Another good question from WordPress today. Am I a leader or a follower?
In general terms I would say I am mostly a follower. In most of my jobs I have enjoyed being second in charge and supporting my leader or manager.
My heart or the way I am wired is to serve. So I feel most satisfied when I have a leader to serve, support and encourage. I try and lighten their load and help them to be successful.
In my current role as School Chaplain I see my role to provide pastoral care to the school community and to support and encourage the school Principal. If I am taking care of pastoral care the Principal can focus on other things.
Yes there are times when I have been the leader, but in general terms I am wired to follow. When I do serve, I feel most satisfied.
As I was doing my morning devotions today I was thinking about the phrase “Inviting Jesus in”. As I dwelt on this I realised how important it is to invite Jesus in to the various areas of our lives.
1. Our life – this is the first and most important area. We need to invite Jesus in to our lives. He needs to be let in as our Lord and Saviour. This is when true life happens and He lives with us.
2. Our relationships – relationships can be hard at times with all the stresses of life. We need to invite Jesus in to them all. Our marriage, with our children, our friends, our workmates – He needs to be in them all.
3. Our work – inviting Jesus into our workplace to help us do well and serve Him. Whatever job role we have we ultimately do it for the Lord. Colossians 3:23 tells us who we really serve as we work. We are all gifted by God and we need His help to serve.
4. Our finances – many of us struggle with our finances. Inviting Jesus in to this area helps us to understand that He loves and cares for us and He is our provider. One of the names God is known by is Jehovah-Jireh which means “The Lord will provide”.
5. Our health – a lot of people I talk to have health issues that they battle with, myself included. Our battles can be very debilitating. Inviting Jesus into our health issues allows Him to provide comfort, strength and healing. Another name God is known as is Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord who heals.
6. Our future – there are times in our lives where we can really worry about the future and what will happen to our families or ourselves. One thing God has been reminding me of lately is He holds our future. We may not know the future, but we can be confident God holds our future. Each of us are in the palm of His mighty hands.
Today I would encourage you to invite Jesus in to the different areas of your life. If you have never done this before, you can prayer this prayer below.
Prayer
Dear Lord Jesus, I invite you to come into my life. I want You to be my Lord and Saviour. Please come in and cleanse me from my sin. Help me to follow You with all of my heart. Lord, I also invite you into all of my relationships, my work, my finances and my health. Come in and help me in all these areas. Bring healing, provision and peace to them all. I ask in Jesus’ name, Amen
Can you share a positive example of where you’ve felt loved?
I have to say in answering this question that I am a very blessed man. I feel loved by my wife every day and when I see my adult children they always give me a big hug and tell me they love me.
But one instance when I felt really loved recently was on the last day of school in 2023. I was walking around school doing my usual work as a Chaplain, when I large group of students came and gave me cards. I got lots of high fives and fist bumps from them all too.
On the cards were really nice messages of how they loved and appreciated my work as their Chaplain. They said things like thanks for always being there to listen and encourage us. One card from the oldest students was signed by all of them with personal messages.
I really love my job as a school Chaplain and times like that make me feel loved and appreciated too.
What should a Pastor do? We all have our ideas of what the Pastor should do, but I think it is important to start from what the Bible says. When I got my first job as a Pastor I decided to look at the Pastor’s role according to the Bible.
The term Pastor only appears once in the New Testament. This might surprise some, as it did me when I looked it up first time. So what is the context of the one time it is mentioned?
Ephesians 4:11-12 says, “11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.”
This is the only reference to the Pastor. The role mentioned above is an equipping role. Equipping the people of God to do the work of God in the church and the world. I asked someone at the denomination that I am apart of and they said the same thing. The Pastor is there is equip the church to do the work of ministry, not do the work of ministry on behalf of the church.
So the Pastor’s role is a teaching and equipping role. This happens through sermons, Bible studies, and encouraging the church in their faith.
The interesting thing that I also found is the Greek word used for Pastor is Poimen. This is translated as Pastor in the above passage, where in other places it is translated as shepherd. This is where the Pastor as a shepherd image comes in.
In 1 Peter 5:2-3 it says, ” 2 Be shepherds [Poimen] of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. ”
The second role of a Pastor is to shepherd God’s flock. To watch over them, look out for them, counsel them, provide an environment where they can grow in their faith in Christ, living out a godly life as an example and to lead them with the other Elders to the place where God wants them to be.
Pastors do so many things but the two main roles they will be accountable to God for is equipping the church members to do the works of service and shepherding the flock entrusted to their care.
Another interesting thing about the of the role of a Pastor comes for the Greek word for flock – Poimnion – this means a group of believers. The Pastor (Poimen) looks after the flock (Poimnion). The key focus of the Pastor should first and foremost on the group of believers they are overseeing.
It is a really interesting exercise to research the biblical role of the Pastor. With people expecting so much of Pastor’s and the many different roles they undertake, equipping and shepherding needs to be the main focus.
Pain and suffering are some of the hardest things we face in life. They can be depressing, debilitating and unbearable at times. But I believe God can recycle our pain for the good of others.
In my own life I have lived with crippling Rheumatoid Arthritis, suffered periods of chronic depression, lost loved ones to suicide and cancer, struggled with self worth and self esteem issues, and my parents were divorced when I was very young.
Some of these were quite terrible and very difficult to move past, especially when I was young. Some are just normal things people go through in this life, but adding them together made life really tough for me mentally and physically.
In my teens when I was depressed and crippled with RA, I did not ever think I would be able to work, get married and have kids, buy a house and build a life. I thought I would be on a pension all of my life.
After coming to Jesus in my early twenties I started to see my life differently. I saw a purpose in my pain and suffering and how they had actually drawn me to Jesus. Without them I do not know where I would be now?
Looking back I can see how my experiences had taught me compassion. I learned what it was like to live with constant pain, suffering, grief, loss and depression. It gave me an understanding of people and the things we all go through.
Now I work as a School Chaplain I can use these experiences and understanding to be a blessing to others. I can walk along side our students and enter in to their pain. I can sit with them, talk with them, cry with them and offer support.
I can also offer hope, encouragement and positivity knowing that not only can they get through their painful times, that things can actually get better and life can turn around.
Today I want to say to you that no matter what you have been through, or are still going through, God can turn it around. He can help you find purpose in your pain and recycle it for the good of others.
I believe He can use you to be a great blessing to those around you. Just hang in there and look to Jesus. He can recycle your pain.
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