Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary

With the vicarage placement and candidate call services behind us and the baccalaureate and graduation ceremonies soon to occur, our wide-eyed seminarians will have heard several helpful exhortations before embarking on their new ministries.

It occurred to me that it might also be good to express a few thoughts for the congregations who are blessed to receive new pastors, fresh baked and piping hot, from the seminaries.

• Face the Future - Your new pastor will be different in some ways from your previous one. Try not to make direct comparisons. Expect some things to change. Take time to mourn the past, to say goodbye and then face the future. Jesus said that once you put your hand to the plow, you should not look back.

• Realistic Expectations - Your new pastor is trying hard to be a faithful servant of Jesus Christ. He and his family have made many sacrifices so that he could preach the message of salvation. He loves you. All that being said, no one is good at everything. He will have strengths and weaknesses just like everyone else. Consider Jesus Himself.  Even the one Pastor who actually is perfect didn’t meet the expectations of many.

• Be Flexible - All change is difficult. Realize that in addition to trying to figure out how to be a good pastor, he and his family are also trying to adjust to a new home, a new city, new schools, new neighbors. Everything is unfamiliar. This can be a tremendous amount of stress. Be patient and helpful. He really wants nothing more than to grow with you in your relationship to God through Christ. Reasonable flexibility on both your parts will go a long way.

• People Make Mistakes - One of the things that I love about my former congregation in Pittsburgh, PA is that they were wonderfully patient with me and supportive. They had to put up with my quirks and flaws just as I had to put up with theirs. Their ceaseless kindness and grace only motivated me to try to continually improve as a pastor.

• Remember What a Pastor Is - A lot of confusion can be avoided by recalling what a pastor is and what a pastor is supposed to do. One good exercise would be to review the vows made at ordination and installation. He is not called there to be a tyrant and lord himself over you. Nor is he there to be your mere employee. His call is from God and God is sending him to you in order to serve you with the blessings and benefits of the gospel.

• Love One Another - “And above all, love one another fervently because love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8 [show]1 Peter 4:8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. (ESV)
  ). Your pastor is a child of God just like you. We all live in Christ by the mercy of God. Just as we have been forgiven by God, we love and forgive one another.