Many churches today suffer from a lack of vision regarding the mission of the church. Anemic churches exist primarily because of both anemic preaching and leadership. When pastors fail to lead the flock, the sheep wander, flounder, and eventually starve. In essence, a church will become empowered to fulfill its mission when it is motivated, encouraged, and led by a pastor who does so through an expository preaching ministry that exposes the people to the full counsel of God’s Word. One of the aims of leading through expository preaching comes in utilizing the pulpit as the primary vehicle to communicate a theological and missiological direction for the church. Whoever fills the pulpit on a r
Eight Ways for Younger Pastors to Minister to Older Church Members: 1) Take an interest in knowing your older church members personally. Older people want to know whether you actually care about them, or whether you plan to cater your ministry to young people and leave the elderly behind. Even though you’re younger and they’re older, you’re not just their preacher—you’re their pastor/shepherd. Care for them. Love on them, affirm them, and encourage them in the faith. Try to visit them at their homes or to call them on the phone, because that’s meaningful to the older generations. Get to know them and discern how you can best minister to them through prayer and the ministry of the Word.
One of my favorite passages on pastoral ministry has always been 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12. The passage isn’t a detailed list of the qualifications of ministry like 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, but rather a description of a life dedicated to the gospel and a church. Paul had godly motives for ministry, refusing to be impressive like false apostles or philosophers of his day. The ministry didn’t belong to him; it was entrusted to him by God. He was a gentle man, affectionate for the people, wanting to not only teach them the gospel but give his life to them in relationship. He was a hard working pastor, not wanting to abuse pastoral authority but rather act as a kind father to his spiritual children
