Balance in Preparation

[ITS]

How can pastors strike a balance between deep (thus time-consuming) Greek study and the daily tasks of leading a church? Give specific time and task adjustments that will acheive this balance.

[Maria]

I believe that the answer to this question may be summed in one word - priority. The activity that should consume the greater portion of my time as a pastor is that of preparation and delivery of the Word in the form of teaching/preaching.

From Ezra who devoted himself to the study and observance of the law (Ezra 7:10) through numerous New Testament exhortations to those charged with preparing the Word, ( Jn 5:39, 2 Tim 2:15, Col 3:16, 2 Cor 4:12, Acts 6:24) our priority is clear.

The other assignment delegated to pastors is to equip the saints for works of service (Eph 4:12) freeing the minister of the Gospel to focus effort in searching the immeasurable riches of God's Word. It has never been intended for pastors to be doing all of the visitation, counseling, organizational and administrative labor of the church. We are to teach our people to apply the Holy Spirit given gifts they have received in a practical way.

When we as pastors begin in earnest to teach our people where the true lines of responsibilities fall, and when the people of God begin to pick up the mantle of responsibility for ministry that rightfully belongs to them - then the minister will have the time needed to live out THE single most important aspect of the calling of a pastor. The languages in which our Scriptures have been given to us will then take their place as some of the tools we use daily to gain a greated understanding of the power of His Word.

[Derek Hiebert]

I agree with Maria's insistence on priority, yet I question whether the word of God is the end in and of itself, which is what she seems to hint at in her references to Ezra and other NT examples. I fully believe that the word is a strong priority, indeed the one of the main priorities in the church, but only as much as it leads sinners to Jesus. In this sense, then, God's word (and language in general) is a medium to which we can know who God is, what He has done, who we are and how and why we should respond to this God. God's revelation of himself comes especially and most importantly through words. The words themselves aren't God. God's God. He's the end, the whole point of the words. God simply sends his word for a purpose of revealing himself (Is. 55:10-11).

I agree with Maria in principle about the pastor's assignment to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry, but I also qualify that with an "easier said than done". What I mean by this is that our focus back on the pastor as the sole teacher or bringer of the word reinforces an American dichotomy between clergy and laity, one that Paul would probably decry for the Body of Christ. Yes, the pastor may spend twenty-thirty hours a week, preparing a hard-core, hermeneutically correct, exegetically sound sermon that preaches with intensity the responsibility of the saints to minister in the church and in culture, but then what happens after that. "Well, it was a great sermon, I enjoyed the sermon, pastor, see you next week." I wonder if even in our best efforts as preachers/teachers and sermonizers, we are merely over-feeding spiritually obese Christians who need to get off their pew-sitting rear-ends and actually do something about a single verse. The points is, I don't know if I want to spend twenty hours a week preparing a monologue for fat, lazy Christians, when I work to implement a mission-mindedness in them, that goes beyond sermonizing and Bible studies, and leads them into a missional community that shows the culture what light and love really is. If I have to preach from a single a verse, and spend an hour exegeting a couple words, so be it.

Anyway, thats probably enough of my banter. I think you get the whole point. Thanks for reading. Someone will know doubt want to refute everything I just said, which is good, because it makes for great blogging.

[Schmiedc]

How can pastors strike a balance between deep (thus time-consuming) Greek study and the daily tasks of leading a church? Give specific time and task adjustments that will acheive this balance.

Pastors are busy people. In fact most would agree that they are too busy. They are being pulled in all directions by congregational concerns and family issues. So obviously the solution is to prioritize and do the most important things first and delegate or ignore the rest.

Pastors have many tasks but clearly the most important is to preach and teach the Word of God. To do this well requires study and intimate knowledge of Scripture. This of course is where a good knowledge of Greek comes in. After studying Greek daily for 4 hours the last 5 months I have a whole new appreciation of the power of Greek in understanding Scripture more fully. Many exegetical questions can be illuminated with a proper understanding of Greek. Mounce's book The Basics of Biblical Greek illustrates this point in the beginning of every chapter. I agree totally with Mounce's thesis which is that those who say they don't need Greek don't know Greek!

