goals in the

child’s life. (1) If the child has a strong foundation in God he will never depart from God; (2)

That child more likely will be saved without having to wrestle with him about the gospel; (3)

there is no other joy for the parents, speaking in the spiritual sense, than seeing their child get

baptized; (4) the child will serve God in one way or another; (5) in the time when he will be a

parent he will teach also his children to be in God’s way. Thanks to the parents the life of

their child is saved and through his life only God knows how many others will be saved. It

can be done so much with the life of one person if the foundation of his life is God.

In my opinion a pastor should worry if the children of one family does not walk in the

ways of the Lord and should try to help when the family agrees that the pastor should be

involved. The pastor can encourage good teaching and healthy teaching at home but the

decision of the parents to teach it or not. I do not believe that all the families from the church

know how to teach their children to walk in faith, could be a recent converted family with

small children and maybe they have no idea how and what to teach their children. It will be

nice if the pastor has a program especially in that area to teach young families or recent

converted families with children, how to teach their children to walk with the Lord.

Church Administration

The church is an organization and is a powerful, living thing. However, it can only be

effective when the people therein are active. Any human organization needs leadership. We

89
Trask, Goodall and Zenas, The Pentecostal Pastor, 431.
90
Segler, Church and Ministry, 187.
 52

have spiritual aspects, but we have to express those spiritual aspects and clarify them. Any

method we use has to comply with our spiritual purpose. Church administration should be

spiritual. In the church, there should not be dualism, secular and spiritual. If we have a

spiritual administration, then everything we do should be spiritual. Everything in the church

should be about people. They have a great value and every service should be how we help and

reach people. We have to think about what we do to disciple people and reach people. Church

administration is the necessary activities of the church leader as he leads the church towards

fulfilling the total ministry of the church. Jesus was our example for church administration.

He is the one who chose 12 men and told them to do the Word, and then goes on with 70. He

told them what their job was. He gave them detailed information. The early church in Acts is

the same (Acts 15).91

It can be divided in three areas: the first one is general administration which includes

the deacons, staff, general committees, church council, general business meetings; the second

one is education administration which includes Sunday school, training union, men’s

brotherhood, woman’s meetings, music development; and the third one is business

administration which includes office procedures, budgeting, records, bookkeeping, etc. Some

aspects of these areas may meet and overlap, but the general area remains.92

Counseling

One thing that is missing today in the churches is counselors. There are many churches

that have need of a counselor and no one is available. One of the jobs of a pastor is to be a

counselor. Even if the pastor likes it or not, at one time he has to do counseling. It can be

involved in different types of counseling, e.g. premarital counseling, marital counseling,

family counseling, one person counseling, adults, children, and youth counseling, etc.

91
Rodney Friend, “Church Administration,” European Theological Seminary, Class Notes,
Freudenstadt-Kniebis, Germany, 29. February 2008.
92
Segler, Church and Ministry, 208.
 53

The Holy Spirit is the main Person in counseling. The work of the Holy Spirit is

holiness; He is the source of all holiness. God requires men to be holy and to seek holiness. If

men are required to be holy and only the Holy Spirit can give holiness, then the Holy Spirit

must be the most important Person in the counseling context.93

God called the pastor to be able to minister to men and women that suffer the pains

and miseries that stem from personal sins. The functions that correspond to the minister are

counseling and preaching. By saying this means that the pastor is called to do these works as

functions or office in the church.94

There are three qualification of a counselor which we find in the Bible, (1) Scriptural

knowledge of the will of God (Rom. 15:14; Col. 3:16), (2) Divine wisdom in one’s

relationship to others (Col. 3:16), (3) Good will and concern for others members of the body

of Christ (Rom. 15:14). Besides these three there are two more that can be added, the minister

must be a man of faith and hope. “As a man of faith, he will believe the promises of God. In

the scriptures God promises to change those who repent of their sin and walk according to his

commandments. As a man of faith he becomes also a man of hope. Without hope, he cannot

communicate the hope and encouragement that many counselees need. He must be convinced

that the Bible is true and be ready and able to direct others to its promises with assurance and

conviction. This means that his orientations will be toward God’s solutions, not merely

toward man’s problems.”95

93
Jay E. Adams, The Christian Counselor’s Manual, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1973), 6.
94
Adams, The Christian Counselor’s Manual, 11-12.
95
Adams, The Christian Counselor’s Manual, 14-15.
 54

