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ABCRM values the ministry of its professional church leaders and will strive to provide support for them through mentoring, educational opportunities, and pastoral support in maintaining healthy congregations.
Pastors need Jethros. Not the kind from The Beverly Hillbillies, the Biblical Jethro.
In Exodus 18 there’s the story of Jethro coming to see his son-in-law, Moses. It so happens to be Take-Your-Father-in-law-to-Work Day, and so off Jethro goes with Moses to see what his son-in-law consumes his time with, or better yet, what consumes Moses’ time. After taking in a few hours of Moses’ un-ending business, Jethro asks him “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?” (Exodus 18:14, NIV)
After Moses’ comes back at him with a nice spiritually-sounding excuse, Jethro says “What you are doing is not good…The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.” (Exodus 18:17) Pastors need Jethros to keep them healthy, when the weight of spiritual leadership can so easily pull them in the direction of unhealthiness. Pastors especially are prone to cave in to the saying “Don’t just stand there. Do something!”
“Doing” can end up defining a church’s pastor until he/she is “all done in.”A Jethro halts the business with an occasional “Stop the insanity!” wake-up call. It’s a re-focusing moment.
For the ABCRM healthy professional church leadership is, and will be, fostered more and more by mentoring relationships. Mentoring happens pastor-to-pastor, as well as in support networks for pastors. One of the ways that will look is through the emergence of “Together In Ministry”(TIM) groups sponsored by the Minister’s Council. TIM groups commit to meet on a monthly basis for mutual support, discussion on a pre-determined topic, book, or ministry issue. They consist of 6-10 professional church leaders, and each group has a facilitator who leads the session.
So often pastors feel like they are located in a distant oasis surrounded by miles and miles of dessert. A TIM group offers a network of Jethros for the pastor. They remind the pastor to stay grounded by saying “Don’t just do something. Stand there!” Pastors need outside affirmation in times of ministry anxiety. When the Sunday message bombs, there’s a need to know that there’s some people that a pastor can call. When there’s a family crisis in their own family, the pastor needs to know that there’s someone outside of his/her church that the problem can be shared with.
Healthy churches need healthy pastors. Those can also be switched. Healthy pastors need healthy churches. It can also be said that unhealthy churches need healthy pastors, and in that “match” it is crucial for the pastor to have a network of Jethros to keep on course.
Jesus tells the parable about the person who puts their hand to the plow and doesn’t look back (Luke 9:62). In ministry it’s easy to lose focus on the point we’re heading towards and gradually steer away from the healthy path. ABCRM is about helping pastors steer the healthy course. Healthy pastors can be used by God to lead unhealthy churches back to health.
Pastors need Jethros. Churches need healthy pastors.
Bill Wolfe
ABCRM Board
Member
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