A couple of days ago I ask my Facebook friends:
“ What's the one thing you need most from a pastor (or any minister or vicar or priest for that matter)?”
“What's the most important bit of advice you'd give me, as I start as Pastor at Diamond Valley Baptist Church?”
I got an amazing and insightful list of answers ranging across many perspectives. When I cut and paste all the comments into Pages, it came to over twenty-five valuable pages! Below is a random (and often abbreviated sample of comments). The full thread is on Facebook, somewhere near HERE
“We were always told that the best part of us was that we were ‘real’, shared our lives (not pretending everything was always OK).”
“Being open and honest. And not a phoney! Actually caring helps.
“Listen and really hear.”
“Someone who refuses to do my bible reading and praying for me”
“Leading your church in relevance and servanthood to the wider non-church community.”
“Being as Christ would be to those we meet, not coming in with theological jargon.”
“What I think is most missing (across many churches) is the gospel…”
“I want someone who will bother to get to know me. Someone who will talk to me, ask questions and remember the answers I give. It makes all the difference when you believe your pastor actually cares about you.”
“ I want to hear real stories of regular people I knew hearing from God.”
“Hearing what God is doing in others lives (and their pastors) not just what God [in the past] did for them…”
“In the busy-ness of life, to feel like someone has 'time' for you, was what I needed most.”
“Make eye contact and not scan the room for..more important people to talk to!”
“Humble, vulnerable, truth-telling servant leadership…”
“Unhurried approachable-ness when talking to people. Nothing worse than feeling that I'm keeping my pastor from someone more important or interesting than me.”
“Loves Jesus.”
“How do we the Congregation meet the needs of our community? How are we Jesus to Australia and the world? How do we who work full time walk His walk rather than sprinkle a religion that is tainted…”
“Be Christ-like, within the person that God created"
“Don't try to be everything to everybody and be open about when you are having a bad day.”
“Discovering how to connect with the fast paced, time poor digital generations.”
If I had to summarise all the different themes I’d say there are four key points that I am hearing from people.
People need their ministers .... Read on....
People need their ministers .... Read on....