CHAPTER VII

CONCLUSION

This paper was a great investment of time for me and I believe and hope that will help

people for the future, people which will like to be in ministry. During this paper I believe that

I accented the most important things that help a person to start his or her ministry. There are

things to which people should give more consideration than the others and to make a balance

between the life things so that they will be possible to carry all of them; other things that a

church leader should know and do in order to lead a church. A church leader should know that

he has to lead the church and he does not have to be lead by the church. E.g. if a new pastor

comes into a small church and that church was led by a family, then that family should not

make the pastor do what they want rather than accept the authority of the new pastor and obey

him.

I will like to conclude with a statement. The people of God should devote their hearts

to their God. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. 1:1; KVJ). The

first verse from the Bible shows us that God was there from the beginning, six thousand years

later postmodern people ask the church one question, “Where is God?” Nobody saw him so

does He exist? Is it really that way?

I do not think so because of some reasons. “The first reason is that the people today do

not want to hear or believe that God created the world because that means that he owns it, he

makes the rules and we are guilty of breaking his rules. And by this God is thrown out of the

society and man makes himself god and answers to nobody.”96 No man wants to have

96
Seminar 1: The Age of The Earth, Kent Hovind – Creation, Evolution and Dinosaurs. DVD, 2007.
 55

somebody to tell him what to do and when to do it, but by doing so man can not know exactly

what to do and when to do it and this brings destruction to the man himself.

This thinking that is surrounding the entire world in the 21st century is getting closer to

the church and is growing more into the church. If the church does not stay close to God and

does not let God lead the church then sooner or later the dangerous postmodern thinking will

take over and the church will be lost. The only thing that the church can do is to stay firm in

the Word of God. The church should keep the first love that a born again Christian has, to

face the challenge of postmodernism.

There are also a few other questions that the Christians can ask to catch the attention

of the unbelievers, and to show that the Bible is true. The first one is, “How can we say what

is wrong or what is good?” Do we agree what is good on what the majority of the people say

or what Osama Bin Laden says? Outside the Bible this questions is impossible to answer. The

second one is “Who am I (and what am I worth?)” You are made in God's image. He loves

you so much that he gave his Son to die for you. The third one is “Where did I come from?”

God made you. The fourth one “Why am I here?” We are here to choose to live for God or

not. The last one is “Where am I going when I die?” If you have chosen to live for God, you'll

go to heaven, if not, you'll go to hell.97

These questions are answered from the Bible. The Bible is the only book that can give

clear answers to every question that humankind has. That is why it is important to be firm in

the Word of God and to know the Word of God so that the Christians can challenge the

unbelievers with the Bible.

The church needs leaders or pastors that have a devoted heart for God and not a leader

that does not know where to go. A good shepherd knows his sheep, knows what is good for

them and knows what is bad for them. He knows what to feed his sheep, he knows when one

97
Seminar 1: Kent Hovind. DVD, 2007.
 56

is sick and surely he notices when one is missing. I will like to ask here a question, “Where

are the same pastors for the church?” In the local church today there are not that many pastors

which can be compared with a shepherd. The pastor should care about his church and take

care of the church. The church is God’s, but the pastors are put by God to lead and direct

God’s church.

This is the reason why not too many people want to be pastors or leaders in a church.

They let others to do the job and their job will be to judge and correct the pastors in every

move they make. This is why also many pastors leave ministry and this creates another need

of pastors. Moses wanted to quit, Elijah wanted to quit, Jonah also, but Jesus showed us that

the ministry is the only work that is worth dying for.

I encourage every pastor, or everyone that will read this work and wants to become a

pastor, to do their work as God wants it to be because it is worth it.

My philosophy is that is worthy to study hard for 5 years to get a master or a doctorate

in something that you like and then you live well because of your work. So you had some

hard times in the life but you know that those hard times will be finished and after that you

will prosper. Let’s apply it also to church. It is worthy to be a pastor for your entire life,

having hard times given by your people, suffering alone, and knowing that the only solution

to your problem is God. The work will finish and after that you will live good and well in

God’s kingdom. The key of the ministry is to set it all in God’s hands and God will take care

of it.
 57

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