Practical Servanthood, A Handbook for the First-time Pastor; excerpt

Table of Contents

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Page	Chapter Title
1	What It Takes
2	Now What?
4	Time Management
7	You and Your Family
10	Your Community
12	Quiet People
13	One-on-One Situations
14	Planning Group Activities
16	Morning Worship and Other Services
20	The Musical Menu
23	Publicity Methods
26	A Well-rounded Approach to Preaching
28	The Pastor as Business Manager
30	The Pastor as Counselor
32	The Pastor as Trainer
37	Your Resources
38	Who We Are and Where We're Coming From
41	Caution! PK in Residence--Handle with TLC

Scriptures taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV).
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society.
Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Pastor Howard & Marge Marshall
1044 S. 74th Street, Kansas City, KS 66111
E-mail address: margemarshall@yahoo.com
Home Page -- www.spaciousskies.me/home/

What It Takes

You'll smile at this one:

A pastor needs:

     the wisdom of an owl,
          the tenacity of a bulldog,
     the daring of a lion,
          the patience of a donkey,
     the versatility of a chameleon,
          the vision of an eagle,
     the melody of the nightingale,
          the meekness of a lamb,
     the tact of a politician,
          the hide of a rhinoceros,
     the disposition of an angel,
           the resignation of an incurable,
     the faithfulness of a prophet,
          the tenderness of a shepherd,
     the fervency of an evangelist,
          the devotion of a mother,
     the sacrifice of a martyr,
          and the loyalty of an apostle.

But pastors are not born. They are made out of the ordinary run of individuals. The basic qualification is not intellectualism, but a yielded spirit, a devotion to the will of God, and a deep sense of call.
--adapted; author unknown

Only Jesus meets all of these requirements. We humans don't, so we shouldn't even try. But we can and should expect that as we grow closer to Him, we will show the fruits of His Spirit as described in Galatians 5:22-23. ...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And that is what will make you a successful pastor.

Now What?

God called you to the ministry and you've become the pastor of your first church. You've prepared for preaching, teaching, and leading in worship, but now you discover there's more to it than that. The church furniture needs dusting, the restrooms are dirty, the Junior teacher hands you a note that she's quitting, the little woman who sits at front row center shakes your hand after service and complains that no one ever sings the songs she knows, the furnace breaks down...and you think, Why didn't someone warn me about all these details! How am I going to handle all this?

Well, we can't help you repair the furnace, but maybe we can give you some ideas about handling some of the other details of pastoring. As you read this Handbook, I suggest that you get a loose-leaf notebook, a package of paper and some pencils with erasers -- you'll be needing them -- and a pencil sharpener. If you have a computer, use it; with a three-hole punch, you'll be able to put your pages into the notebook. Think of yourself as being back in school -- the school of practical servanthood. You've heard the expression, "Experience is the best teacher," and that's quite true. But with some thoughtful planning, your can make your hands-on experiences more effective.

Make a list of the areas you will be planning for, and make notes as you go through this Handbook, especially when the Lord gives you an "Aha!" -- an idea that works for you. The beauty of a loose-leaf notebook and pencil is that you can pull out a page and throw it away when you find better ways and newer ideas as you go along. And you will. That's the practical part of your servanthood. You will grow and develop under the teaching of the Holy Spirit.

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:26

The world's model of a leader is that he or she either makes the law or is above the law. That's not the way Jesus taught it. His way is different. He said, If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all. Mark 9:35. This doesn't mean you are to be the janitor, song leader, repairer and groundskeeper (although you may need to do all these and more). It means your view of your leadership is that you're a helper, a tutor, a coach for your congregation. You don't tell them what to do; you help them find out what God wants them to do. You ask them to help, but you don't use the power of guilt to push them into doing things.

What you do speaks louder than what you say in just about every aspect of life, so do what you teach. There will be many a time when you'll be tempted to think or perhaps even say, "I'm the pastor here, and what I say, goes." Don't fall into that trap. Your Pastor, the Lord Jesus, is in charge here; your part is to seek His plan and find out what part He wants you to play in it. So first on your list is your relationship with God. Sermon preparation comes after that.

Model servanthood before your congregation, because they are going to pay a lot more attention to what you do than to what you say. (That is true in most instances, it seems. We never stop "witnessing," because it goes on all the time, regardless of our intentions.)

You might want to make a note to tape on your pulpit, to remind you that it's not your church. Howard once used, "Sirs, we would see Jesus! Or how about, "This is HIS church. Not mine." That's straight to the point.