I have noticed a phenomenon among young pastors that is a little too common for my comfort. Newly minted from seminary or an associate position, they settle into their first senior position with a sense of pastoral authority. Their job, they think, is to teach the Word. The church’s job is to follow.
But in the process they are missing the idea that their ministry training is not over. In fact, it has just begun.
In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he records sending Timothy as his apostolic representative with authority in the Ephesian church. But he also tells him that his progress as a Christian leader should be evident to all (1 Tim. 4:15). In other words, he needs to keep growing.
Similarly, those who are Christian leaders need to be continually maturing. While this is true for all leaders, it is even more true for younger to leaders to know how they need to develop.
In particular, they need to grow in two areas: holiness and wisdom. Let’s look at these one at a time.
1. Holiness. Robert Murray M’Cheyne famously said. “What my people need is my personal holiness.” As pastors we are still being conformed into the image of Christ. The Lord will bring circumstances into our lives that will reveal our sin. Perhaps we sin in our reaction or by our inaction. We use words that are harsh or sharp. It will be easy to focus on others and not on ourselves.
As ministry leaders, we will need to grow in our ability to recognize, admit, and appropriately confess our own sin to others in our church. Are we more holy than we were two or three years ago? Can people see evident growth in Christlikeness?
2. Wisdom. Another way we progress is by becoming wiser and more skillful leaders. Scripture tells us that Jesus grew in wisdom, proving that even those without sin need to grow in understanding (Luke 2:52, Hebrews 5:8).
Conceptually, we can understand this as the difference between blamelessness and faultlessness. Imagine a son, who is asked to fill in for his father a landscaper. The father, who has become ill, has drawn up a plan for the son to follow. This son could be lazy and not do what his father asked him. That would be sin. But let’s suppose the son worked hard. How would his work compare with his father’s work as a master landscaper? While he had earnestly worked hard, his work would not be as skillful as his dad’s.
Thus, a young man, while working hard and honorably, knows he still needs to improve. He needs to move (as the trades describe) from apprentice to journeyman and then to master craftsman.
And while Paul was writing that encouragement to a young Christian leader, it certainly applies to Dad and Mom. Do our children see our progress?
Christian leader, young or old, make progress! And let your progress be evident to all.
