A Call to Pastors

One of the most interesting reads of my summer was a collection of articles about the true calling of pastors of the gospel.  The series of articles is called Still Not Professionals: A Plea for Today’s Pastors (Desiring God, desiringGod.org).

Here’s the series in pdf format.

Paul told the Thessalonian Church,

Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.

⁹ For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. ¹⁰ You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; ¹¹ just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, ¹² so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.                                   I Thessalonians 2:8-12

Paul reveals his heart.  Pastoring God’s people is about life spent with them.  It is about care that costs you.  It is personal.  It is hard at times.  Yet it is believing that God is doing a work that is truly supernatural.

John Piper and friends capture this in their short articles.  They capture the intimate nature of our work.

At the same time, they rebuke the antiseptic style of our age in which pastors often times run away from the sheep.  They place up barriers and moats around their castles with the hope that they will never have to really engage life-on-life.  This is far from Biblical pastoring.  Paul even declares their missionary band (Paul, Silas, and Timothy) were like tender mothers and encouraging fathers.  This is never done at arms-length.

Enjoy this good set of writings – especially if you are a pastor, elder, or Christian worker.  Be challenged with your calling.