You’re a pastor ministering in a local church. You have many challenges. Fitting into the place where God has called you occupies a significant portion of your subconscious. “How does a pastor go about finding a role that works?” In this blog post I will continue to address this important question. In fact, by sharing with you some of my own experiences as I began my ministry within the church as an assistant pastor, I am building a foundation for future positive suggestions.
I’ve been sharing with you some of the details concerning the second church where I served. Let me continue that narrative.
By the time I was finally asked to preach on a Sunday morning, I had begun to doubt if I would ever be able to accomplish anything meaningful within the form of the traditional church. Early that morning, I asked God for a sign of His continued presence and of confirmation regarding the direction I had taken in my life.
The remnant staff and I had decided to rearrange the service. We placed the announcements—which are always an anachronism to any worship—before the Call to Worship. We did this so the announcements would not interfere with the flow of the service once it began.
At the end of what I felt to be a satisfactory morning, I extended the traditional invitation, but made it of a precise nature. Imagine my surprise when, in a brief time, thirty to forty people walked to the front. My preaching ministry had never been keynoted by exceptional altar response. Obviously, God was bending near to me that morning. And, His faithfulness made me buoyant.
After the service, I was made aware of a special elder’s meeting that had been hurriedly called. Naively expecting commendation, I was told in no uncertain terms that I was never again to fiddle with the order of service without their approval! There was no recognition of any spiritual deepening—thirty to forty people who had been touched by God’s Spirit—only an awareness of a young staff member who was presumptuously trying to ruffle tradition.
I will continue this narrative in a future blog post. In case you’ve just joined those reading this blog, let me explain that I’m sharing this story of my background as I began my ministry in order to construct a foundation onto which I can place some suggestions to help answer the question: “How does a pastor go about finding a role that works?” I invite you to come back to this blog and read more.
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