How can I become a pastor?
Asking how to become a pastor sounds like asking how to enter a profession — you find the training, meet the requirements, and get appointed. The writers in this collection answer from a different direction: they ask who gives a pastor, what a pastor actually does, and how a person can know the work is really his.
A pastor is a gift, not a post
Scripture lists pastors alongside evangelists and teachers as gifts handed down by Christ after His ascension. Commentators press the point that the gift itself, and nothing added to it, makes the man.
C. H. MackintoshAs to any special gifts, such as that of evangelist, pastor, prophet, or teacher, it must be received from Christ alone; and the possession of it makes a man a minister, without anything further. And on the other hand, all the education and all the human authority under the sun could not make a man an evangelist, a pastor, or teacher, unless he has a genuine gift from the Head of the Church.
What the work actually involves
Before asking how to get there, it helps to know what "there" is. The word covers more than public speaking, and it is not the same as being a local overseer.
J. N. DarbyThe pastor as such fed and taught: it is directly connected with teaching, but goes further than teaching, as not merely explaining and putting forth the word, but suiting it to souls, and caring for them in a shepherding way. An elder is an overseer, looks after them in moral oversight… None of these things were looked for in the pastor; it was a positive gift from Christ on high, and exercised in the whole body wherever a person was, whereas an elder was a local overseer of people.
Why "going into the ministry" is the wrong starting point
The usual route — enrol, study, be accredited — is challenged directly by these writers, who see it as taking something out of the Lord's hands.
J. G. BellettWe hear constantly of a young man intending to go into the ministry… Let such a well-intentioned young man be sent to a university, or academy, or institution, and after a few years he comes out as an accredited minister. Now all this appears a direct taking of ministry out of the hands of the Lord Jesus into our own hands. We should see the folly of a devout Israelite sending his son to be educated as a prophet, as if God needed human preparation for the instrument He would use.
This does not mean study is useless. Writers point out that a gift must be waited on and cultivated — but cultivation improves a gift; it cannot create one.
Testing whether you are called
If no institution can confer the work, how do you know it is yours? One answer separates the wish to serve from the evidence of a call.
J. N. DarbyIt is a serious though a most happy thing to take up direct service… The mere fact of an inclination does not show that we are called to it. I believe the surest sign is earnest love for souls, and dealings with Christ about it out of the heart's need… It is not the desire to speak, but the desire for souls and the building up of the saints, which is the real driving force of service.
The call also settles the shape of the life, and that shape is not uniform.
Raymond K. CampbellThe nature and extent of the call to public ministry varies greatly. The Lord of the Harvest will make it plain to every exercised servant whom He calls, just where, how, and to what extent he should serve… One may be called, after due preparation and training in God's school, to give all his time to the work of the Lord, while another may be called to continue in his daily job while preaching and teaching in his spare time.
Begin where you already are
Shepherding is not reserved for a recognised few. It starts in small, ordinary care and grows.
A. J. PollockIn a certain sense all but the very newly converted should be shepherds. Who has not seen quite a small child caring for the baby of the family, throwing her protecting arm round the helpless infant? In the same way we often see a young Christian seeking to care for a still younger Christian… And starting with this humble instance we rise until we see the full-grown "pastor and teacher" gift from the Lord.
Whatever has been given needs working, or it fades.
C. H. MackintoshThe gift must be stirred up, otherwise it may become useless if left to lie dormant… A gift unused will soon become useless; whereas a gift stirred up and diligently used grows and expands. It is not enough to possess a gift; we must wait on the gift, cultivate it, and exercise it.
The qualification nobody applies for
The trust to shepherd was given to Peter at his lowest point, and that order is deliberate.
Hamilton SmithIt is clear that anyone who attempts to take up oversight for gain or in a domineering spirit has never learnt his own nothingness. It is only as we have learnt by experience our weakness, and therefore our need of dependence on the Lord, that we can in any true sense take the oversight of others.
Summary
- Given, not gained. Christ Himself gives pastors; possessing the gift makes the man, and no training or authority can supply what He has not given.
- Called, not chosen. Inclination alone proves nothing. The surest sign is love for souls and dealing with Christ about it — and the shape of that call differs from person to person.
- Caring, not lecturing. A pastor feeds and teaches, but goes further: he fits the word to souls and cares for them, wherever he happens to be.
- Cultivated, not assumed. A gift left dormant becomes useless; used diligently, it grows. Start with the one younger believer already in front of you.
- Crowned, after nothingness. Oversight taken up for gain or control shows a man has never learnt his own weakness; dependence on the Lord is what fits anyone to care for others.