The Role of the Pastoral Leader in the Church Today

By Dr. William Burnham

The Role of the Pastoral Leader in the Church Today is a book every pastor should want the church he leads to read. In this book, the people of the church come to understand the call of the pastor and what his true biblical qualifications should be. This book examines the character of the pastor as well as outlines and describes his main responsibilities in caring for the church body. The apostle Paul wrote, And He [God] Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers (Eph. 4:11, NKJV). This and other passages like it reveal it is God who gives the church the pastor. In Acts 6, the pastors of the early church laid out what their priorities were to be, but this is not where many churches are today, and this is not what many who are called to lead the church today are doing. This book confronts where we have gotten away from Gods plan for Gods man and may even be the revealing factor behind why so many pastors are leaving the church today. When we have the wrong man in the wrong place, being asked to do the wrong thing, we are destined for hardship, at least, and failure, more than likely.
The Role of the Pastoral Leader in the Church Today is the book every pastor-search or nominating committee should read before taking on the task. More times than not, we are asking people to step into a role on these committees that that they are ill-equipped for. This is not to say these are not spiritual people or even the most spiritually deep people of the church they are in. However, they may not be familiar with what to look for and the questions to qualify whether a man is truly called by God to be a pastor or not. They may have some exposure to, but not a thorough understanding of, the biblical qualifications of a pastor. While character is an issue, what do you need to look for? And how do you best discover the type of character and track record of caring for the church your candidate has? And beyond his testimony, call to ministry, and track record, is there any other (and if there are, what are they?) pertinent things the church committee should consider to determine whether their candidates are fit for the role of pastoral leader in their church?
Things besides what school he attended and whom he knows.
The Role of the Pastoral Leader in the Church Today is challenging to the way many churches are getting Gods man into Gods place to do Gods thing and how they let him do it once he is there. This is an eye-opening book to give pastors and churches a look at how to work together for the glory of God.
My prayer is that all who read it will be enlightened, encouraged, and empowered by the role of the pastoral leader in the church today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781514414644

Dr. William Burnham

William Daniel Burnham has over twenty years of combined ministry and business experience. He has been honored with the privilege of ministering to God’s people and leading Christ’s church to follow the great commission and the great commandments in advancing God’s kingdom work. His passion is to continue to lead Christ’s church as a senior pastor by using his God-given spiritual gifts, education, and special skills to help people encounter God, connect with one another, and apply biblical truths so they may grow in spiritual maturity and be salt and light in a practical way to the world in which they live. William Burnham has attended New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where he earned his associate degree in pastoral ministries in 2000 and bachelor of arts degree in Christian ministries / pastoral ministries in 2004. In 2008, he received his master of divinity degree in theological studies from Louisiana Baptist University and, in 2011, his PhD in communication, with a focus on leadership. William Burnham was ordained for the gospel ministry at Mount Zion Baptist Church, Snellville, Georgia, on September 2, 1998, and licensed by the same church on March 12, 1998. He possesses the skills of a communicator and teacher, including oral, written, and public presentation. He is known for his strong leadership, leadership training, as well as being a developer, organizer, coordinator, and instructor. He has experience as an organizer and delegator, with the ability to multitask and utilize administrative skills. William is a proven troubleshooter; he is solution-minded, with coaching and team-building skills. He has great people skills, with a passion for people to reach their full potential. He is a pastor, teacher, and author of several books, including The Gifting; two Bible commentaries (Old and New Testament), both titled Traveling through the Testaments; and numerous Bible study books and daily devotions.

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Copyright © 2015 by Dr. William Burnham.

