Jeff Iorg

Spiritual Disciplines Promoting Integrity

June 30, 2008

Integrity is not something you have or don’t have. It’s something you develop and maintain. Christian leaders have spiritual resources and spiritual disciplines to assist with this process. Last week, we looked in detail at three spiritual resources (three special confessions of spiritual truth) that support integrity. This week, let’s consider several spiritual disciplines that also help us maintain integrity. 

Spiritual disciplines accomplish many good purposes for all believers, including leaders. If you, as a leader, think you are exempt from these disciplines – you are sadly mistaken. You need these disciplines just like your followers. While they serve other purposes, let’s consider them today from the perspective of developing and maintaining integrity. 

Spiritual Disciplines for Developing Integrity
Another significant part of developing and maintaining integrity is practicing spiritual disciplines throughout your lifetime. Spiritual disciplines build structure into our lives. They anchor us to core activities that, over time, produce transforming results. 

Practicing spiritual disciplines is like building a brick house. You lay the first brick and you do not have much of a house. But over time, you can build a solid structure with incremental, disciplined effort – laying one brick at a time. Spiritual disciplines build our lives one day at a time. They are also like a small stream wearing away a giant rock. Spiritual disciplines wear away our impurities and imperfections. There are at least four core spiritual disciplines essential to maintaining integrity, although other disciplines are also helpful.

1. Devotional Bible Reading. You must read the Bible regularly, asking God for wisdom, insight, and direction. This differs from studying the Bible for preaching, teaching, or other ministry. It is easier to study the Bible for what it says to someone else! You must discipline yourself to read and study the Bible, personally. You must ask, “God what do you want to say to me?” 

For years, I have been systematically reading the Bible. I read it when I feel good and when I do not, when God seems close and when he seems far away, when I want to and when I do not, when I am “getting something out of it” and when I am not. Through all this, I just keep reading the Bible. I know that this discipline if foundational to God keeping me on track with him. 

My mother owns a beautiful cutting horse. This horse makes working cattle look like magic. Just a slight brush of the reigns is all that is required for instant response to my mother’s directions. Contrast that with an old mule that has to be dragged into action. Daily Bible reading gives God opportunity for incremental, gentle correction. We must keep short accounts! We ask God to speak each day and we respond accordingly rather than depending on a sporadic, cataclysmic response to keep us on track. 

Be a cutting horse, not a mule! 

2. Devotional Prayer. You must pray regularly for yourself, for personal needs, and for personal spiritual focus. As a leader, you will pray often for others. You must also discipline yourself to pray about your life. This kind of prayer is more difficult. Meditation and introspection is always more difficult than intercession. Asking God to work in us and on us is always harder than asking him to work through us for someone else. 

Part of this process is asking God to reveal sin in your life and then confessing and repenting of it. Part of it is meditating on insights from Scripture in your Bible reading and praying about applying those insights. This can also include personal needs, fears, concerns, and requests. But, most of all, it is personal. Again, keep short accounts! Get right with God often. 

3. Sabbath Rest. Resting one day out of every seven is an essential spiritual discipline to maintain integrity for several reasons. First, it humbles you by showing your followers you are human and you recognize your own limitations. Second, it affirms your faith that God can do more in six days than you can do working seven! Third, it refreshes you physically so you are less prone to mistakes tired people make. Finally, it restores your perspective and prepares you for further ministry. 

I know several ministry leaders who have had some major failure of integrity – often a moral failure. In almost every case, burnout was part of the problem. In a fatigued state, leaders make choices they would not otherwise make. One pastor justified stealing church funds by saying, “I had not taken any time off in two years. They worked me so hard, I felt they owed me the money.” This was a well-respected, effective leader. He made a bad choice, not because “they worked me so hard,” but because he had worked too much. Burnout often leads to disintegrating integrity. 

Sabbath rest is difficult to establish and maintain for many leaders. To help you make a practical plan, chapter ten has a more detailed discussion of implementing this important practice. 

4. Worship attendance. Public worship is a primary way God confronts us. We need worship leaders to speak truth to us, lead us to express ourselves through music and prayer in ways we would not otherwise choose, and call us to fresh obedience through giving, repenting, and making commitments. 

This may seem like the easiest discipline to practice! Many Christian leaders lead multiple worship services weekly. But that is the problem. As we lead, we are rightly more concerned with the worshippers than we are with our own response to God. Every leader needs to occasionally be a worshipper, not a worship leader. 

Conferences abound for Christian leaders. You may attend them, but do you go with a focused purpose to hear from God? That is the challenge. Discipline yourself to become a worshipper, choosing opportunities to open yourself to God in public services. Allow him to probe and prod, to call you to fresh sacrifice and commitment. And, with integrity, respond publicly to invitations as God directs. What’s good for the people you lead to worship is good for you too!

Integrity is the lifelong challenge of bringing your behavior in line with biblical standards. Maintaining integrity is a continuing process, a never-ending quest to live your values in every area of life. As you live an integrated life, you will engender trust from your followers and build a leadership legacy that will not diminish over time or be washed away by character failure. 

