Marriage is the source of a lot of joy and love for people, but it can also be a source of a lot of pain, tension, and frustration. Therefore, people want to know how to navigate it well and how their faith can help them through that navigation process.
Being a pastor is no small feat. It’s a job that comes with immense pressure, responsibility, and challenging situations. But I don’t have to tell you that. If you’ve been working in ministry for any amount of time, you know this to be true based on your own experience.
Over the past couple of weeks, the topic of multigenerational church congregations has come up quite a few times. Clearly, it is a topic on the minds of church leaders, but if you are not familiar with this concept, let me clarify. A multigenerational church congregation is a group of people from a wide range of age groups. There is no particular age group that dominates the church on a given Sunday as you can find people ranging in age from infants to the elderly.
No matter what field you’re in, there is always going to be potential for someone to give negative feedback on the work you’re doing. In the case of being a pastor, this negative feedback tends to come more frequently due to the nature of the work as a communicator of God's Word. It may seem as though everyone has an opinion about what you’re preaching on, how the services are formatted, how the church is being led, etc.
While your goal as a pastor should be to get to know your congregation and build relationships with them, this can be an intimidating task. It can be tough to be relational with the people of your congregation, especially if you’re just getting started at a new church. So if you’re looking for some ways to engage with the members of your church and begin building relationships with them, here are a few tips to get you started.
As pastors, our goal should be to never stop learning and never stop growing. There is always room for improvement and development as we grow not just in our ministry, but in our personal relationship with Jesus as well. Obviously, the source we should always run to first and foremost when we are seeking to grow and develop ourselves is the Word of God. Scripture has more than enough guidance, wisdom, and encouragement to help us in our personal growth journey.
Jim Ryun once said, “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” When it comes to working in ministry, we can have all the motivation in the world, particularly when we’re starting out, or we’re in a new season of our ministry. But what happens when the monotony sets in? What do we do when the day-to-day gets overwhelming? How do we remain effective in our ministry?
Someone once said to me that pastoring can sometimes feel like herding cats while blind. I didn't ask if the cats were blind or if the pastor were blind because it didn't matter in making the point. Pastoring is challenging at times, and can be extremely difficult at other times, but it can also be very rewarding, fulfilling, and inspirational.
If you are the pastor of a new church, congratulations! We pray your church grows into a thriving church and we pray your ministry is long and fruitful for the glory of God. We want to pass along a few resources available to you as you embark on your ministry journey. These resources are, for the most part, free and easy to access online. We hope you find this list useful!