Acts 6:4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
Richard Baxter, (1650-1691), was an English Puritan church leader, theologian and pastor. His monumental work, The Reformed Pastor, is full of solid soul searching teaching regarding pastorology.
Pastor’s are more than preachers, teachers, or visionaries. They care for and watch over the souls of the church.
Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you (Hebrews 13:17)
The fact that leaders will give an account for watching over souls is a very humbling thought. It implies that pastorology is more than instructing or having an arms length away relationship with those who they care for, it implies that there is closeness and likeness.
The Greek word for disciple gives the idea of closeness and likeness. Closeness implies involvement not aloofness or a professional relationship. Jesus did not call His disciples to listen to His lectures, he called them to likeness, to be like Him. John 8:28, 20:21.
Here are a few quotes addressing pastoral soul care from The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter.
“A minister is not merely a public preacher, but to be known as a counselor for their souls, as the physician is for their bodies, and the lawyer for their estates: so that each man who is in doubts and straits may bring his case to him for resolution.” Chapter 2 The Oversight Of The Flock
“But as the people have become unacquainted with this office of the ministry, and with their own duty and necessity in this respect, it belongeth to us to acquaint them with it, and publicly to press them to come to us for advice about the great concerns of their souls. We must not only be willing to take the trouble, but should draw it upon ourselves, by inviting them to come. What abundance of good might we do, could we but bring them to this!” Chapter 2, The Oversight Of The Flock, Section 1. The Nature Of This Oversight
Here Baxter is encouraging preachers to “hang out the shingle” in their ministries so as to “publicly press them”, to come for advice – that the preacher is to be “known as a counselor for their souls”.
“And, doubtless, much might be done in it, if we did our duty. How few have I ever heard of, who have heartily pressed their people to their duty in this way! Oh! it is a sad case that men’s souls should be so injured and hazarded by the total neglect of so great a duty, and that ministers should scarcely ever tell them of it, and awaken them to it. Were your hearers but duly sensible of the need and importance of this, you would have them more frequently knocking at your doors, and making known to you their sad complaints, and begging your advice.”
“….to this end it is very necessary that you be well acquainted with practical cases, and especially that you be acquainted with the nature of saving grace, and able to assist them in trying their state, and in resolving the main question that concerns their everlasting life or death. One word of seasonable, prudent advice, given by a minister to persons in necessity, may be of more use than many sermons. ‘A word fitly spoken,’ says Solomon, ‘how good is it!’” The Reformed Pastor, Richard Baxter, Chapter 2
One other author makes this point about the ministry of the Word within the church.
“Shepherding work is not done by pontificating from the pulpit. It is done by getting down in among the sheep…………… Jesus admonished Peter not only to “feed” the sheep, he was also told to “shepherd” (i.e. “tend”, “or take care of”) the sheep (John 21:16). When a pastor says, “I’m not a counseling/discipleship-type,” he’s saying he’s not a pastor. You cannot practice the biblical definition of a pastor and ignore counseling/discipleship. “Preaching should be a preventive process and counseling/discipleship a restorative process. Good shepherding requires both.” Why Is Counseling/discipleship Training Important For Your Church?, John D. Street
The ministry of the Word is associated richly with teaching and admonishing, as well as singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, Colossians 3:16. A comprehensive approach to doing ministry is more than preaching. I have preached many sermons, taught many lessons, discipled and counseled many people, and yes, sung with thankfulness in my heart. I have learned that a pastor is more than a preacher, he is a pastor, a teacher, a discipler, a counselor, a caretaker and lover of souls. If he is not balanced in all of these areas, and more, he is lacking. A pastor is more than a preacher, an administrator or a visionary. He is much more, he is a shepherd, and that requires being among the sheep. Planning, preaching, teaching, and leading is necessary, but sheep need more than these important aspects of ministry, they need personal shepherding.
“Have we, for the sake of the fight reduced the role of shepherd to preacher? If so, are we not in essence out on the proverbial limb sawing ourselves off from the heart of God’s plan for shepherds? Are some who cry, “Solas Scriptura” still in danger of creating their own standard of shepherding? Both public and private ministry are mandated for the shepherd, and both mandates will bring
upon them an awesome accounting by God, who says about Shepherds in Hebrews 13:17” Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. Stuart Scott, More than Preachers: The Solas and Soul-Care of the Reformer, The Journal of BIblical Soul Care, Fall 2017 | Volume 1 | Number 1 masters.edu/jbsc
If you are preoccupied with preaching, planning, leadership, and administration, you are missing out on true Acts 20 comprehensive ministry of the Word. Ministry of the Word is both public and private, and requires a shepherds attention and care. Shepherding is more than shuffling off the care of the sheep to others, it is getting into the life of others, it is balancing the work of the ministry with the care of the sheep. It is more than sitting in a study writing sermons, reading books, building a theological mountain of papers, or building a framework for doing ministry, that’s trellis work and that’s fine, but that’s not all of what shepherding is all about. Shepherding includes vine work, which is the personal care of the sheep and intimate engagement of God’s people in counseling and personal care. Too often the trellis work that supports the vine, is not blended into the vine work of pastoral ministry properly. “And that’s the thing about trellis work: it tends to take over from vine work. Perhaps it’s because trellis work is easier and less personally threatening.” Marshall, Colin; Payne, Tony. The Trellis and the Vine. Matthias Media.
We can get lost in the trellis work of supporting ministry that will overshadow the vine work of shepherding God’s people. I encourage you to read Acts chapter 20 and ask yourself if you have Paul’s kind of balance in ministry.