You have remarkable resources for building an integrated life. Spiritual resources like those described above create a firm foundation. Spiritual disciplines, those listed here and others like fasting and scripture memory, provide incremental correction and direction. The quest to build an integrated life, to be called a man or woman of integrity, is the worthy goal that can be accomplished. 

Maintaining integrity is a lifelong process. Pursue it with passion!


<< Return to Archive

Spiritual Foundations for Integrity

June 23, 2008

Christian leaders have unique spiritual resources for developing integrity. For us, developing integrity is a spiritual process, not just keeping rules or following procedures. It is a deeper issue for Christian leaders. Here are some of the unique resources we have to develop and maintain integrity.

Spiritual Foundations for Developing Integrity 

Christian leaders have a unique opportunity to develop integrity and a unique responsibility to demonstrate integrity. We have spiritual resources to guide us and strengthen us through the process. Just wanting to have integrity is not enough. Having integrity at any given point in time is not enough. Maintaining integrity over a lifetime of changing and challenging personal and ministry situations must be our goal. 

Maintaining integrity is, fundamentally, a continual spiritual quest. Over the years, there have been three spiritual convictions that have helped me develop and maintain integrity. Like a three-legged stool, these three statements form a spiritual foundation for integrity.

1. I am in submission to Jesus as Lord (Phil. 2:5-11).
Jesus is Lord. There is no negotiating that indisputable fact. My choice is submission to him, recognizing his Lordship. We must resist “make him Lord” theology and terminology. He is Lord, Master, Supervisor – whether we “make him Lord” or not. He is the One to whom we are accountable. My only choice is submission or rebellion to him. This is foundational to integrity. I am not a law unto myself. I do not set the standards. I am not the final authority on my beliefs, attitudes, or actions. Someone else is and that Someone is Jesus. 

But affirming a sound theology of the Lordship of Jesus is not enough. You must personalize it. How do you do that? For me, the best way to personalize Jesus as Lord is to regularly pray four prayers that remind me of his Lordship. Each of these prayers emerged from a crisis experience or a time of intense spiritual confrontation for me. Each of them became important, because of the circumstances in which they were first prayed. Since then, they have become a permanent part of my devotional life and spiritual formation. 

My first prayer is “Lord, I am expendable. Another day or another decade of life, whatever pleases you.” That prayer was first prayed at midnight on December 31, 1999 as the year 2000 dawned. I know, technically, the new millennium did not start that night. But the world celebrated anyway! 

My family attended a major Christian event, YouthLink 2000, which connected multiple meeting sites across the United States electronically for a national, simultaneous celebration of the millennium. As midnight drew near, we were challenged to write a prayer that summarized our response to the Lord at that moment. Concerns about the uncertainty of the future, questions about making a significant impact with my life, and impressions God had some big changes in store for me led me to pray like this: “I am expendable. I exist to be used by God, not to use God. I have no guarantee of another moment of life beyond what God sustains. Another day or decade, whatever pleases the Lord, is the span of my life.” Praying this way reminded me Who is Lord. Continuing to pray this way has helped me maintain my submission to Jesus as Lord. 

Another important prayer is “Lord, I serve at your pleasure. Use me, or not, whatever pleases you.” This prayer emerged from observing military leaders. They impress me with their obedience to orders. They understand they do not deserve any special assignment and are willing to serve without recognition. They serve to accomplish the mission as ordered by their commander. 

Meditating on this kind of obedience one morning, it dawned on me how arrogant some of my praying was. I usually prayed “Lord, use me today” as if he was somehow obligated to do so. After all, I am his willing servant, so therefore he has to use me. God showed me how arrogant that prayer really was. My prayer of genuine submission became “Lord, use me…or not, whatever please you.” 

That is the issue, isn’t it? Whatever pleases God and advances his mission is what is important – not that we be used! Sometimes, God does not use a person for a while as part of his purpose for them. Even Paul, the most effective Christian missionary and writer of all time, experienced this. Paul was busy in mission service when he was arrested and entangled in the Roman legal system. While at the peak of his ministry effectiveness and influence, Acts 24:27 records, “After two years had passed…Felix left Paul in prison.” 

Are you kidding me?! How can that be? The most effective missionary/ theologian in history was left in prison for two years while a two-bit Roman ruler waited for a bribe to release him. How could that have happened? Why not another earthquake, like the one in Philippi (Acts 16:16-40) which set Paul free earlier in his ministry? The answer, the only answer that makes sense, is God wanted Paul to wait in prison. This was his purpose for Paul. His assignment was to wait until God was ready for him to go to Rome. Sometimes, God accomplishes his purpose by not using us the way we imagine he should, the way that seems logical, or the way that makes the most sense to us. 

A third prayer that reminds me of Jesus’ Lordship is “Lord, Your kingdom matters. Mine doesn’t. Advance your cause, whatever that means for me.” This prayer emerged from the pressure I felt to provide for my family, send my children to college, save for retirement, invest in my home, and build my estate. 

One day it occurred to me how much time I was spending on my kingdom. Then God got really personal. He unveiled how much of my ministry was really self-centered as well. So much of my effort was about the wrong kingdom! 

