When one hears the question, “What
are the top five tasks of a pastor?” they may think to themselves that is an
easy question to answer. Let’s really think about that for a minute, it is not
asking what five things keep a pastor busy; but what are the five most
important tasks of a pastor? In order
for any man to be a pastor, he must first and foremost have saving knowledge of
who our Lord Jesus Christ is; not only that, but there should be some maturity in
his walk. Paul tells Timothy regarding men who would be overseers or pastors that,
“He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and
fall into the condemnation of the devil.” (1 Timothy 3:6 ESV)
As pastors we should also follow the
pattern laid out for us by the men of Acts 6. While it is a noble task to serve
others they knew theirs to be a higher calling. “But we will devote ourselves
to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” (Acts 6:4 ESV) As ministers of the
Word, we must be spending time in personal study and prayer. If Christ is our
model and went off to be alone and pray, are we any better than he? No, He also
studied the Scriptures which is what we must do in order to be effective
ministers of the word. In 2 Timothy 4, Paul tell Timothy preach the word and to
be ready in season and out of season. How can Timothy keep this charge if he is
not spending his time in the word and prayer? In order to be an effective
pastor you also have to be an effective teacher. If you lack the ability to
teach, then your calling in life may not be that of a pastor. Our teaching must
not be of any thing we wish it to be, it must be sound doctrine (Titus 1:9).
It seems to me that another
important task of a pastor is to be recognizing potential leaders for the
church and training them as such. As a pastor we should be able to recognize the
qualities in a man that would make him eligible for the position. Paul
instructs Timothy on this very issue when he says, “and what you have heard
from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be
able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:2 ESV) In doing this we will continue
to ensure that the sound doctrine Paul spoke to Titus about is being passed on
in proper manner.
Last and far be it from
least, we should all love. It is the greatest symbol of a Christian and while
pastors are not super Christians we are often examined more closely than the
normal believer. We know that we are to love God, our neighbors as ourselves,
and one another as Christ loved us. We love because He first loved us and gave
himself us for us. (Rom 5:8) If we lack the ability to love then we cannot
bring people to Christ which is what the greatest goal of any pastor should be,
to see souls saved
