Most pastors have a healthy sense of self-worth. Otherwise, they would have chosen some other profession that would not require so much contact with people. It takes a person who has a certain level of confidence in order to deal with the kinds of issues that most pastors face virtually every day.
In the course of my own ministry, far too often I’ve observed an unintended consequence of the self-esteem that enables most pastors to fulfill God’s calling on their lives. It takes the form of a tendency to want to, or need to, do everything without any help from others.
I see this when I attend worship services in various churches. The service begins with the pastor greeting the congregation. He or she then leads in the Call to Worship. The pastor will then often lead the singing, pray the prayers, read the Scripture, preach the sermon, and pronounce the Benediction. As I leave the church, I am keenly aware that what I’ve witnessed over the course of the last hour or so is clearly a “one-man or one-woman show.”
Obviously, in the vast majority of cases, the pastor has received the most theological training. He or she may also very well be the best public speaker in the church. The pastor does have the clearest sense of what he or she wishes to accomplish in a given worship service. But, really, isn’t there room for a little help from some dedicated members of the congregation?
I invite you to click the link on this page that will take you to my Sermon-Coach.com website, where you can choose to listen to Podcast No. 194. In this Podcast, I offer a number of suggestions how a pastor can involve the members of his or her congregation in the worship service.
Not only does such involvement free the pastor to concentrate on the parts of the service for which he or she is most qualified, it also builds a greater sense of community within the church. Certainly part of developing ever-greater spiritual formation among your congregants is helping them use the gifts God has given them for His glory.
As a pastor, you do not need to always stand in the spotlight. In fact, you should always prefer to concentrate on keeping the Lord Jesus Christ in the center-stage position. By inviting members of your congregation to partner with you—and by training them carefully to do so—you actually provide a level of pastoral care that brings honor to our Lord and King.
Once again, I want to take this opportunity to introduce you to my new book, The Sermon Sucking Black Hole—Why You Can’t Remember on Monday What Your Minister Preached on Sunday. You may pre-order this book at Amazon.com by clicking here.
This book gives information about how to make your sermons memorable. And, after all, as ministers we do want the people we serve to remember what we say when we share what God has laid on our hearts. Don’t we?
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Please click here to visit David Mains’ Sermon-Coach.com website.
You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Please click here.
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