Striking balance in this area is tough. We have God-assigned responsibilities for our family, ministry, and work. But our focus must be on building the Kingdom of God, not building our own kingdom. Jesus warned of this in Luke 12. The rich young fool prospered and all he could think of was “building bigger barns.” God wants us to be careful that our focus is not building bigger barns but is instead using what’s in those barns for his purposes. 

Finally, the fourth prayer that creates a spiritual foundation for integrity is “Lord, you are God. I am not. Help me keep that straight today.” I enjoy umpiring baseball. I like to joke the reason I enjoy umpiring is “All week long I serve God, on Saturday I get to play God.” That’s funny about umpiring. It’s not funny about life. 

I am not God. You are not either. We often act like we are. We worry about things above our pay grade. We take responsibility for outcomes we cannot control. We expect to change people. In short, we play God. 

This prayer helps me remember that God is God, Jesus is God, the Holy Spirit is God. I am not God. I never will be and I need to stop acting like it. 

These prayers are centering prayers for me. They bring me back to the central reality “Jesus is my Lord.” Remembering that fundamental spiritual reality is essential to maintaining integrity. Use these prayers, or better, write some short prayers from your own experiences which remind you Jesus is Lord. Pray them often to help keep you centered on this fundamental spiritual reality!

2. I am a steward accountable to Jesus as Lord (Luke 16:1-15, 1 Cor. 4:1-2).
Usually, stewardship is equated with managing money. That’s unfortunate because the concept is much larger than money. The principle or concept of stewardship impacts many areas of life. For example, Jesus was clear in Matthew 28:18 when he said that “all authority” had been given to him. All means all. Jesus has all authority in the universe. Whatever authority we have, he has shared with us. It’s still his and that makes us a steward or manager of it, not the owner. 

The Bible teaches that Jesus’ delegates his authority through structures and people. For example, parents have authority in families; rulers have authority in governments; leaders have authority in churches. Paul wrote about ministry leaders “A person should consider us in this way: as servants of Christ and managers (stewards) of God’s mysteries” (1 Corinthians 4:1). A steward is someone who manages what belongs to another person. 

In the context of leadership, this is clear. Jesus has all authority. He shares it with leaders he assigns roles in his kingdom. So then, as a leader, Jesus has made you a steward of some of his leadership authority and responsibility. You are a leader but only because Jesus has put you in charge of a little part of his kingdom. He expects you to handle with care the responsibility he has given you. It is his church or ministry you are leading. 

There are three stark realities about your current position that will help you keep your leadership stewardship in perspective. These may surprise or disappoint you at first! But they are true, and truth is never discouraging. Reality is not depressing, although it may make you adjust your thinking. 

The three realities about your current position are: First, you are only the current occupant of your leadership role. Second, you are always a temporary employee. And third, you are a transition person for your job. 

I warned you! These sound like belittling statements. But they are not. They are simply the truth and provide some needed perspective to the cultural tendency to puff up leaders with titles, salaries, and perks that communicate importance. 

As I write this, I am a seminary president. While I hope to serve for many years, I am not the last president the seminary will ever have (unless Jesus comes soon!). My role is a stewardship of leadership Jesus has given me. A good man had it before me. A good man will have it after me. I am only a caretaker of the position and the authority that comes with it. The job really belongs to Jesus! He is only sharing this leadership role with me for a short time. I want to serve well as a steward and present the work I have done and the job I leave behind back to him. 

You are in the same situation. You are only the current pastor, minister, director, board member, or staff member of whatever you are assigned to lead. The job is not yours. It belongs to the Lord. He is only sharing it with you for a while and he expects you to take care of it. 

You are a temporary worker. Most organizations use “temps” from time to time. But in reality, all of us are temps. We are assigned for a season, not forever. We are also transitional. Many churches use “interim pastors” during their time between permanent pastors. But in reality we are all interims! There is usually someone before us and after us. 

If you have difficulty believing any of this, imagine what would happen if you died suddenly. There would be grieving, mourning, and probably a nice memorial service. Someone might put up a memorial plaque or name something for you. Then they would replace you and life would go on! It really would. You are not as indispensable as you think you are. 

As stewards, we have a responsibility that transcends our unique time of leadership. We are responsible to use what is not ours, our leadership role, and make the most effective contribution possible. That’s not demeaning, that’s reality. Keeping this in focus will help you maintain integrity. You will remember the job is not yours, the salary is not deserved, the perks will not last, and it’s not all about you. You are a steward, so take care of the Lord’s work and lead it carefully.

3. I am in an authority structure affirmed by Jesus as Lord (Rom. 13:1-7; Matt. 28:18).
Part of maintaining integrity is understanding authority structures - knowing to whom you are accountable, who is accountable to you, and how these relationships create needed boundaries in your life. Jesus has all authority and he shares his authority through appropriate structures. He has all kinds of people in authority, in my case trustees, who supervise part of his work. I have a Boss (Jesus) who has given me some bosses (the trustees). While you may have a different structure, you have one nonetheless! 

