The Managerial, Messianic, And Spiritual Director Roles

When people sign up for the ministry; or better stated, when people are called into the ministry, they often assume that most of their time will be spent studying the bible, conversing with lost souls about the good news of Jesus and seeking God in prayer. However, successful ministers and ministries are the result of effectively executed administrative duties. According to Robert Welch and his book Church Administration, a study of pastors revealed, “about 57 percent of their ministry was tied up in strictly nonpastoral administrative duties.”1 What is more, many ministers admitted, “counseling, visitation, family time, prayer and personal devotions suffer in too many cases.”2 Is this simply a case of misguided expectations, poor leadership

Countries disintegrate, place of worship and corporation fail, people become dysfunctional, descendants lose their direction, and mankind drift from God on behalf of one distracting reason; insufficiency of leadership. These disappointments are often for the reason that of the deficiency of instruction, appropriate leadership, and misperception on what Christian leadership subsists and exactly how that leadership is pertinent to every component of professional and personal life. From a Christian worldview perspective, Psalm 112:5 explains, “A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion” (NKJ). A Christian manager should always keep in mind that bounteousness and admiration for God, demonstrates that one has placed trust in Him, and not our material possessions.

The book was very well put together with principal concepts, but it was not always easy to follow and some sections had to be read twice for clear comprehension. The message could have been portrayed using straightforward writing that would enable undergraduates and others that are not seeking higher levels of education to process the information. In simpler terms, this book can be essential to pastors, for personal relationships, and other professions if the language is simplified and made more user-friendly.

My faith tradition informs my theology of pastoral care as that a pastor has an authority in the pastoral care relationship. The pastor’s image in my faith tradition is an advisor, director, and guide. In my faith tradition, the lay people like to have the pastoral care, when they make important decisions. Since my culture is the hierarchal and patriarch system, the lay people believes that pastors are better to know about God’s will. Therefore, the lay people are too much depending on the pastor’s advices, and taking pastor’s perspective, rather than choosing what they want. There is no space to listen their inner voice in the pastoral care in my faith tradition. My theology of pastoral care in my faith tradition was that what Jesus did is what we should do. Because of my traditional ideal of pastoral care, I thought pastors have to know everything and be better than others until becoming like Jesus. However, I realized that the theology can be dangerous to look down the lay people and non-Christians, and is not helpful for the pastors and the lay people as well. I think it is important to remember in my tradition that the head of the church is the only one, Jesus, and we are all the body of Christ. There is the better part in the body of Christ. We are all the same and we need each other.

In Frank Damazio's book "Lay Pastor" on page (38) he says, "The faithful team member understands promotion comes from the Lord and Lord promotes based on His principles. The principles of faithfulness and integrity are basic to leadership." Being faithful to the vision of the church is what helps evenly flow of the congregation to reach the acquired goal. Also, the pastor must be faithful to his or her congregation, this shows the leadership in the mist of the people he or she is leading. Faithfulness, in stewarding what God called the pastor to do. Back in 2005 there was a pastor in Patterson that was having a successful church. He believed the Lord wanted him to move to New Orleans to expand the church. Off he left for a couple of months. Then a devastating hurricane hit New Orleans. The pastor came back and said, "God said I can come back to Patterson now." However, he could not start up another church and never had a church again. This is an example of not being faithful to the call. He did not have this conviction implanted in his

In this project, I will describe a scenario in which I am developing within my own ministry to engage people in helping them think theologically. The Church today is suffering greatly because many people are not engaged in Scripture, practicing spiritual disciplines, or thinking theologically. I hope to create a pattern to correct that and give them the ability to not just learn a little each week from a sermon, but take everything that comes at them and learn from it, while giving them the ability to teach others as well.