So what is a pastor to do. The answer is to be true to his calling and prepare himself to preach and teach utilizing his knowledge of Greek to the fullest. He then must delegate other tasks that are important that he is unable to do. Many in the church would welcome the opportunity to get more involved. In fact they must!

To not set as a top priority the understanding of Scripture and the communication thereof is to abandon the Pastor's first calling. Only he can preach the Word. Others must help in other areas!

[Schmiedc]

I believe that the answer to this question may be summed in one word - priority. The activity that should consume the greater portion of my time as a pastor is that of preparation and delivery of the Word in the form of teaching/preaching.

From Ezra who devoted himself to the study and observance of the law (Ezra 7:10) through numerous New Testament exhortations to those charged with preparing the Word, ( Jn 5:39, 2 Tim 2:15, Col 3:16, 2 Cor 4:12, Acts 6:24) our priority is clear.

The other assignment delegated to pastors is to equip the saints for works of service (Eph 4:12) freeing the minister of the Gospel to focus effort in searching the immeasurable riches of God's Word. It has never been intended for pastors to be doing all of the visitation, counseling, organizational and administrative labor of the church. We are to teach our people to apply the Holy Spirit given gifts they have received in a practical way.

When we as pastors begin in earnest to teach our people where the true lines of responsibilities fall, and when the people of God begin to pick up the mantle of responsibility for ministry that rightfully belongs to them - then the minister will have the time needed to live out THE single most important aspect of the calling of a pastor. The languages in which our Scriptures have been given to us will then take their place as some of the tools we use daily to gain a greated understanding of the power of His Word.

I agree with Maria that setting priorities is the key but I would like to add a few practical suggestions I have learned along the way.

Some years ago I took a course on pastoral ministry. A major part of the course was reading about the experiences of those who have gone before us. I remember reading especially about the experiences of W.A. Criswell and John MacArthur. Both of course were very successful pastors and MacArthur still is.

Both stressed the importance of preparation in preaching and both stressed the importance of Greek. Both also were quick to tell about all of the conflicting responsibilities that they had. Obviously both were dealing with a case of potential overload. Both agreed that preparation for and delievering sermons was their top priority. How they actually made it their top priority is what I found most interesting.

Both dedicated each morning to the Lord for studying His Word and sermon preparation. Both spent much time in Greek study and both delievered great sermons that edified their congregations. Their secret was simple. They worked out of their homes away form the church and telephone except for dire emergencies. They developed the habit of studying and praying in the morning and then showing up at the church after lunch. Of course they frequently worked during the evenings as well. They did a great job of making their priorites work. Their congregations knew that morning was quiet and study time for the pastor.

Now this is a great idea which I have stolen shamelessly! It works! It is a key for making priorties real!

[levern]

As i look at the question asked,i als agree with maria that priority must be a essnetialey to any pastors ministry. In order for one to be effective in all that he or she does for the Lord they must be fully prepared for the preaching of the gospel. In (2 Timothy2:15) it says " be diligentto present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth". with this scrpiture it shows us clear that in order to have a solid foundation for teaching and preaching the word of God . as well as preparing the saint of God.(Eph 4:12).Ibelive that when one is called into the ministry they must fisrt exameself tofindot truly where they are and what steps they need to take in order to become an effective preacher,So many times i belive that priorities are not in order, and that much is not devoted to God and the teachings,also so many pastors are not full time they hold down jobs outside the church to ake ends meat which doesnot allow them that time to focs on the word as they need to , to become amoreefective pastor.So again i agree i feel that the minister should be back in such a way that would allow them the time and opertunity to not only learn theword but to teach it with detph, so that the true meanings and understanding can be taught.

[musselma]

How can pastors strike a balance between deep (thus time-consuming) Greek study and the daily tasks of leading a church? Give specific time and task adjustments that will acheive this balance.

A pastor’s responsibility is to lead his or her church, so every situation will be unique. Therefore the solution to this dilemma will be different for every pastor. Furthermore, the speaking style of a pastor will further determine a studying process. I believe the key to striking a balance lies in two principles.