Jesus works through authority structures. He expects his leaders to work under and within authority structures he puts in their lives. This is not always pleasant or easy – but it is a part of maintaining integrity by creating boundaries. Many churches and ministry organizations are fuzzy at this point. Clear lines of authority are not delineated. Leaders who encounter cloudy organizational structure must insist that authority structures are clarified, not for the purpose of control, but to free leaders from unrealistic expectations and unreasonable demands. As a leader, you deserve to know to whom you are responsible and what you are responsible for. 

When we learn to trust Jesus to work through others to correct, guide, and direct us we will grow in integrity. We need others to help us manage our lives and stay in line. Admitting that is a big step for some leaders. You may feel those with authority in your church or organization are incompetent, do not know as much as you do about leadership, or do not know how to adequately supervise you. All that may be true, but you are still responsible to work within the authority structure Jesus has allowed in your life. You can resign or renegotiate accountability relationships, but you cannot rebel against them and be successful over the long haul. 

So, what does this look like, practically, in a ministry organization? How can you structure relationships with your supervisors and supervisees to promote integrity? Here are some suggestions. 

Professional relationships can make a positive difference in maintaining integrity. Often, leaders must foster these relationships because of reluctance by followers or peers to question the leaders actions or motives. Simple steps can be taken to make yourself accountable to people at work. 

First, insist that your supervisors have a specific plan to evaluate you annually and that it be done. Routine supervision, when problems can be addressed in a matter-of-fact process, is much better than crisis supervision only invoked when problems arise. Many pastors have no such structure. Many Christian organizations feel this is “too corporate.” Nothing could be less corporate and more Christian than defining boundaries and expectations and then treating people fairly! 

Pastors must insist that an accountability structure be clearly identified in their church. This sometimes means the pastor is in the awkward position of forming this group, training it, and then submitting to its direction. Though it may be awkward, it must be done. Every pastor deserves this kind of support/supervision group. When it is functioning well, it gives a pastor a powerful sense of confidence, blessing, and accomplishment. 

Having good supervision helps maintain integrity in several ways. First, it corrects problems when they are small. Second, it promotes dialogue and mutual support for leaders. Third, it helps leaders learn about themselves and analyze their motives. And finally, leaders have good feedback about how they are perceived by others. 

A second step to improve integrity through professional relationships is to make yourself accountable for your whereabouts. I grew up around men who bragged, “I come and go as I please.” That attitude led to bad choices for many of them, and leads to disastrous choices for leaders. I implement this principle by informing my assistant of my schedule and updating changes as they happen. She always knows where I am, who I am with, and how to reach me. This keeps anyone from wondering about my workload, questioning my work habits, wondering if I am someplace I am not supposed to be, or with someone I am not supposed to be with. By volunteering this information, I let everyone know I do not mind being held accountable. No secrets! 

Third, make yourself accountable for your use of money. Our chief financial officer and controller review my expense report monthly. They must both agree to its fitness before it is accepted. If either of them questions any item, it gets pulled off the report with no appeal from me. Our board, finance committee, and audit committee monitor other financial decisions. 

When I was a pastor, a lay person always made this same kind of evaluation before reimbursements were allowed. Throughout my ministry, I have insisted someone else evaluate my personal use of reimbursable funds. Needless to say, it is also important to create and submit to proper procedures for use of all ministry funds. 

I have heard ministry leaders say, “If you trust me to teach you the Word of God, you should trust me to handle the money without looking over my shoulder.” Red flag! That arrogant attitude will destroy integrity. Find out how to account for every dollar in your ministry…and do it! Safeguards must be put in place, documentation must be produced, and care must be taken to be completely above reproach when it comes to money! Obtaining purchase orders, keeping receipts, filling out forms, and operating within a budget can seem onerous. But do it! Do all of it! Keep yourself straight with money. 

Fourth, account for your decisions. Leaders make decisions. It’s what we do. Leaders are not paid by the hour or the job. We are paid to make good decisions. When you make a decision, own up to it. You will make some bad decisions. Do not compound a bad decision by another one - shifting the blame or denying the responsibility for your decision. Real leaders avoid scapegoating or passing the buck. 

Once, in a different ministry, I made a decision in direct violation of a board directive. My next move was to call the board chairman and tell him what I had done and why. The next time the board met, I told the full board of my actions and why. Their response was to affirm my decision, confirm the validity of my reasons, and to caution me not to take their approval for carte blanche permission in the future. 

There are times when rules must be broken. When that time comes, the reasons will be acceptable to most reasonable people. While you will not need to justify your actions, you are required to explain them and own them. In a later chapter on courage, you will learn how to stand alone with a decision – even against your supporters – and absorb the consequences. But most of the time, our actions and their results are not that dramatic. The drama usually occurs when we crawfish away from our responsibility or shift the blame for our decisions to others. Do not do it. Integrity demands a better response. 

Integrity is promoted by living in authority structures. Do not complicate this simple principle. Allow the people God has placed around you, organizationally, to promote integrated living. Learn to cooperate with the accountability systems, structures, and procedures. If you sense rebellion building within you, be careful! It is very easy to justify marginal choices that then lead to sinful choices and compromised integrity.


