The Gift of Time
I have a big extended family. Both sets of grandparents had six kids, plus some adopted kids, and just about all of those kids had three or more kids, and so on. Family reunions were massive affairs. We are a family spread all over the globe (many are missionaries), and we are a family that likes to get together as frequently as possible. So Christmas became a problem pretty early on. We tried gift swaps as a solution. Then someone came up with a novel idea—in lieu of gifts, we would do a combination Thanksgiving and Christmas get-together, and give one another something much more precious. We called this get-together “The Gift of Time.”
I want to give you, pastor, a very precious gift—time. It’s not something we pastors often feel we have much of. Pastoring is one of the most stressful jobs out there. We’re pulled in as many different directions as we have people. Some days it’s just one thing after another all day long, never even a moment to collect ourselves. But even that doesn’t discourage me as much as the feeling I get at the end of those long days that it’s not nearly enough—that there is still a long list of sheep out there needing me.
“I don’t think we have a healthy picture of what it means to be a pastor. We’ve made the pastorate heavy on sheep-care and light on leading.”
I don’t think we have a healthy picture of what it means to be a pastor. We’ve made the pastorate heavy on sheep-care and light on leading. I’m not sure exactly when this started. For me, I think of Richard Baxter, making his rounds to each of his parishioner’s houses each year, working one-on-one. As he says in his The Reformed Pastor, “When we are commanded to take heed to all the flock, it is plainly implied, that flocks must ordinarily be no greater than we are capable of overseeing … To this end it is necessary, that we should know every person that belongeth to our charge. … We must labor to be acquainted … with the state of all our people, with their inclinations and conversations; what are the sins of which they are most in danger, and what duties they are most apt to neglect, and what temptations they are most liable to; for if we know not their temperament or disease, we are not likely to prove successful physicians.” I’ve no doubt that this was the proper poultice from the good Reverend Baxter at the time—but these are different times, and I don’t think it’s the right fit for how Christ has called us to pastor His church now, in contemporary postmodern & post-Christian New England.
“For starters, I don’t think “pastor-as-shepherd” is very biblical. Hold up! What I mean by “pastor-as-shepherd” is the pastor personally taking care of the needs of each individual church member.”
For starters, I don’t think “pastor-as-shepherd” is very biblical. Hold up! What I mean by “pastor-as-shepherd” is the pastor personally taking care of the needs of each individual church member. Hospital visits, home visits, calls, notes, being present at major family events, individual counseling and discipling, assuaging generous givers, etc. Look to Scripture. The pastor, or overseer, who is also one of the church elders, is to teach, preach, correct, guide, and lead. In fact, when the church leaders were faced with individual care, they delegated it to others (Acts 6). Second, it surreptitiously stokes the need to be needed in the pastor, (thereby misplacing his identity), makes the very life of the church pastor-centric, and teaches your people (or, more accurately, robs them) that they don’t need to do Body care because the pastor will. But the worst thing it does, aside from demoting your own family time, is it ensures that you will never have the requisite time it takes to properly lead your church. (Acts 15 is an epic example of “pastor as leader.”) Plus, we don’t need Baxter to chide us that it will, definitionally, put a cap on your church growth.
Are you ready to have more margin in your pastoral week? Then take a page from Scripture and wean yourself, and your people, off the need for pastoral involvement. Step into your proper shepherd role as leader, and not coddler. You’ll suddenly find yourself with time to think, to gain perspective, and to navigate your flock through the mission to which Christ has called us.
Shawn Keener is the pastor of Brookville Bible Church in Holbrook, MA, a member of the www.revitalizingchurches.com consulting team, and the author of Nimble Church.
