How the Pastor's Task Has Expanded

SHEPHERD

The term "pastor" comes from the Latin word for "shepherd," which is used in both the Old and New Testaments as the image of one who protects and cares for God's people. The primary shepherd/pastor is the Lord himself (Psalm 23), but the Bible also recognizes human undershepherds.

But the New Testament instructs elders to be good shepherds. "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock," writes Paul. "Savage wolves will come in among you. … So be on your guard!" (Acts 20:28-31).

In the Bible, then, pastoring is presented primarily as protecting and feeding the flock of God. But over the centuries, these essential functions developed into specific and distinct roles.

PREACHER

The Reformation recovered the emphasis on the pastor as the "teacher of God's Word." Preaching had been neglected. But the Reformers restored preaching to its place. Breaking the Bread of Life means, in part, preaching the Word.

CURER OF SOULS

In the 1600s, the Puritans enhanced the concept of pastor by stressing the pastor as a "physician of the soul" — a spiritual director. This means knowing a person's spiritual condition — healthy or unhealthy — primarily by asking questions such as: How is it with your soul? Are you resisting evil? How are you serving God?

And if the physician of souls discovers the fundamental ill, he prescribes some remedy to restore spiritual health and vitality. As theologian (and contemporary Puritan) J.I. Packer describes it: "There is such a thing as spiritual depression. Relationships or a marriage can collapse under you. Children disappoint you. The business can go bankrupt. You may be grieving. And all these traumatic events produce in the Christian states of mind and emotion that call for spiritual counsel, because we've got to live to the glory of God, and all our moods have to be brought into relation to God, his love, his work, and the ongoing process of sanctification.

"The sanctifying of troubles is a prominent New Testament theme. Troubles are to be expected, but God sanctifies them all. The pastor, in the Puritan understanding, is there to be God's agent, God's lightning rod, if you like, actually achieving the transforming link between the distress of the Christian and the love and power of God."

ARRANGER OF RELATIONSHIPS

One of the distinguishing characteristics of the Methodist awakening in the 1700s was organizing people into groups in order to "maintain the glow" that the Lord had ignited in the hearts of so many. Thus, every Methodist conference (or regional group) would be subdivided into classes, every member expected to participate in a class — 12 persons with a leader. And the classes, like home groups today, would meet once a week between Sundays. Under the class leader, these small groups would pray together, discuss Scripture, share their experience with each other, and try to encourage each other.

So in Methodist circles pastors became leaders of Christian community, the overseers of small groups for the purpose of nurturing believers.

MANAGER AND MISSIONARY

With individualism and isolation increasing, the need for community is stronger than ever. Pastors have assumed more of a role in maintaining corporate life, or put more crassly, "running a church" — recruiting, motivating, administering.

Put positively, the pastor now finds himself extending the role of "organizer of nurturing relationships," tending to the health of the community. The downside is that the pastor feels more a manager of church business than a shepherd of souls.

And surrounded by a decreasingly Christian society, pastors have become missionaries to their own neighborhoods. Whether in a "seeker sensitive" church or not, every pastor is now aware of the need for outreach and evangelism.

And the task of protecting and feeding the flock widens.

—Marshall Shelley is editor of Leadership. To reply to Marshall, write Newsletter@LeadershipJournal.net.