<< Return to Archive

Foundations for Integrity in Leadership

June 23, 2008

In almost every profession there is a renewed call for integrity among leaders. A fresh call to lead with integrity is happening among leaders in law, medicine, business, education, politics, sports, and ministry. Everyone wants leaders with integrity, thinks it’s important, and definitely wants it demonstrated toward them. But fewer and fewer leaders seem to value integrity, know what it is, how to develop it, maintain it personally, or demonstrate it professionally. 

Over the next three weeks, this column will outline some of my perspective on integrity in ministry leadership. For additional information, check out my chapter on integrity in my book The Character of Leadership. 

Some leaders have a view of integrity that is too simplistic. If they have not had an affair or stolen money, then they have integrity! Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Maintaining integrity means more than appropriate sexual and fiscal behavior. While those are important issues, integrity is touches all areas of a leader’s life. 

Defining integrity 

The word “integrity” comes from the Latin word integritas - the root word for “integer.” The root word means whole, complete, or undivided. An integer is a whole number, not a fraction. A proper understanding of integrity can be built on this math imagery. A person of integrity is a whole, complete, undivided person – not segmented or fractionalized. No double-dealing, no double-standards, and no double-meanings! A person is whole, complete, undivided in words, actions, and standards. 

This changes the focus from simply behaving properly in any single area to behaving consistently in all areas all the time. That is a tougher challenge! You have integrity when you are the same in every place, in every circumstance, with every group of people. 

Dictionary definitions of integrity, like Webster’s for example, support this same idea. Integrity is the “quality or state of being complete or undivided.” Note the use of the same meaning as derived from the root word integer. A person of integrity is whole or complete. The best understanding of integrity is being unified. A person of integrity has integrated his or her standards, words, and actions into one. Integrity, then, is saying what you mean, meaning what you say, doing what you say, and meaning what you do! 

Another part of the definition of integrity is “firm adherence to a code of moral or artistic values.” This strikes at the more common understanding of integrity – coming up to a certain standard. For Christian leaders, this means coming up to God’s standards of moral and ethical behavior. In short, you bring your behavior in line with God’s Word. 

Both Old and New Testament root words support these ideas. The Hebrew root word for integrity means complete, whole, or perfect. This supports the first part of the modern definition. New Testament words related to integrity carry an ethical dimension – righteousness, holiness, and purity. These ideas round out two-fold perspective on the meaning of integrity – wholeness and holiness. 

A simple definition of integrity, which combines these ideas, is “consistently applying biblical principles in character and action.” Integrity occurs when you integrate your beliefs and actions with the standards of Scripture so there is consistency. You have integrity when you conform your beliefs and actions to what the Bible teaches. This is the essence of Christian integrity. You align your attitudes, words, and actions with biblical truth. You strive for a seamless meshing of these in all areas of life – home, work, school, everywhere – to be a leader with integrity. 

Christian leaders have unique resources for developing and maintaining integrity. Next week: spiritual foundations for developing integrity. The following week: spiritual disciplines that reinforce integrity.


<< Return to Archive

The Call to Pastoral Ministry

June 9, 2008

A call to pastoral ministry is another one of the special ways God calls within the context of ministry leadership. The phrase “pastoral ministry” can be used to mean anyone who is called to pastoral leadership in the church. This can include what is commonly called “senior pastor” or any of the various kinds of pastors or associate pastors in churches today. While there are many pastoral roles, the focus of this chapter is on God calling a person to be “the pastor,” the person with the oversight of a local church. 

The call to pastoral ministry, or “the call to preach” in a previous generation, was for many years the standard way of expressing and experiencing God’s call. This is no longer the case. Most of the time, including in this book, God’s general call is presented as a call to ministry leadership instead of a particular role or office. A call to missions or pastoral ministry is a subset of the larger, broader call to ministry leadership. 

This shift in how God’s call is described is not intended to diminish the importance of a call to pastoral ministry. It is, instead, an attempt to understand God’s call in a more general sense thus including the many different kinds of ministry leadership roles in today’s world. Lost in all this, however, is the need to lift up the pastoral call as the most significant leadership call among the rich and varied options in the kingdom. 

One of the alarming issues today is the decreasing percentage of people who attend seminary with a focused commitment to become pastors. While many problems with pastors and pastoral leadership (immorality, fiscal irresponsibility, doctrinal errors, etc.) are evident in the church, the most distressing problem for the future may be the shortage of pastors! 

This chapter addresses two aspects of this problem. First, it addresses the uniqueness of the call to pastoral ministry. The pastoral office, and by implication the qualities and qualifications for those called to pastoral ministry, is the most clearly defined church leadership role in the New Testament. This enables us to understand many different dimensions of this kind of call. Second, this chapter addresses the common reasons people who are called to pastoral ministry resist this call. These two purposes are interwoven through this discussion based on Paul’s description of the pastoral office in 1 Timothy 3:1-7.

The pastoral call is a high calling
The pastoral office is a “noble work” to which a person “aspires” (1 Tim. 3:1). This is lofty language describing the dignity, honor, and prestige attached to pastoral ministry. The office itself, regardless of the person holding it, is significant and elevates the status of the occupant rather than the other way around. 

