"I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice."
The pastor will not be excused for not being able to provide leadership
The pastor is the leader; and the people expect him to lead always. Any pastor, who believes that his people will pardon him for his leadership lapses, is making a mockery of himself. If the pastor realizes that he lacks leadership skills, he should find every means to acquire the skills before he loses his authority in the church.
The pastor cannot lead effectively if he does not know his members well
Every leader will have a hard time leading people he cannot connect very well with. It is therefore the pastor’s responsibility to know the people he is leading. He has to show a lot of interest in them by taking pains to know their names and also, if possible, where they live and work.
One way of achieving this is to make visitation of members one of his major activities. Visitation has the power to connect the pastor to members of the church and to endear him to their hearts. Visitation should therefore not be left to deacons and elders alone. The pastor should himself be actively involved in visiting members of the church. If you are pastor who is serious about leadership you should establish a system of visiting every member at least once every month. Such a system may involve a visitation team whose duty is to visit a number of people within their domain; and a system of reporting to the pastor on a monthly or weekly basis.
The people will be ready for you to lead them when they know you care about them
Just as the shepherd cares for the sheep, the pastor has to show interest in the affairs of his members and be ready to take the lead role in directing and supporting them when they face challenges. I am not talking about the pastor giving the members financial or material support all the time, even though that is important if he can afford it, but I am talking about the pastor being available for the members at all times and showing love to them in their times of need. More often than not, what most church members want is not just a pastor who meets their physical needs, but one who will be ready to stand with them in difficult times.
The members will learn from the sacrifices the pastor makes
As the leader, the pastor should be the first to make sacrifices; he has to pay the greatest price for the ministry. Jesus said that every good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. If you want your people to give in support of projects in the church, the pastor has to also give; he should not think that he is not under obligation to give because he is the spiritual head. I know of some pastors who do not pay tithes and will never make financial contributions to support church projects. They are always expecting the church to foot all their bills, but will never give to the church. Such pastors are not showing any good leadership, and should not expect to accomplish much in the ministry, because he will not be able to raise faithful members in the church. I have said before that I am yet to see any great man of God who is not a giver. Every pastor has to understand that the greater your sacrifice, the greater your ministry will become.
You will save yourself a lot of trouble if your promises are few
Promises, they say, are sacred. Every leader should know that people do not easily forget the promises we give them. The pastor should therefore ensure that his promises are few. As much as he can, he should not make promises he knows he will have difficulty fulfilling. This is because most people do not forgive their leaders if they fail to fulfill their promises. You lose your credibility as a leader if you fail to fulfill your promises.
Church members become apathetic when they are over-pampered
It is good for every pastor to make the members feel loved, but sometimes some of them can take your love and concern for them for granted, if you overdo things. Much as some members want to do things for themselves a few months after being saved, there are others who will still want to behave like babes even years after they are saved. Such people never grow and will call the pastor at the slightest problem; they complain about many things in the church, and will threaten to leave the church until the pastor pays them a special visit.
Most successful people are hard leaders
I do not mean the pastor has to be over-bearing; I am saying that the pastor should not allow the people to control him. He should be very firm and move by the Holy Spirit’s convictions, and not be subject to the whims and caprices of leaders in the church, some of whom may feel they always have to be consulted on almost every decision the pastor makes. Building the church is a spiritual work, with the pastor as the spiritual head. Much as the pastor needs the support of his leaders, he has to know that not every leader is spiritual and therefore not every leader will understand the actions or ideas that may be coming from the pastor by the direction of the Holy Spirit. The pastor should know that the church is not a parliament, so he does not need a majority decision before he does what God is leading the church to do. Spiritual directions are just not negotiable, and the pastor will have to make this clear to his people.
The Lord will always defend the pastor for the things he asks him to do
The pastor does not have to be afraid of doing the things he feels led by the Spirit to do, no matter how impossible it may seem or the opposition he may receive from his own people. He should never be afraid of what people will think or say about him. Once he knows he has God’s approval, he should rest assured that God will always be with him, and success will crown his good efforts.
Loneliness is common with the pastor’s role as a leader
The pastor should not expect to be happy all the time. He should not think that because he is called by God, the members will always be there for him and make him happy. I realize that pastors are some of the loneliest people in this life, because of the call of God, and the fact that many times God wants them to spend more time with him than they do with other people. I believe that sometimes God intentionally makes certain people to withdraw from fellowshipping with the pastor so they can make time to be alone with God. Every pastor should understand the reason for the seasons of loneliness, and utilize them profitably be waiting on the Lord in prayer and meditation.
Failure to rebuke sin reduces the pastor’s influence in the church
People are made to be given leadership. Everyone needs someone to lead him at one time or another; and since humans are imperfect, one of the key roles of the leader is to correct, rebuke and discipline his followers. The pastor should not be afraid to correct, rebuke or discipline his members when they go wrong because without these, many of them will go astray. Paul told Timothy to rebuke those who sinned.
1Timothy 5:20
Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.
If the pastor fails to rebuke those who sin, other members will see the pastor as a weak leader and will commit worse sins in the church. Instead of the pastor fearing the members, and refusing to discipline them for their sins, the members should rather be made to be afraid to do the wrong things in the church because they know their pastor will discipline them. Years ago, I interacted with a pastor who told me about the level of sexual immorality in a branch church he had been posted to head. I remember he said that he was totally overwhelmed by the number of such cases he was handling because the one who had led the church before him had failed to discipline offenders. Any pastor who deliberately refuses to rebuke, correct or discipline sinners in the church is not living by the principles of Christ, and will soon realize that he has no more influence in the church.
Knowledge enhances the pastor’s leadership
God’s word gives light or direction to anyone who receives it in faith; it makes the leader to understand what to do and to have more faith in the things he does. Every pastor should focus not only on studying the scriptures, but he has to spend time in meditating on the word of God so that he can receive revelation knowledge. Without revelation knowledge, the pastor’s leadership is not properly founded and his influence will be marginally felt within the congregation. It is however unfortunate that these days many pastors tend to dwell more on secular knowledge in developing themselves in the ministry. The emphasis is now shifting from biblical knowledge towards secular knowledge. I have nothing against the pastor’s quest for knowledge, but I am against the phenomenon whereby ministers are happy having more secular knowledge to the detriment of their knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, which is the minister’s source of all knowledge and power. The pastor who wants to enhance his leadership needs to stick to the Bible, because it is the best book on leadership one can find anywhere on earth. Other books or courses on leadership can only be supplementary to the Bible.
Prayer keeps the leader focused on his vision
Prayer gives life to the leader’s vision and sustains his desire for achieving more day by day. Therefore the pastor has to pray every day if he is to succeed as a leader. The more consistent and effective the pastor’s prayer life is, the more potent his leadership will be because prayer releases revelation knowledge from God, which keeps the leader far ahead of his people.
**** This article was culled from the author’s book, MY PASTOR AND I, which is available for purchase on Amazon through the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HWUX3Y6
Rev Alfred Osafo-Yeboah is the senior pastor and founder of the Refreshing Word Ministries (Evergreen Church), a ministry committed to transforming people and directing them towards God’s purpose for their lives. He is a Conference Speaker, Bible Teacher and Pastor. He is also devoted to ministerial and leadership training. He and his wife Gloria and children reside in Tamale, Ghana.
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