Every pastor has gotten the question. Sometimes it's direct: "So what exactly does a pastor do?" Other times it’s more subtle or indirect: "Would you be willing to … (fill in the blank: sign this petition, do our wedding, give me a reference, get paper towels for the ladies room, or …)?"
A couple weeks ago, I heard a beautifully succinct summation of pastoring. I was worshiping with a congregation made up mostly of twenty-somethings who had not been raised in church. As the service began, the pastor introduced himself and his calling.
"My name is Tom," he said. "I'm a pastor here. It's my job to pray for you, whether you're a Christian or not, and to talk with you about Jesus, whether you're a Christian or not. That's what I do."
It's just that simple, and it's just that complicated. Because talking about Jesus leads us into all aspects of life. And when we pray for people, the deeper, unresolved parts of their lives inevitably surface. It has always been this way.
In a sermon around A.D. 400, famous North African bishop Augustine described a pastor's job: "Disturbers are to be rebuked, the low spirited to be encouraged, the infirm to be supported, objectors confuted, the treacherous guarded against, the unskilled taught, the lazy aroused, the contentious restrained, the haughty repressed, litigants pacified, the poor relieved, the oppressed liberated, the good approved, the evil borne with, and all are to be loved."
How's that for a job description!
In fact, a vice president of human resources for Motorola once told me, "Pastors have more transferable skills than they realize." Especially supervising volunteers. "If you can describe your experience working with volunteers, you'd be surprised how quickly that gets the attention of [hiring] managers."
So, the next time someone asks you what you do, just give them the ABC's of the pastor's task. A pastor is …
Ambassador, advocate, administrator Baptizer, bridge-builder. Confidante, confronter, community builder Discussion leader Encourager, emotional baggage handler Funeral presider Grace giver Historian Interpreter, innovator Justice seeker Knowledge dispenser Latent gifts discoverer Mediator, missionary Nurturer Organizer, opportunity spotter Public speaker, problem solver Questioner, quarterback Robert's Ruler of Order Spokesperson, spiritual director Teacher, trainer Unifier, utility player Volunteer coordinator, vision caster Wedding officiant X-traordinary ingenuity with limited resources (like figuring out a way to use the letter X) Youth advocate, Yule celebrator Zeal stoker, zoo keeper (okay, so it just seems that way).
That’s the simplicity and complexity of ministering in the name of Jesus. We simply and faithfully represent the Eternal One in a world constantly morphing through time and trends.
Marshall Shelley is director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Denver Seminary and contributing editor of CTpastors.com.