Pastoral ministry is a worthy calling, though not everyone agrees. When I was in college, the vice-president of a multinational company asked me about my career plans. I said, “I am going to be a pastor.” He replied, “Why would you want to waste your life doing that?” He thought nothing could be more irrelevant than leading a church, having the care of souls, and representing the gospel to a community. The Bible has a different view. The pastoral office is honorable and worth giving your life for. 

African-American churches elevate the pastoral office in tangible ways. In many churches, there is one pulpit for the pastor to speak from and another, smaller podium for all others to use. A friend took his youth group to Los Angeles for a mission trip in Watts. The group visited Mt. Zion Baptist Church to hear Dr. E.V. Hill preach. After the service, one of the boys considering a call to pastoral ministry wanted to have his picture taken while standing behind the pulpit of that great church. As he neared the pulpit, a deacon intercepted him and kindly (but firmly) said, “Young man, please step away from the pulpit. Only Dr. Hill stands there.” The pulpit in that church is a powerful symbol of the office, the man who occupies it, and the church’s respect for both. While every culture expresses this differently, all should find ways to honor the importance of pastoral ministry. 

Pastoral leadership is also important because of who is being led. The church is “the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things” (Eph. 3:9). God reveals his “multi-faceted wisdom…through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens” (Eph. 3:10). The church is God’s ultimate prize, his final “purpose of the ages” (Eph. 3:11). When you consider the exalted position of the church in God’s economy, you will understand the high office pastors have. The President of the United States is more important that the President of the Rotary Club because of the power, influence, and scope of who and what he leads. Pastors lead God’s most precious creation and possession – the church! The importance of their office is magnified by whom they lead. 

Some today diminish the importance of the church, considering it irrelevant and passé. Ineffective, spiritually cold churches confirm this impression. But the eternal reality is God will sustain the church. He will sustain an organized, visible expression of the church. And, the church, like any organization will need leaders – pastors who respond to God’s call and assume this high office.

The pastoral call is a character calling
Most of the description of pastors in the Bible relates to their character, not their skills or training. Paul described a pastor as “above reproach…self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable…not addicted to wine, not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy…(with) a good reputation among outsiders” (1 Tim. 3:2-7). These character qualities raise a high standard of personal comportment and emotional control. 

Pastors are required to be examples of Christian character and Christian character development. The first phrase – “above reproach” – is a daunting standard. Pastors are to live in such a way others may emulate their attitudes and behavior. Frankly, this is one of the reasons some people reject the call to pastoral ministry or want to interpret their call in more generic (and less stressful) terms. They simply cannot take the pressure of being a moral example in their church and community. 

Another aspect of this character calling is pastoral ministry will test your character. Being a pastor is a tough job! Pastoral leadership is a crucible for character development. God uses the role as a refining fire to smelt out impurities. Pastoral ministry is also challenging because pastors work with people. And some sheep bite! Several of the character qualities like “self-controlled…hospitable…not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy…a good reputation among outsiders” (1 Tim. 3:2-7) are only demonstrated in relationship with difficult people. If you answer God’s call to pastoral ministry, prepare to have some challenging times of personal growth as you lead people. God will use these experiences, and you will ultimately be grateful for them, but they are painful when they occur. Being a pastor requires exemplary character and will test your character.

The pastoral call is a family calling
Pastoral ministry, like many other roles in ministry, often involves the entire family. Paul acknowledged this when he wrote a pastor must be “the husband of one wife…(and) one who manages his own household competently, having his children under control with all dignity” (1 Tim. 3:2, 4). The focus on these passages is usually on analyzing “husband of one wife” and clarifying what Paul meant by “under control.” Those discussions are important but not the focus of this book. 

The point here is a pastoral calling is a family calling. There is no escaping the reality that a pastor’s family is significantly involved in his work. Pastors must take precautions to preserve their family’s identity and each person’s participation in the church without inappropriate outside pressure that negatively impacts the family. But it is very difficult to lead a church, while keeping your family entirely isolated from knowing about your pastoral responsibilities and function. 

A pastor’s wife must be supportive of his call. This can take many forms and stereotypes must be avoided. But, if a pastor’s wife is resistant to him being in pastoral ministry he will not last long. Similarly, a pastor’s children must be taught they have been born to parents who share a pastoral call and, in some way, God intends for them to share and enjoy that environment. 

There are also some special blessings a pastor’s family gets to enjoy. If you are a pastor, your family gets to go to work with you and see what you do. When I left pastoral ministry to work for the denomination, my preschool son asked, “What does daddy do now?” He felt a great loss not seeing his father “do” ministry. Your family also benefits from your flexible work schedule. As a pastor, I was often the only father present for mid-day school functions. As I traveled to preach at conferences or other outside engagements, my family traveled with me going places most children never visited. 

Your family gets to know, on a more personal basis, the best people on earth – church people! Sure, sometimes they can be difficult. But most of the time, church friends, surrogate aunts, uncles, and grandparents, and fellow pastors are the very best people in the world. When I had cancer, church people rallied around our family in remarkable ways. Our children have never forgotten the love they were shown by so many who cared for them during those frightening days. 

Your family also gets to see God at work – up close and personal. Your family, even though you are discreet and honor confidentiality, knows more details about how God is changing people than the typical church member does. They see God at work, up close and personal! And, finally, your family will get to know other Christian leaders more personally than the average church member ever will. 

