Many of my articles come from the perspective of pastors. That will not change in the future. I am an advocate of pastors and I desire God’s best for them. I have no plans to change my advocacy role.
As a change of pace, however, I recently asked a few hundred laypersons to write down what they desired of a pastor. Their responses were open-ended, and there was no limitation on the number of items they could list. Though my approach was not scientific, these laypersons did represent over sixty churches.
Here are their top ten responses in order of frequency. Since many of them gave one or more sentences as a response, I can provide a representative comment by each of the responses.
- Love of congregation. “If we know that our pastor loves us, everything else falls in place. If he doesn’t, nothing else matters.”
- Effective preaching. “I don’t have any expectation that my preacher be one of the best in the world, I just want to know that he has spent time in the Word each week to teach us effectively and consistently.”
- Strong character. “No pastor is perfect, but I do want a pastor whose character is above reproach on moral, family, and financial issues.”
- Good work ethic. “I don’t want either a workaholic pastor or a lazy pastor. Unfortunately, our last two pastors have been obviously lazy.”
- Casts a vision. “Our church has so much possibility; I want to hear what we will do to make a difference in our community and the world.”
- Demonstrates healthy leadership. “Most of the pastors in my church have demonstrated a good balance; they have been strong leaders but not dictators.”
- Joyous. “Our current pastor is a man of joy. His joy and enthusiasm are contagious. I love him for that!”
- Does not yield to critics. “I know that every pastor serving today has his critics. And I know it’s tough to deal with them. I just want these pastors to know that we supporters are in the majority. Please don’t let the minority critics dictate how you lead and serve.”
- Transparent. “Every pastor that I have had has been open and transparent about the church and the direction we are headed. It sure has made our church healthier.”
- Models evangelism. “Our pastor is passionate about sharing the gospel. His heart and attitude are contagious.”
What do you think about this list? What would you add from the perspective of either a pastor or a layperson?
Posted on January 14, 2013
With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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181 Comments
The points that have been mentioned are very true that a pastor should have.But i would like to add one more quality and that is HONESTY.If this quality is present in a pastor all the other things will fall in place.
Critics in the Church are on the increase day by day though this may vary in degrees. Where the Pastor is sticking to the Gospel message when others around are popular preachers so to say with much of entertainment, this Pastor will be so unluck because of many who will want him to be like others. Here, he should know what God is asking him to do per time likenthe sons of Issacchar. That is why I love the points on preaching and critics.
You’d have to be five or six people to master all the traits on the wish list churches have. I guess it’s true – pastors aren’t perfect, but they should be.
Pastor what were your questions? How did you format your questions? Was it confidential?
After 30 years of pastoral ministry, I’m now sitting in the pew. Our church is awaiting a new lead pastor. My number one hope is that our new leader will be bold and courageous!
You can clearly discern from the comments who are the shepherds & who are the sheep. The unspoken, sad observation is ‘us against them’. Perhaps that is the root problem.
More sucstinctly than the “strong character” point below – Integrity – His word must be truth. There is no lie in God and there should be no lie in those that tend his flock.
“Strong character. “No pastor is perfect, but I do want a pastor whose character is above reproach on moral, family, and financial issues.”
An excellent list. Can someone suggest Ten Things a Pastor desires in Church Members?
#1 – To have the same expectations for themselves that they have for the Pastor, since every Christian is called to do all of the above plus the additional things added by other comments. Pastors are first and foremost a Christ follower just like everyone else. Pastors don’t have a higher standard but the same standard as everyone else. Some need to stop living vicariously through their Pastor and live the abundant as well realizing that the same commands for him also are on all believers.
A badly needed characteristic that is stressed throughout the scriptures but elusive to all of us – humility.