First of all, a pastor must distinguish what is important from what is urgent. Too often, a person’s time is consumed with things that seem urgent while the important is pushed aside. If a pastor’s responsibility is to lead the church then he or she must determine what is most important in that moment to accomplish that task. Sometimes that will be business and sometimes that will be study.

The second principle is delegation. A pastor must surround himself/herself with people who can perform tasks necessary to leading a church. While I realize not every church will have a staff to lead with the senior pastor, each church should have members who can help in that process. The burden of leading a ministry lies with a pastor, but the burden of doing ministry lies with the church. A pastor must find qualified people who will invest in building the kingdom of God.

So while following these two principles, I would establish an entire day devoted to studying and preparing for a sermon. On that day, I would not allow other distractions to intrude upon that time. Perhaps some weeks I could devote a lot of time to deep study to prepare for a series; in other weeks, I could spend time writing. But by establishing one day, I would build a habit which would give me flexibility. Furthermore, I could then adjust my tasks to fit that schedule. I have found that when I have deadlines I am much more efficient. Using these ideas, I could strike a balance between studying and other daily tasks.

[musselma]

How can pastors strike a balance between deep (thus time-consuming) Greek study and the daily tasks of leading a church? Give specific time and task adjustments that will acheive this balance.

Pastors are busy people. In fact most would agree that they are too busy. They are being pulled in all directions by congregational concerns and family issues. So obviously the solution is to prioritize and do the most important things first and delegate or ignore the rest.

Pastors have many tasks but clearly the most important is to preach and teach the Word of God. To do this well requires study and intimate knowledge of Scripture. This of course is where a good knowledge of Greek comes in. After studying Greek daily for 4 hours the last 5 months I have a whole new appreciation of the power of Greek in understanding Scripture more fully. Many exegetical questions can be illuminated with a proper understanding of Greek. Mounce's book The Basics of Biblical Greek illustrates this point in the beginning of every chapter. I agree totally with Mounce's thesis which is that those who say they don't need Greek don't know Greek!

So what is a pastor to do. The answer is to be true to his calling and prepare himself to preach and teach utilizing his knowledge of Greek to the fullest. He then must delegate other tasks that are important that he is unable to do. Many in the church would welcome the opportunity to get more involved. In fact they must!

To not set as a top priority the understanding of Scripture and the communication thereof is to abandon the Pastor's first calling. Only he can preach the Word. Others must help in other areas!

While prioritization seems like an easy enough solution, in practice it is much harder. Furthermore, I am not sure that a pastor’s first priority is to preach. There are a lot of people who make great preachers but would be lousy pastors. I think a pastor’s first responsibility is to lead, and the first priority of leadership may not always be preaching. Now I do agree that preaching and teaching are important facets to leading the church, but pasturing is about people. We should be careful to reduce pasturing to preaching. Preaching must be balanced with the many other important tasks of leading.

[its_brad]

Posted By: terryh
Post Date: Sat Jun 02, 2007 9:34 am
Post Subject: Re: Balance in Preparation
ITS wrote:
How can pastors strike a balance between deep (thus time-consuming) Greek study and the daily tasks of leading a church? Give specific time and task adjustments that will acheive this balance.Great answers one and all. I offer my perspective that balance in ministry is an oxymoron; an objective that is rarely accomplished with a true sense of consistency. Having said that, I also believe the undershepherd of the church would be remiss in not placing first "attention to prayer and the ministry of the word" (Acts 6:4). One can intellectually seperate the duties of 1) time in the Word and 2) administrative tasks, but working it out is quite challenging and perhaps unique to each parish. I rely on the book of Genesis for some direction. "At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord" (Gen 4:26). From the earliest of times "calling on the name of the Lord' included time in prayer to the one true God and the public proclamation of his deeds and promises. The pastoral office is just that. The administartive tasks that follow, while wholly necessary are secondary to the proper function of the pastoral office, "it would not be right to for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God" (Acts 6:2). The ancient 'lex orandi, lex credendi' principle applies not only to the spiritual life of each assembly but starts with the actions and behavior of the undershepherd. In other words, if I do not practice what Paul taught Timothy, "...devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching." (1 Tim 4:13) then I have fallen short of my responsibility as an undershepherd. I understand the study of the Word of God to be a hermeneutical exegesis of the Scriptures. This includes the application of the original languages to the text. I believe in the premise that a truer understanding of the Word can be accomplished only by applying the original language as part of this hermeneutical exegesis. Specifically for my situation, I spend time in prayer and devotion in the quietude of the morning, I work on 'the threshing floor' of administrative functions throughout the remainder of the morning, sometimes, as needed, through lunch. It is the afternoons and evenings in which I carve out time for actual 'study'. Each day has its own challenges.This time is as important in my schedule as any other and is not treated as secondary or 'lesser than' the earlier periods of time.[/i]