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1 The Call Of The Pastoral Leader

Chapter 2 The Qualifications Of The Pastoral Leader

Chapter 3 The Character Of The Pastoral Leader

Chapter 4 The Care Of The Pastoral Leader

Conclusion

Author’s Biography

Selected Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

T he role of the pastoral leader in the church today has become greatly distorted and, in many cases, has begun to resemble corporate leadership instead of the kingdom leadership. In the article A Theological Approach to Pastoral Leadership Today, written and posted at MinistryMagazine.org on November 2008, Jon Coutts writes, Recent decades have brought a flood of church leadership books to pastors’ shelves that have carried an important dialogue with the corporate world and brought more focused intentionality and organization to Christian ministry. Great strides have been made in this regard and in making church accessible to seekers. However, in the midst of all of this dialogue, some underlying assumptions have leaked from commerce into the church, which threaten to guide the church astray and blur the priorities of pastoral leadership. In this culture, built upon the gospel of self-fulfillment and the latent ideals of consumerism, the tendency is to define churches and pastors by the standards of the business world. Among other things, servant leadership has been confused with customer service, ‘shepherding the flock’ has melded with corporate strategizing, stewardship of spiritual gifts has been turned into a pursuit of self-fulfillment, and preaching has become motivational speech. ¹

This trend has also greatly affected the way pastors are selected and placed into leadership positions as well as the qualifications being considered in order to make those decisions. As a result, the church is suffering a lapse in great, godly, qualified leadership today. Not to mention the idea that when pastors are called to positions of leadership based on the school they attended, the people they know, or their popularity and personality, one must ask, Are we allowing Christ to be the head of the church or man? Is it possible that the search committee or church leaders are usurping the authority of Christ as the head of the church?

As Coutts correctly points out, Recent leadership trends have brought good to the church, but they need to be reevaluated under a holistic biblical model so that the driving purposes are Christ’s.²

Nothing is more important than leadership,³ claims George Barna, who is the president of Barna Research Group Ltd., a full-service research company that specializes in research for Christian churches and church-related groups. Barna’s research is often quoted by the media, including Newsweek, Time, ABC News, Good Morning America, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the New York Times, and many others. Now, after fifteen years of diligent digging into the world around me, I have reached several conclusions regarding the future of the Christian church in America. The central conclusion is that the American church is dying due to the lack of strong leadership,⁴ Barna writes. The role of the pastoral leader is, apparently, an area of struggle for many pastors today, especially in a day and time when approximately 80 percent of all Southern Baptist churches are in a state of plateau or decline.⁵ Combine this statistic with what John Maxwell comments to a survey taken by Fuller Institute. The survey results indicate that nine out of ten pastors experience feelings of inadequacy because they don’t feel as though they have been equipped for the job they do.⁶ What is the cause of these feelings of inadequacy?

Why are pastors having such a tough time fulfilling their roles as pastoral leaders in today’s churches? John Maxwell suggested one possibility: I think most of our pastors love God and have a real heart for God’s people. But they’re still frustrated because they never have learned to lead.⁷ The truth is, the role of the pastoral leader has never been more challenging than it is in today’s changing world. John C. LaRue writes in his article Pastoral Leadership Styles, in his current research data on churches, I ran across a striking statistic recently—90 percent of people who enter vocational ministry will end up in another field.⁸

However, the question needs to be asked. Is the problem strictly that pastors haven’t been trained well? We seem to live in a world today where if one wants to learn to be a pastoral leader, there is ample opportunity between Internet sources, distance learning, seminars, and podcasts, as well as colleges and seminaries. Not to mention books, school, church mentor programs, etc. Is training the real problem, or is there something else, some other element that is missing?

The purpose of this book is to examine four essential elements that are necessary and biblically required of all pastoral leaders of God’s church today in order to be effective ministers and leaders and, in addition, to provide insight and helpful advice to those pastors serving the church and the church looking for godly leadership today. In so doing, four essential elements shall be discussed: God’s call on the pastoral leader, God’s qualifications for his leaders, the godly character of the pastoral leader, and the caring for God’s people by the pastoral leader. More than any other things, these four essential elements are required in order for God’s leaders to lead God’s church in and through today’s changing world without compromising the truth of God’s Word. With this in mind, we will begin the journey into the role of pastoral leader in the church today.