These systems historically have been fragmented and inadequate—causing program ineffectiveness and personal stress among pastors. The degree to which the African American pastors are effective is crucial to the health of the church. Pastors with strong support systems based upon sound theology, spiritual disciplines, management training, insurance systems, and outplacement services, have a better chance of producing strong effective ministries, as compared to unhealthy leaders producing unhealthy, ineffective leadership. Not only can ineffective leadership cause by certain types of stress and stressors produce poor ministries, but it can also produce unhealthy people living unhealthy doctrines. These issues have a spiritual effect on the pastors. These choices may lead to stress and, ultimately,

The extensive Gallup Poll conducted for Christianity Today in 1979 indicated that a large majority of American pastors (56 percent) felt that preaching was one of the most important things they did. Preachers invest much of their lives in thinking about sermons. However, if they preached regularly, they would be too aware that their praying, Bible reading, planning, studying, outlining, writing, practicing, and delivery involves a major time expenditure. Proper time and preparation are very important factors (Hamilton).

A sentiment common to almost any organization is that the one fact that remains constant is change. As society changes, and human understanding grows, any organization that maintains a static posture, assures its demise. Churches and Christian organizations are no exception. The gospel may remain the same, but the method for communicating it must speak to the audience to assure understanding. The Christian leader must be prepared to meet this challenge by incorporating an effective model for change into his theology of leadership in order to keep the ministry relevant and effective. Searching for such a change agent can prove to be challenging as well. To aid in this search, four

The Pastor has to make themselves available whenever possible, and as much as possible to assist them in their needs. Be a listening ear, a voice of understanding, be available to answer questions, and be a representation of God’s love and grace.

Christ is the leader of the Church, Paul in Ephesians 1:22 said “God placed everything under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the Church” however, God entrusted the authority to lead to his servant whom he set them aside to lead the community. Pastor as a public Leadership is to lead community. A person who is called by God to lead public has a responsibility to be in the community, with the community and for the community. One of best questions raised in the class during public leadership discussion was “How we can be a community pastor rather than just a church pastor?” This really a kind of question we are to consider as pastor especially as rural congregation pastor. In most cases when pastor are called to

It may seem as if a pastor is wasting their time helping others with their problems. It may also seem as if they are involved in too much busy work. However, everyone who attends the church has a function to help make it either run smoothly otherwise everyone will feel the effects of its decline. Pastors must be attuned to the nature and atmosphere of the church. They are the ones who keep the faithful seeking more and the new Christians thirsting for more knowledge. All of this is done through God. The times may change but one thing remains the same,

The Protestant Reformation indicated that a human can “connect to God and can do so without the aid of a priest.” The ecclesiology behind this is basically what aids me in my ministry. Peterson, in his book Essential Church, explains “the primary affirmation is not that each person is his or her own priest but that each Christian can be a priest, advocate, intercessor, and evangelist to others.” William Willimon, Pastor: the Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry, highlights a variety of ways in which a pastor functions. In this paper, I am going to explain the ways in which my current ministry setting connects with the concept of priest as pastor in relation to worship and the connect and context of pastoral care while teaching others that they are able to accomplish the same task.

In brief order, the role of a pastor or leader is to be a servant leader. The Bible provides pastors and leaders in a Christian church with the best model of a servant leader in Jesus Christ. According to Thorsten Grahn (2011), “Jesus submitted his own life to sacrificial service under the will of (Luke 22:42), and he sacrificed his life freely out of service for others (John 10:30). He came to serve (Matthew 20:28) although he was God’s son and was thus more powerful than any other leader in the world. He healed the sick (Mark 7:31-37), drove out demons (Mark 5:1-20), was recognized as Teacher and Lord (John 13:13), and had power over the wind and the sea and even over death (Mark 4:35-41; Matthew 9:18-26. In John 13:1-17 Jesus gives … responsibility of the house-servant” (Grahn, 2011, p. 2).

The main task of the Church and of the Christian minister is the true preaching of the Word of God. Additionally, Paul in Colossians 1:25 makes the point the central purpose of ministry is the preaching of the Word. Preaching the Word of God also includes protecting the sheep from false doctrines.