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
A Man of Prayer. Who completely trust God and calls the congregation to do the same.
I don’t have a problem with the list or with the fact that my congregants have expectations of me. After completing nearly 12 years of pastoral ministry at two different churches I totally understand that different congregations have similar expectations of a pastor. This list is helpful to the new pastor who are trying to find his/her way and a reminder to the experienced pastor that the work is not over. I know that the Bible has different expectations of us than our congregations and to hat I have these responses: (1) a good pastor can reshape congregational expectation by TEACHING what the Bible expects from both pastor and disciple. (2) the Bible is he ideal expectation while the congregation represents the real expectation that they have. If you’re going to do real ministry to real people in the real world you must other meet the expectations, change the expectation or deal with the consequences of not meeting hem and that differs between congregations. Either way, I’m thankful that Thom posted this list and stirred this discussion.
Some people may have said they want their pastors not to yield to critics, but the reality is that when a pastoral oversight committee (whatever it’s called in your denomination) passes on criticisms to the pastor, they expect the pastor to address these issues, and there is often a great deal of pressure put on the pastor to make changes. pastors are highly aware that these criticisms can lead to church splits, to them losing their position, or to holding the church in an unhealthy state. It’s easy for people to say they want the pastor to resist criticisms, but the entire church must bear some responsibility about how criticisms are leveled, about what is respected in response to them, and about supporting a pastor even when you may be seeing his/her weaknesses at a given moment.
I would have liked the list better if the pastor was referred to as “she” now and then!!
It is important to me that a pastor not let his or her ego get in the way. Have known too many who let their churches become their fan clubs, will tolerate no dissention about their perfection, and have wound up leaving a church totally unable to function without him or her. We may laugh about a “bully pulpit,” but don’t put a bully in the pulpit.
thank you for the knowledge/information on how to be a successful pastor!
Ok, interesting to see what “men” want / expect from a Pastor. I am a layman, and I think it would be VERY healthy for you to turn the tables. Give your colleagues the opportunity to express what they would love to see from their Church Members. Yes, it is good for a leader (Pastor) to reflect on how he is doing. However, this can truly be a two way street.
As one who loves my Pastors, I would be curious to know if there are things I could do (better), or change that would be a blessing to my Pastor, his family and his ministry.
Thank you for your comment RDH.
I actually wrote the post “Ten Things Pastors Desire in a Member” on January 19, 2013. You can read it here:
https://thomrainer.com/2013/01/19/ten-things-pastors-desire-in-a-church-member/#.UQL8bkqb-_0