On Your Pastoral Example
You will teach much with words. You may teach more with your example, how you live.
Or at least your teaching with words will be buttressed or hamstrung by your example. Do not underestimate the influence of example. Remember, after many years of God’s proclamation to his people through the words of the prophets, he showed more clearly and completely the center of his message through the Incarnation of the Word. Ultimately, it was actions congruent with words that unleashed the power of the Church. If you think about it, Jesus was God’s living example of the Gospel message declared by his prophets.
You, to a lesser degree, are too. You are an incarnation of God’s Gospel message. There are two ways you should concentrate on your pastoral example.
Congruency of Words and Deeds
You must avoid endangering your congregation (or family!) with cognitive dissonance. If they hear you saying one thing and see you doing another, they will have a difficult time following your lead. Your words and deeds much match. Consider these areas:
- If you call your people to grow in prayer, giving, helping, reading, serving, forgiving, but do not do so yourself, they will soon learn that those things are not important after all.
- If you are critical, sarcastic or cutting toward others, no matter how much you call people to love and forgive you will probably grow a conflicted congregation.
- If you are friendly, engaging people both young and old in the narthex before worship, you will most likely develop a warm worship setting without having to talk about it from the chancel.
- Your people will learn more about how to love their family from how you treat your family than by listening to what you say from the pulpit. Conversely, your family will learn more about God’s love by seeing how you treat your flock than by what you say at family devotions.
This is simple and obvious but crucial: to be an effective pastor making a significant impact on others your words and deeds must be congruent. You must demonstrate what you mean by how you live.
Here’s where it gets scary. Your words will not always match your deeds; after all you are still a poor miserable sinner. No matter how hard you try to hide them, you will have character traits and actions that you would prefer are not imitated by your congregation. How you are IS how your congregation will become.
Let me say that again, how you are IS how your congregation will become. The flock will be molded in the image of the shepherd. You will see your sanctification success lived out by your people, but you will also see your sanctification failure lived out as well.
How’s that for scary?
That leads to the second point which is no excuse for not working harder on the first point.
Orientation of Life and Hope
The most powerful example you can give to your people is to be an example of Hebrews 12:2. “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith.”
Picture a crowed, busy street full of pedestrians. Suddenly, without saying a word, one of the pedestrians stops and looks toward the sky. A passerby notices and cranes his head heavenward too. “What is up there?” A second does it as well. Then pretty soon another and another stops and looks up. You can predict what happens. Soon the whole street full of people is looking up.
Get it?
When others see the eyes of your faith trained on Jesus, they too will be drawn to look heavenward. First one, then another, and pretty soon the whole congregation will be following your example by having eyes fixed on Jesus. When your life and hope are clearly oriented toward the love God has for you in Jesus, you will be providing an example that trumps every other example you set. And, without that example, no other example will suffice.
Make sure your congregation, its leaders, its staff, its children, its new-comers and long-timers, sees you with your eyes fixed on Jesus; set that example about all others.
And when you do that, your pastorate will be one of significance. Eternal.