How to Be a Pastor

Great number of volumes have been written on the art of preaching. Lectures on Homiletics have been multiplied until they would form a respectable library. But a large part of the labors of every settled minister lies outside of the pulpit. They embrace the whole sphere of his personal intercourse with his flock, his care of the sick and the suffering, his dealings with awakened or doubting or troubled souls, his organization of christian work, his development of the spiritual life of the church, and his executive oversight of all its manifold activities. Upon this vitally important side of ministerial life the current literature is quite scanty.

Richard Baxter’s “Reformed Pastor” is a classic of undisputed value; but it is now more seldom studied than it ought to be, and the circumstances in which modern ministers are placed, are very different from those which surrounded the immortal “bishop” of Kidderminster. About forty years ago (in 1850) Dr. Ichabod Smith Spencer, of Brooklyn, issued a very remarkable work entitled “A Pastor’s Sketches,” which attracted wide attention and admiration. It was devoted to a narrative of specific “cases of conscience,” and of conversation with anxious inquirers; his dealings with whom exhibited a most surprising sagacity. Other volumes more or less similar to Dr. Spencer’s brilliant book, have been published. There still seems to be, however, a vacant niche for another treatise which shall discuss in the most familiar, colloquial and practical fashion, the every-day

duties of a Christian Pastor. At the solicitation of several of my ministerial brethren, I have been led to undertake such a discussion; and if the results of forty-four years of experience and observation shall prove to be of value to others — especially to my younger brethren — I shall be thankful.

The importance of all that portion of a minister’s work that lies outside of his pulpit can hardly be overestimated. What is the chief object of the christian ministry? It goes without saying that it is to win souls to Jesus Christ. A great element of power with every faithful ambassador of Christ should be heart-power. A majority of all congregations, rich or poor, are reached and influenced, not so much through the intellect as through the affections. This is an encouraging fact; for while only one man in ten may have the talent to become a very great preacher, the other nine, if they love Christ and love human souls, can become great pastors. Nothing gives a minister such heart-power as personal acquaintance with, and personal attentions to those whom he aims to influence; for everybody loves to be noticed. Especially is personal sympathy welcome in seasons of trial. Let a pastor make himself at home in everybody’s home; let him come often and visit their sick rooms, and kneel beside their empty cribs, and their broken hearts, and pray with them; let him go to the business men in his congregation when they have suffered reverses and give them a word of cheer; let him be quick to recognize the poor, and the children — and he will weave a cord around the hearts of his people that will stand a prodigious pressure. His inferior sermons — (for every minister is guilty of such occasionally) — will be kindly condoned, and he can launch the most pungent truths at his auditors and they will not take offense. He will have won their hearts to himself, and that is a great step towards drawing them to the house of God, and winnine their souls to the Saviour. “A house-going minister” said Chalmers, “makes a church-going people.”

Never must the chief end of a minister’s labors be lost sight of. It is to awaken the careless, to warn the endangered, to comfort the sorrowing, to help the weak, and to edify believers; — in short to make bad people good, and good people better. Preaching strong gospel-sermons is one of the most effective means to this end; but it is not the only means. Outside of the pulpit every messenger of Christ can come to close quarters with each individual soul, and preach eye to eye; nobody can dodge such preaching or fall to sleep under it. If the shepherd can only save the sheep, by going after the sheep, then woe be unto him if he neglect his duty! As many souls are won to Jesus Christ outside of the pulpit, as in the pulpit. I am firmly persuaded that if many a minister would take part of the time that he now spends in polishing his discourses, or in miscellaneous studies and would devote it to pastoral visitation he would have larger congregations, and a far larger number of conversions to Christ. He would be a healthier man for the physical exercise of going from house to house; he would be a more fluent speaker from the practice he would gain in personal conversation; he would become a much more tender, eloquent and heart-moving ambassador of his Master.

There is one potent argument for close pastoral intercourse with his congregation that many ministers are in danger of ignoring, or of underestimating. Every pulpit needs to be vitalized by close contact with living people, rather than with lifeless books; and the best practical discourses are those which the congregation help their minister to prepare. His books teach him many truths in the abstract; his people can teach him those and many more truths in the concrete. By constant and loving intercourse with the individuals of his flock, he becomes acquainted with their peculiarities, and thus enlarges his knowledge of human nature, which is second only to a knowledge of God’s Word. He discovers also their spiritual wants. He soon becomes convinced that they care most to have clear, strong, practical instruction about their every-day duties,* trials, and temptations. They want to know not only how to save their souls for eternity, but how to save their lives in this world. They want portable truth that they can carry with them into their homes, into their sick rooms, into their storey and shops, and into every nook and corner of daily life. If a minister is a wise man (and neither God nor man has any use for fools), he will be made all the wiser by the thousand suggestions which he can gain from the immortal beings to whom he preaches.

There is about as much human nature in the pulpit as there is in the pew. We all love honest commendation and encouragement. Nothing cheers and helps a pastor more than to have his people say to him during the week, “I thank you for last Sunday’s sermon; it did me solid good; it relieved some of my doubts, it lifted off some of my loads, it comforted me under my heartaches, it brought me nearer to Christ.” Such encouragements not only reveal to us what our people need, but they are an hundred-fold better “pay” than a salary. A very distinguished and evangelical minister once said to me rather sadly, “I don’t get that sort of encouragement once in six months.” Probably the real reason is that he spends so much of. his time in his study, preparing his superb sermons, that he does not go familiarly among his flock, and give them a chance to say such cheering and helpful things. They listen to him, love him, and are proud of him, but are not enough “in touch” with him. And when I have read his masterly discourses, I have often thought that their only lack was the lack of just those tender, close, comforting home-truths which an intimate, personal intercourse with his people would suggest to him. He is a very great preacher, but perhaps would be still greater if he were a pastor-preacher.

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