[Scott Gill]

How can pastors strike a balance between deep (thus time-consuming) Greek study and the daily tasks of leading a church? Give specific time and task adjustments that will acheive this balance.

First, follow the model of the twelve in Acts 6, delegating secondary responsibilities to qualified leaders in the congregation so that the pastor can devote himself to prayer and the ministry of the word. I have seen too many pastors do everything from leading the choir to buying the communion cups.

Second, pick out your best times of the week for study, lock those in and disappear somewhere during those hours, and let the rest of the inevitable responsibilities flow around those times. There will always be the crisis of the day to distract you, especially if you are somewhere easily accessible, so try and make those times inviolable. You, and your congregation, will be rewarded.

[Scott Gill]

I agree with Maria's insistence on priority, yet I question whether the word of God is the end in and of itself, which is what she seems to hint at in her references to Ezra and other NT examples. I fully believe that the word is a strong priority, indeed the one of the main priorities in the church, but only as much as it leads sinners to Jesus. In this sense, then, God's word (and language in general) is a medium to which we can know who God is, what He has done, who we are and how and why we should respond to this God. God's revelation of himself comes especially and most importantly through words. The words themselves aren't God. God's God. He's the end, the whole point of the words. God simply sends his word for a purpose of revealing himself (Is. 55:10-11).

I agree with Maria in principle about the pastor's assignment to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry, but I also qualify that with an "easier said than done". What I mean by this is that our focus back on the pastor as the sole teacher or bringer of the word reinforces an American dichotomy between clergy and laity, one that Paul would probably decry for the Body of Christ. Yes, the pastor may spend twenty-thirty hours a week, preparing a hard-core, hermeneutically correct, exegetically sound sermon that preaches with intensity the responsibility of the saints to minister in the church and in culture, but then what happens after that. "Well, it was a great sermon, I enjoyed the sermon, pastor, see you next week." I wonder if even in our best efforts as preachers/teachers and sermonizers, we are merely over-feeding spiritually obese Christians who need to get off their pew-sitting rear-ends and actually do something about a single verse. The points is, I don't know if I want to spend twenty hours a week preparing a monologue for fat, lazy Christians, when I work to implement a mission-mindedness in them, that goes beyond sermonizing and Bible studies, and leads them into a missional community that shows the culture what light and love really is. If I have to preach from a single a verse, and spend an hour exegeting a couple words, so be it.

Anyway, thats probably enough of my banter. I think you get the whole point. Thanks for reading. Someone will know doubt want to refute everything I just said, which is good, because it makes for great blogging.

I read Derek’s posting with great enjoyment. Living in Bulgaria for a number of years I have had opportunity to attend many services in the Orthodox church, and am always struck by both the beauty and the enigma of the services.

They are often conducted in ancient Slavonic, and are virtually incomprehensible to those attending. Many of the rituals, while beautiful and certainly rich with meaning, are largely inaccessible to the average attendee.

While somewhat worshipful and vaguely inspiring, the services do little to enrich one’s understanding of God’s nature, character, and redemptive work. I agree with Derek that Greek is best used to deepen the understanding of the messenger, but the message itself should be delivered in the language of the hearer – simple, attractive, powerful, and relevant. When the congregation walks out of the morning service, I hope they will take something more than vague inspiration.

