If I Was The Pastor At The Church I Attend
One of my dreams in life is to become a pastor. And not just any pastor, but one who can be mightily used by God to bring souls to Christ and to help Christians grow in their walk with God and spiritual maturity. It would be a dream come true if God ever called me to shepherd His flock. Unfortunately, God has not called me yet so all I can do is continue to walk faithfully according to His word. I wish God would call me into full-time ministry sooner since that is my passion and deepest longing. But alas, the years go by and He has not called me. Perhaps He doesn't think I'm ready right now, or perhaps there's more training I need to go through, or perhaps being a pastor is not God's will for me. In any case, one can always dream, right?
Speaking of dreaming...
If I was the pastor at the church I attend, there would be several things I would do differently:
1) I would change the way we do worship.
On Sunday mornings, we only dedicate 10 minutes to worship before the sermon. I feel that needs to change. We should have more time dedicated to worship first thing in the morning before the sermon to prepare our spirits and also to spend more time praising the Lord and offering up prayers to Him. I would probably increase it from 10 minutes to 20 or 30 minutes.
Additionally, the church I attend sings hymns only. While I understand that there are a lot of secular Christian contemporary songs out there, I also feel that there are a lot of good ones too. I find that there are some choruses or Christian contemporary songs that are very uplifting and it's a shame that we don't sing them. So I would probably try to introduce choruses and Christian contemporary songs into the worship as well, although this is not a big deal for me if we do decide to continue with hymns only.
2) I would do more outreach.
The number of people in our congregation has been pretty stagnant, if not decreasing over the years from people either leaving or passing away. And the new friends that come don't seem to stay for very long. For the ones that do end up staying, the total number of people in the congregation end up still roughly the same because of others who leave or pass away. We seem to have trouble retaining the new friends that gather with us for a few months to a few years, and so the church has not grown in number much all these years. If I was pastor, I would try to keep track of who comes to church and try to build a relationship with each one of them. I would also reach out to new friends and try to make them feel welcome every time they are here. For those that I haven't seen in a while, I would try to follow up with them to see how they are doing and if everything's okay.
In addition to doing more outreach with the existing members of the congregation, I would also try to do more outreach to the public. I would pass out or mail more fliers to reach out to more people. Who knows, I might even go door to door to talk to people. God works in mysterious and wonderful ways; you never know who you might meet and help.
3) I would try to build relationships with every brother and sister in the congregation.
I would try my best to talk to everyone, and if that was not possible, I would probably target a few people every Sunday to try to see how they are doing and get to know them better. I would want to be someone that people feel comfortable confiding in and can trust. I love helping people, and I hope God can use me to help others.
4) I would not be afraid to get my hands dirty and help out with serving and cleaning.
Jesus Himself has said that the greatest of all shall be servant of all. Likewise, if I was pastor, I would not feel that any service was "above" me. I would help other brothers and sisters clean after church, and I would try to serve other brothers and sisters instead of vice versa.
5) I would pray. A lot.
Spiritual battles are won on the knees. Intercessory prayer is also so critical in the church. Human wisdom, human understanding, and human effort is nothing unless God is the one doing the work. I would pray for brothers and sisters, I would pray for myself and my family, and I would pray for the church. Of course, I have no idea how much our pastor prays so I'm not saying that this is something I would do "differently" since only God knows. He may pray a lot at home or when no one around. I'm just saying that if I were pastor, I would pray a lot.
6) I would read the Bible, spiritual books, and commentaries rigorously.
I would have a very disciplined and structured approach to spending every day reading the Bible, spiritual books, and commentaries. I try to do that now, but my time is more limited with a son and a full-time job. I imagine that if I were a full-time pastor, I would have all day to aggressively read, study, and pray.
If only God would call me to be His full-time servant...
Speaking of dreaming...
If I was the pastor at the church I attend, there would be several things I would do differently:
1) I would change the way we do worship.
On Sunday mornings, we only dedicate 10 minutes to worship before the sermon. I feel that needs to change. We should have more time dedicated to worship first thing in the morning before the sermon to prepare our spirits and also to spend more time praising the Lord and offering up prayers to Him. I would probably increase it from 10 minutes to 20 or 30 minutes.
Additionally, the church I attend sings hymns only. While I understand that there are a lot of secular Christian contemporary songs out there, I also feel that there are a lot of good ones too. I find that there are some choruses or Christian contemporary songs that are very uplifting and it's a shame that we don't sing them. So I would probably try to introduce choruses and Christian contemporary songs into the worship as well, although this is not a big deal for me if we do decide to continue with hymns only.
2) I would do more outreach.
The number of people in our congregation has been pretty stagnant, if not decreasing over the years from people either leaving or passing away. And the new friends that come don't seem to stay for very long. For the ones that do end up staying, the total number of people in the congregation end up still roughly the same because of others who leave or pass away. We seem to have trouble retaining the new friends that gather with us for a few months to a few years, and so the church has not grown in number much all these years. If I was pastor, I would try to keep track of who comes to church and try to build a relationship with each one of them. I would also reach out to new friends and try to make them feel welcome every time they are here. For those that I haven't seen in a while, I would try to follow up with them to see how they are doing and if everything's okay.
In addition to doing more outreach with the existing members of the congregation, I would also try to do more outreach to the public. I would pass out or mail more fliers to reach out to more people. Who knows, I might even go door to door to talk to people. God works in mysterious and wonderful ways; you never know who you might meet and help.
3) I would try to build relationships with every brother and sister in the congregation.
I would try my best to talk to everyone, and if that was not possible, I would probably target a few people every Sunday to try to see how they are doing and get to know them better. I would want to be someone that people feel comfortable confiding in and can trust. I love helping people, and I hope God can use me to help others.
4) I would not be afraid to get my hands dirty and help out with serving and cleaning.
Jesus Himself has said that the greatest of all shall be servant of all. Likewise, if I was pastor, I would not feel that any service was "above" me. I would help other brothers and sisters clean after church, and I would try to serve other brothers and sisters instead of vice versa.
5) I would pray. A lot.
Spiritual battles are won on the knees. Intercessory prayer is also so critical in the church. Human wisdom, human understanding, and human effort is nothing unless God is the one doing the work. I would pray for brothers and sisters, I would pray for myself and my family, and I would pray for the church. Of course, I have no idea how much our pastor prays so I'm not saying that this is something I would do "differently" since only God knows. He may pray a lot at home or when no one around. I'm just saying that if I were pastor, I would pray a lot.
6) I would read the Bible, spiritual books, and commentaries rigorously.
I would have a very disciplined and structured approach to spending every day reading the Bible, spiritual books, and commentaries. I try to do that now, but my time is more limited with a son and a full-time job. I imagine that if I were a full-time pastor, I would have all day to aggressively read, study, and pray.
If only God would call me to be His full-time servant...
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