4 Essential Qualities For Pastors in This Season of the Church
The church is living in a different time. We will always need pastors but these days require a very specific set of values. I say values rather than skill set, because I’m not convince these things can be taught in a class.
- Leading Like Jesus. There have been some great leadership books over the years and we have learned much from business and other contexts. I am not someone who is critical of those methods. But I will say that we need to get back to a Jesus-style leadership. A servant leadership that seeks to build the kingdom rather than a personal brand.
- Personal Integrity. We have seen far too many pastoral failures over the past few years. These were some of the most respected Christian leaders and people we never expected to fall. We need to demonstrate that pastors can and should be people of integrity. This includes, but is not limited to, sexual integrity.
- Loving People. What is success for a pastor? Most often it is measured in terms of numbers. A pastor is introduced as being at a 4,000 member church. But what if the pastor focused on loving their people instead of just getting more people into the building.
- Avoiding Extremes. This is one of the most divisive times in recent history. There is tremendous pressure to pick a side and then go after the other side with full force. We need pastors who are more bridge builders than bridge burners. Pastors should be finding ways to embrace unity in diversity rather than a uniformity aimed at the other side.
What other qualities do you think pastors need today?