These are just some of the benefits to being a pastoral family. A pastor’s family is part of his ministry. If you are called to pastoral ministry, celebrate the blessings of being in ministry with your family around you.

A pastoral call is a community call
Pastors have the opportunity to spiritually shepherd and impact entire communities. Paul recognized this by emphasizing pastors “must have a good reputation with outsiders” (1 Tim. 3:7). After serving in a community for several years, it was not unusual for people to introduce me to friends as “my pastor” even though they had never once attended my church. When you work in the community, making a spiritual impact at community events and serving the larger community’s spiritual needs, people come to think of you as their pastor. 

When a respected pastor has long tenure, he can have a significant community impact. Unfortunately, the reverse is also true. When a pastor sins morally or ethically, it becomes a community issue. Because pastors have community influence, these sins are damaging to the reputation of the church and to Christianity in general. Sometimes the stain lasts a long time. When I asked for directions to a certain church, I was told, “Oh that’s the church where the pastor killed his wife in the parsonage.” While it was true, it had also happened more than 15 years before! 

Pastors, because of their calling and office, are recognized community leaders. They can use their influence for good. Their sins can have a disproportionately negative impact. The pastoral calling is a call to community service and responsibility. If you are called to pastoral ministry, honor the office and guard its integrity. Make sure you live above reproach and bring honor to your church and the Lord through your leadership example.



<< Return to Archive

The Call to MIssions

June 2, 2008

Over the past few weeks, I have been publishing excerpts from my new book, Is God Calling Me? This week and next week are the final two installments. The book is written for a younger audience, but the principles apply to leaders of all ages. 

One of the special ways God calls is the call to missions. This call is a subset of the general call to ministry leadership. It is form of that call (perhaps it could be labeled a general call to missionary leadership) which God clarifies with a later call to a specific missionary assignment. This is also one of the most misunderstood callings. People often misunderstand this call as a mandate to move to another country. While that may be part of this call, it is not the defining component. 

Paul was the most effective missionary in the early church. His mission work is summarized in the book of Acts. He wrote about his experiences in several of his letters to churches (which comprise much of the New Testament). Paul described his call and its implications in Ephesians 3. His summary provides a good framework to properly understand the call to missions.

A call to missions begins at conversion
The foundation for a call to missions is the common experience of all believers being commissioned for mission service at their conversion. Paul wrote, “I was made a servant of the gospel, by the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of His power” (Eph. 3:7). As a servant of the gospel, Paul was a preacher, teacher, church planter, and writer. All of that describes his missionary work. 

The phrase “by the gift of God’s grace” is an allusion to Paul’s conversion experience. In this same letter he wrote, “By grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift” (Eph. 2:8). Paul described his conversion as a work of God’s grace, a gift from God. He clearly traced the beginning of his missionary work to his conversion experience. 

God commissions every believer as a “servant of the gospel” simultaneous to his or her conversion. When you were saved, you were commissioned to missionary service. Every believer is, in that sense, called to missions.

A call to missions is to people, not places
Paul was a traveling man. He made three mission trips, plus a trip to Rome as a prisoner that could also be considered a mission trip considering how aggressively he evangelized sailors, guards, and Roman leaders. Paul went to and through major cities and many provinces during his missionary career. But when he summarized his call to missions, he referenced people rather than a geographic local. 

Paul wrote, “This grace was given to me…to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of the Messiah (Eph. 3:8). Paul identified the Gentiles, rather than a city, province, or country as the object of his mission. Admittedly, Gentiles is a broad generic term for non-Jews. Still, Paul’s call was expressed in terms of people, not places. 

The missionary call is a call to people. It is a call to identify and reach certain people God places on your heart. The question to clarify your missionary call is not, “Am I called?” The question is, “Who am I called to reach?” In other words, “Who are my Gentiles?” 

Some will answer this question with people in their neighborhood or community. Others will answer it cross-culturally, requiring relocation to a different country or culture. When God calls you to reach your “Gentiles,” he expects you to structure or restructure your life to accomplish His mission. Doing that may require a geographic change. But again, the relocation is a result of the call, not the call itself. 

A couple told me they were called to reach Vietnamese people. They applied to a mission board and were accepted for service in Germany. This really puzzled me. “Why Germany when you are called to Vietnam?” I asked. “We aren’t called to Vietnam,” they replied. “We are called to reach Vietnamese people. There are more than 100,000 Vietnamese service workers in the German city where we are being sent.” This couple had a clear understanding of their call. They were called to reach Vietnamese people, not to the spot on the map called Vietnam. 

Sometimes, the missionary call takes a different form. Rather than just thinking of it cross-culturally, the answer to, “Who are my Gentiles?” may lead you into mission to a people group very close to you. Many Christians make this too complicated. God most often sends us on mission to the people we already know. He sends us on mission to schoolmates, work associates, neighborhood friends, or fellow club members. When you ask God, “Who are my Gentiles?” do not be surprised if the answer is someone, or some group, you know well. 

