Charles Swindoll quotes an exasperated lady who complained, "My minister is a lot like God—I don't see him all week, and I don't understand him on Sunday!" Looking beyond the humor, one can see truth there. Too many of our pastors are overwhelmed by long lists of presumed responsibilities. They rush to and fro so much all week that perhaps they are not clearly seen by their members. And they're so exhausted Friday evening and Sabbath that perhaps their sermons are a bit fuzzy.
I believe that the elders of the church can play a significant role in rectifying this situation. We have taken on a "noble task" (1 Tim. 3:1, NIV). We are commissioned to be overseers of God's church and we can do that best by working closely with our pastors. Our pastors are human let us never forget that. They need close friends, confidants, and sounding boards. They need to be affirmed, honestly and generously. Elders can, by their own example, foster such a spirit in the entire congregation.
Pastors need adequate quality time with their families, for their own nurture, and the all-important nurture of their spouses and children. We need to be sure that they are enjoying some form of weekly recreation so they can relax, recharge, and be refreshed. We may, on occasion, even have to arrange the details of a weekend away, including adequate coverage for the duties they leave.
But the most important aspect will be our presence, our listening ear, our friendship. By becoming personal friends of our pastors, we will develop more open communication. Feedback from the congregation will be welcomed. Private, constructive criticism can be shared. Positive challenges can be voiced.
The friendship will also result in mutual accountability. When a pastor is in touch with a trusted elder on a regular basis, they can help each other maintain ethical, moral, and spiritual integrity. They can encourage each other to live a balanced life in the areas of daily devotions, personal health, and family strength.
Divide the responsibilities
There should be a clear division of responsibilities between pastors and their elders. Too often pastors are exhausted. Their ministry is no longer fun. They feel like slaves driven by a task master congregation. But their exhaustion is not necessarily proof of their dedication. It may only reveal their inability to say no, and their failure to delegate responsibility.
Acts 6 clearly indicates that pastors should not be occupied with the nuts and bolts of the church organization. Their high priority, their calling, their specialty, is the spiritual nurturing of the members in the church and the evangelism of the spiritually hungry outside its walls. Exodus 18 points out that the unnecessary workload often thrust upon our leaders will only wear them out. Such a load is too heavy for them; they cannot handle it alone.
The elder/pastor relationship resembles the general practitioner/specialist model in medicine. The head elder (the general practitioner) can take care of the mundane (howbeit important) day-to day business of the church. He or she can easily chair the board meetings, organize the other elders to visit every family each quarter, take charge of In gathering (along with the personal ministries leader), and lead out in a good share of the prayer meetings and worship services, especially in "swarmed" churches or companies.
This would free up the pastor (the specialist) to concentrate on the critical, high-priority matters of the church—evangelism, with which thou sands should be reached, and serious counseling and nurture, which hundreds need, both in and out of the church.
The elders' monthly meeting with their pastor should, however, remain high priority. Here the focus needs to be on the spiritual and personal growth of the leaders and the needs of their congregation. Here goals should be set and reviewed. And here the elders can be trained and encouraged to do more than just fulfill platform duties. They need to be challenged to lead out in gospel-oriented programs.
Pastors should be the leaders, the creative thrust, the chief communicators, of the church. But they should never be the managers of the mundane. They have been given a great job to do, challenges to be seized, an eternal deadline to work toward. Let these specialists do their job. Let us be their support. Then, unlike that dear exasperated lady, we will all see our pastors where they are really needed all week, and we will easily understand them in the pulpit on Sabbath.