CHAPTER 1

THE CALL OF THE PASTORAL LEADER

The first essential element laid out in the Bible that is needed to be an effective pastoral leader in Christ’s church today is, one must have heard God’s calling to pastor his church.

A n age-old question asked by many is, are leaders born or made? Herbert Gabhart, chancellor of Belmont University, offered his insight in an article carrying this question as its title. Gabhart said at one point that there is no doubt in my mind; … but that heritage, the birth genes and the mental and physical endowments are valid and vital components of leadership. ⁹ Gabhart then offered several illustrations to help validate his point, spanning from Jonathan Edwards’s descendants, Max Jukes’s family, and the Joseph Kennedy family of Massachusetts. ¹⁰ Even the apostle Paul, writing to Timothy, stated, When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also (2 Tim. 1:5). ¹¹ However, Gabhart also stated in the same article that if there is a tilting of the scales, the scales may tilt toward leaders being more a made product than an inherited one. ¹²

When the same question was posed to Dr. John Maxwell—who has served for twenty-five years as a local pastor and founder of INJOY, a nondenominational Christian leadership institute, and is a renowned speaker and expert on leadership—he responded:

My answer is always the same, of course they are [born]. … we’re all born. … there are some people who are born with leadership gifts who have the potential to become 10s and 10 is the tops. But … unless they cultivate leadership and develop and train and learn and discipline themselves, they will never be the leaders they could be … the flip side is that there is no question in my mind that you can learn to lead if you do not have those natural leadership gifts.¹³

Maxwell, of course, is addressing the natural and physical side of leadership. And while all of what Maxwell stated is true, some leaders are born with good leadership gifts and potential, and others have to work harder. However, what Maxwell said also applies to the pastoral leader. Yet there is still another side to the pastor’s leadership that needs to be addressed, and that is the spiritual side. Many times, like that of Moses, David, Paul and Jesus, leadership responsibilities come to the individual as a call from God. … This category of leadership development usually comes later in life, and thus the question of born or made is not as relevant.¹⁴ But rather, who the leader is and where the leader came from are of the utmost importance.

The Calling of the Pastoral Leader

When an individual is invited to become the pastor of a church, the process the church and potential pastor go through is most commonly referred to as being called or the calling of a pastor. But what is happening in this process? And more importantly, what should be happening?

The Necessity of the Call

The ministry is not a vocation to be chosen like others. It is to be entered into with a clear recognition that the individual is called. The apostle Paul makes this clear as he writes, How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? (Rom. 10:14–15, KJV). In Ephesians 4:11, Paul says he gave to the church, meaning God gave the church pastors not a choice but a calling. In John 15:16 (NKJV), Jesus expressed to his disciples this idea when he said, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit." The word chose indicates they were chosen out from among others and given a God-ordained task.

Today, as in years past, reveals that the call of God comes to us in a variety of ways, but all are called by the internal work of the Holy Spirit, who causes a deep sense of inner conviction that we have an extended divine call by God specific to his purpose.

We see historically in the Old Testament that men and women who were God’s leaders were called by God.

We see historically in the Old Testament that prophets were called by God.

We see historically in the New Testament that apostles were called by God.

We see in recent history the evidence of God’s calling upon men such as Augustine, Luther, Knox, Wesley, Whitfield, Finney, Moody, Torrey, Billy Sunday, and Billy Graham, as well as many others.¹⁵ Thus, there is an imperative need to be certain that he senses a call not only from the church but also first and foremost from God. This makes the call the most important ingredient. For the pastor, it is to have that sense that God led him to that particular place at that specific time.¹⁶

God’s call to leadership is very real, and what is even more sobering is to realize and recognize that the call to lead God’s church comes not from man, committees, or councils but directly from God himself.

The Calling Is from God

The call to leadership is well documented in the Bible as a prerequisite for being a leader. Some examples of called leaders are the following:

• Abraham, of whom in Genesis 12:1 (NKJV), we read, The LORD had said to Abram.

• Moses, of whom in Exodus 3:4 (NKJV), we