Too many Christians overlook the obvious mission field around them. For example, our children were heavily involved in youth sports. All three of our children played multiple sports through high school. We spent thousands of hours at practice, games, team parties, and traveling to and from sporting events for about 15 years. We never used this as an excuse to be too busy to share our faith. We used these relationships as the conduit for sharing our faith. 

Most of the people our family has been influential in leading to faith in Jesus have been friends – players, coaches, umpires, and parents – we made through youth sports. We shared our faith, naturally but intentionally, with sports friends over the years. Some of these witnessing relationships took years to develop. But over time, living with people through all kinds of life experiences, we were able to see some of our friends become Christians. 

Sometimes, while your mission field may be all around you, you still need to create unique venues to accomplish your mission. My oldest son started a Fellowship of Christian Athletes ministry to crystallize his outreach to fellow athletes. My other son started a Christian Club at a public high school – not for Christian fellowship but as a discussion venue allowing unbelievers to learn about the Christian worldview. This kind of intentional strategy is often required to reach out to people around you. 

A call to missions is primarily a call to people, not places. A call to missions is a call to communicate the gospel to people. God calls most believers to reach the people in their circle of influence. That is your primary mission field. You can do that through relationships or through creating intentional strategies for communicating the gospel. 

While all believers share a call to missions, some are specifically called to cross-cultural mission work. When they ask, “Who are my Gentiles?” the answer is another cultural, ethnic, or language group. Obeying this call usually involves geographic change – moving across town or around the world. While this is the traditional view of a call to missions, the relocation is more a byproduct of the call than the essence of the call itself.

A call to missions involves you in God’s eternal purpose
Joining God on mission to others, sharing the gospel with people unites you with God’s eternal purpose. Paul wrote both his call and the wonder of the gospel were “according to God’s purpose of the ages” (Eph. 3:11). In this context Paul also wrote of God’s mystery, the manifold wisdom of his redemptive plan. Revealing and explaining that plan to the Gentiles was God’s eternal purpose. Paul found his eternal purpose by joining God in that process. You can do the same as you share the gospel with people. 

Think about how temporary life is. For most of us, life is full of daily duties like answering the phone, changing diapers, mowing the lawn, going to meetings, and fighting traffic. Even the more purposeful, meaningful aspects of life like family activities and job successes are temporary. Much of what we do does not last more than a few days, much less our lifetime. 

A call to missions is a call to God’s eternal purpose. Since your conversion, you have shared this call. Are you living it? If so, thank God for inviting you into his eternal purpose. If not, ask God “Who are my Gentiles?” and then get busy getting the gospel to them. As people around you begin to be saved, you will sense an eternal satisfaction that comes from seeing this happen. And, if your Gentiles are part of another culture or a people group who have never heard the gospel, you may start an eternal chain reaction lasting centuries. What a privilege!

A call to missions requires sacrifice
Answering God’s call to missions, particularly to a cross-cultural assignment that requires a major relocation, involves sacrifice. Paul wrote of his sacrifice, telling the Ephesians, “not be to discouraged over my afflictions on your behalf, for they are your glory” (Eph. 3:13). “Afflictions” is a strong word. Paul had suffered physically to get to the gospel to them. He wrote them from a Roman prison, his life to soon to end because of his missionary work. A call to missions involves sacrifice, sometimes even a life-giving sacrifice. 

Larry and Jean Elliot gave the ultimate sacrifice as missionaries. They were some of the first Christian workers in Iraq after the Saddam Hussein regime was overthrown. Larry and Jean were searching for sites to establish fresh water wells when their car was strafed and all three were killed. They gave their lives trying to get clean water, and then living water, to the Iraqi people 

These martyrs join a long line of mostly unknown believers who have given their lives for the expansion of God’s kingdom. They died willingly, making the ultimate sacrifice to get the gospel to as many people as possible. Yet, others have made the same sacrifice, only more slowly. Missionaries who serve 30 or 40 years on the field, only to return with broken health and very limited financial resources have made a similar, though less dramatic sacrifice. They too have given their lives for the gospel. 

Answering a call to missions, particularly in the traditional sense of international missionary service, requires sacrifice. You will sacrifice time with your family, missing things like holiday celebrations and memorial services for family members. Comforts of home must be forsaken. On a recent trip to preach to a missionary group, one person emailed, “Bring a small jar of peanut butter if you can. What a treat it would be!” Wal-Mart may be almost everywhere, but they have not yet built in the jungle where those missionaries are serving. Even a jar of peanut butter was a special treat. 

Many Christians complain about the slightest inconvenience. Where is our willingness to sacrifice? Radical environmentalists, homosexual activists, and religious fanatics all around the world are giving their lives to advance their causes. Even more should be expected of us who claim to have the message of eternal life for the world. 

A call to missions, however it is expressed through your life, will require sacrifice. It will cost you time, energy, resources, and personal comfort to get the gospel to others. That is true if you are taking the gospel down the street, across your state, or around the world. A call to missions, your call to missions, will require sacrifice. 

But like Paul, you will hardly notice the difficulty. You will say, as he told the Ephesians, “My afflictions…are for your glory” (Eph. 3:13). Whatever sacrifice we might make pales before the joy of knowing we have been instrumental in people becoming followers of Jesus.



<< Return to Archive