ENTERING pastoring ministry must be as a result of the divine call from the Lord. Not every Christian can function in this ministry. It is a special call upon His servants. 'And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron (Heb. 5.-4)

The office is not a ministry that somebody can jump into and succeed. It requires much and the price is too high as one of the toughest job in the whole world. It demands high degree of maturity, self-sacrifice, patience, love, perseverance and ability to keep on the face of opposition. A pastor must relate with people who are sometimes too stubborn for their own good. He must show the way to sin­ners, comfort the bereaved restore the backslider and point the way to heaven.

A pastor is always in the spotlight. People always hold him in high standard and criticize every perceived mis­take severely. He must be wise as a ser pent, harmless as a dove, posses the mind of a soldier and love as a true father. Such task is not for the feeble minded. It is for men of godly character and clear calling from the Lord.

Moreover, the people's expectation of the pastor is so high and many times unreasonable. He is expected to be an expert in preaching, praying, counseling, teaching, visitation, burial, community relations, building and cer­emonies. He is expected to spend over 120% of his time preaching, leading and doing the services of the church All these goes to show that Pastors are involved in the toughest job in the whole world.

Pastors are a special breed of people.
They are the ones called to lead the church of God . They are doing tremendous job in the world: Think for a moment about where the world would have been without pastors. The church cannot move forward without pastors. Pastors are very cru­cial to the life and health of the church. The nation and her people will always find themselves in trouble without divinely called pastors.

The average pastor is a burdened
The society has placed great expectations on an average pastor's shoulder. He is placed on a high pedestal and standard. Good character is expected from him always. Too much is expected from the pastor that he practically has no way of measuring up and any little slip is met with severe criticism from the society, family and church.

Churches and Christians have placed the pastor in a role God did not assign for him. To truly support and work with a pastor, we might have to disabuse our minds of some misconceptions.

Pastor is not perfect.
He is subject to mistakes and foibles. Those who view the pastor as being perfect would be disappointed when mistakes and sins are committed Pastors are also ordinary Christians. The only dif­ference is that they have the special call­ing and anointing of God upon their lives.

The pastor is not super-human being:
Pastors have water and blood flowing in their veins. They eat, sleep and get tired, sick and infirm like every other person. They also experience times of drought, spiritual dryness and are severely tempted to sin and do evil even face more peculiar and repeated temptations than ordinary Christians will face.

The pastor is not wiser than all.
The pastor as a human being is nor always wiser that everyone in the church. Sometimes they are as con­fused and bewildered as every other Christians. What usually comes to their rescue is their anointing and close walk with the Lord. They don't possess answer to every question or possess all knowledge.

The pastor is not more spiritually matured than everyone By virtue of their calling, pastors can be in charge of churches where the members are more spiritually matured, wiser, richer and of higher social standard than them, yet he is the pastor, irrespective of his age and class, and he must be followed and supported.

The pastor is not is not God substitute
To see the pastor as God's substitute is to take his comments as law, without crosschecking the scriptures whether they are biblical or not. Unfortunately this has led many good and sincere Christians to gross error and apostasy.

Adapted from the book “How to support and strengthen your pastors”

What is your comment on this story?