Also, I am not sure that speaking Greek with Jesus in heaven will add to my heart’s level of contentment. Trying to speak it here has accomplished very little in that direction!

[ERIC MARK SHEPARD]

Balance in ministry is usually a little different in each church situation and for each Pastor, what works for one does not necessarily work for all. A Pastor’s work is manifold yet in the center of his life he must have a diligent and unwavering hunger to study God’s word with an ever deepening understanding. When I was a Pastor at a Church that worked mainly with the homeless and the addicted my priority in teaching and preaching was along the lines of salvation, discipleship and the tenets of the faith. Though I had studied Greek for two semesters I found I neither had the time or the need for a deep study of the Greek. I did some Greek study to gain a better grasp of a particular word or to more fully explain a Bible passage but it was not with a deep understanding of the language. When I pioneered a church where many already had a Church background, had been under various teaching and preaching there was a need to help my congregation to more accurately understand the Scriptures. Many times I found the need to bring them into the original language, which for 20 years I had not really spent a lot of time reviewing. As I began to deal with Christians who did a lot of study on the internet or had come under the teaching of various people I needed to challenge false doctrine. This I found quite difficult because of my lack of biblical languages. For the last 8 years I have been correcting that situation through the many language helps available and have only recently been able to take a course in Greek again. Though I can see that there were situations of ministry in the last 20 years that a deep explanation of the Greek scripture would have been unprofitable, the time came when I saw the mistake of letting go of this valuable biblical tool. Something I am determined not to do again, for my own spiritual edification as well as for those who look to me each week to bring them God’s word.

[ERIC MARK SHEPARD]

Posted By: terryh
Post Date: Sat Jun 02, 2007 9:34 am
Post Subject: Re: Balance in Preparation
Great answers one and all. I offer my perspective that balance in ministry is an oxymoron; an objective that is rarely accomplished with a true sense of consistency. Having said that, I also believe the undershepherd of the church would be remiss in not placing first "attention to prayer and the ministry of the word" (Acts 6:4). One can intellectually seperate the duties of 1) time in the Word and 2) administrative tasks, but working it out is quite challenging and perhaps unique to each parish. I rely on the book of Genesis for some direction. "At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord" (Gen 4:26). From the earliest of times "calling on the name of the Lord' included time in prayer to the one true God and the public proclamation of his deeds and promises. The pastoral office is just that. The administartive tasks that follow, while wholly necessary are secondary to the proper function of the pastoral office, "it would not be right to for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God" (Acts 6:2). The ancient 'lex orandi, lex credendi' principle applies not only to the spiritual life of each assembly but starts with the actions and behavior of the undershepherd. In other words, if I do not practice what Paul taught Timothy, "...devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching." (1 Tim 4:13) then I have fallen short of my responsibility as an undershepherd. I understand the study of the Word of God to be a hermeneutical exegesis of the Scriptures. This includes the application of the original languages to the text. I believe in the premise that a truer understanding of the Word can be accomplished only by applying the original language as part of this hermeneutical exegesis. Specifically for my situation, I spend time in prayer and devotion in the quietude of the morning, I work on 'the threshing floor' of administrative functions throughout the remainder of the morning, sometimes, as needed, through lunch. It is the afternoons and evenings in which I carve out time for actual 'study'. Each day has its own challenges.This time is as important in my schedule as any other and is not treated as secondary or 'lesser than' the earlier periods of time.[/i]

Terry is correct in bringing out the difficulty of obtaining consistent balance in ministry between time spent in administrative duties and that spent in Biblical study. The pastor is continually in a tug of war between the expedient and the spiritual duties of studying the word; which many times includes a study of the original languages.

Balance in ministry is sometimes like a dance, between two necessary partners both vying for the place of prominence. Life in ministry is not always a neat and tidy affair, and sometimes you can get tripped up by unexpected and unforeseen events. What’s important is to continually bring your Pastoral life of administration and study back into balance.

Though Terry did not mention how he decides what amount of time to spend in the Greek language, it once more has to do with finding that right balance of what’s too much and what’s not enough given the time you have.