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What is a Pastor?

Everyone has their own view of what pastors are and what pastors do.  Typically, our view comes from either our personal interactions with someone in ministry, the traditions we’ve grown up with through our church life, or maybe our views are just an amalgamation of cultural stereotypes we’ve heard and seen from whatever media we take in on a regular basis.

Every church has views on what a pastor is as well.  Those views too, may stem from the same things mentioned above or they may come from that church’s particular historical and ministry context. Most likely that church’s understanding of a pastor isn’t a monolithic one.  Rather, different age groups, genders, and individuals will understand the person and role a pastor differently ultimately placing differing expectations on him or her. 

Part of a pastor's job then, is to understand and manage those expectations so that he or she can be what God in Christ has called them to be rather than to feel forced to be something else. You see those views and expectations of others may not be aligned with a pastor’s own understanding of their role or task. Much tension and many problems a church deals with can be traced to a pastor’s view of their role and task differing from that their church. 

This next few posts will be my own understanding of the role and task of a pastor. It serves then as a philosophy of ministry statement. It’s purpose is to reveal my own biblical and personal understanding of the role and some of the tasks of the pastor based on my 20+ years of pastoral ministry, my years of biblical study, and my personal journey with Jesus.



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