What do you expect of your pastor? What’s his or her job?

I ask these questions because I received a telephone call from a friend today who was bragging to me about how wonderful her pastor was. Her point was that the senior and long-time pastor of her church had been supplanted as “her pastor” by one of the staff members who was wonderful. She specifically complimented his ability to remember names, names of people’s children, and his faithfulness to visit hospitalized parishioners who are involved in his area of ministry responsibility.

I know this particular pastor from a distance. He’s does a really good job in his area of responsibility. I’m sure he’s genuine in his care for those in his charge. Her reasons for effusively praising him are what I’m questioning—he remembers names and visits hospitals? There it is. That’s obviously a big part of what she expected. If you know her family member’s names and visit her when you are sick, it appears she’d call you a successful pastor.

This leads me to question you: what do YOU expect of your pastor? If you are like most, I’ll bet your expectations will be similar to hers.

What’s the Bible say?

When writing to the Church gathered at Ephesus in chapter 4 verses 11-12 the Apostle Paul said that God gave some to be pastors “to prepare God’s people for the work of ministry so that the Body of Christ might be made strong.”  In light of that passage, what should you expect from your pastor? Does remembering names and visiting the sick in the hospital make him the perfect fit for the pastor’s role? Or might I suggest that visiting the sick and knowing names is far more the responsibility of you and me who sit in the pews than it is that of the man or woman you call pastor.

What are you going to do with that?

Thinking pastors are wonderful when they officiate at our family weddings, preach our funerals, bury our dead, pray at our functions, and generally act like lap dogs is an American tradition; at least in the America I know. But it’s not Biblical Christianity.

What kind of Christian are you? A Bible Christian, or a Christian-in-name-only because you are an American christian (little “c” intended).

Hey. Simmer down. I’m just asking. If your toe got stepped on maybe you shouldn’t have had it out in the aisle.

The lady who called me today was very well-intentioned. She meant nothing but the best in declaring her pastor’s wonder. I’m just taking her casual conversation about her pastor to point out that those of us who call ourselves Christians often have an expectation on our pastor that is not only unrealistic, but also un-Bibilical.

What do you expect of your pastor? If you are more equipped today to do the work of ministry than you were last month or last year, then he’s doing his job. If he’s preaching great sermons that make you feel wonderful and you are growing fat on gospel milk but you aren’t personally engaged in pushing back the boundaries of darkness, then you’re just fat and of producing little if anything that contributes to the growth of the Kingdom of God.

If you find yourself in the wrong position, turn around.