There seems to be some confusion on the duties of a Pastor. Many believe the Pastor should do it all. He should visit the sick, he should visit the well, he should open his home to any that ask him too regardless of motive. He should always be the one to start every program and then run that program once it starts. He should turn out a sermon worthy of his hire, and he should always be available 24/7 because, well, that's expected. Where does this expectation come from?

At our church many come up to the Pastor and say....."You know what we should do? We should________________(fill in the blank.)"  The Pastor will look at that person and say, "You know, that's a great idea. Draft me up an idea sheet and tell me how you want to get that particular ministry going."

Sometimes that person doesn't do anything, thinking he was giving the Pastor the idea to get the minstry going himself, and walks away thinking maybe the Pastor's not doing his job.  For others it prompts them to use the gifts God endowed them with. 

Fortunately in our church many have stepped up to the plate. I think much of the time it's because they see (or the Pastor encourages them to see) that if they have the desire in their heart for such a ministry then maybe God is speaking to them.

 I do see some that are very gung-ho about a particular issue like, let's say, foster care. They think all of us should do foster care because it's foremost on their heart.  It's the right thing to do. Then they hound everybody to do what they themselves are doing laying the guilt trip that God had no intention of being laid in the first place.

One ministry just starting to take shape here is for the Pregnancy Crisis Center, new to town.  I mentioned it as a great way for us to put our pro-life position in action and help the lady in charge get this ministry going. She's from another church but is basically doing this alone.  For now all she's doing is post abortion counseling.  The Pastor said, "Great, now we need someone who will take this on and step up to the plate"

 Within a day, one lady in our church did just that and the wheels are beginning to move in that direction. Almost all our ministries have been started this way becoming very successful.  Because of those willing to roll up their sleeves and start the process going we are a very busy church.

Somewhere along the line people think that the Pastor IS the church. There is only one mention in scripture on the word Pastor. It's found in Eph 4:11. For all you Gk scholars out there, the word is "Poimen." Nowhere in scripture will you find a list of duties for a Pastor. Nowhere.

What you will see is a list of qualifications regarding character.  You'll find the description for a Pastor regarding his character and integrity in Titus and Timothy.  This listing is for all Elders who are also called Pastors.  In our church we have a body of Elders who assist the head Pastor. 

When scripture encougages us to care for the needy and sick and so on it's given to the whole church, not just the Pastor. He's part of the church as we are.  In fact a case could be made very easily that it is NOT the Pastor's job at all to do the physical work.

The nearest we get to what a Pastor SHOULD do is Paul's command to Timothy, a new young Pastor, to "preach the word." That's what a Pastor is commanded and the only command you will see in scripture on the duty of a Pastor.

In fact, we see many times when the spiritual leaders were so burdened down with trying to care for the flock both spiritually and physically that God set up helpers for them. You will see this very clearly in Acts 6  where we first get the idea for deacons. The duties of the deacons are spelled out. They would be the ones to help oversee the poor, widows and those in need of any physical help so the church leaders can be the spiritual leaders they need to be.

 Much time is spent in prayer, reading and sermon prep by the leaders and this help was greatly needed and appreciated.  During the time of  Moses we read he was so burdened and there were so many people. For that reason other leaders were set up under Moses to give him a hand.  By doing so he could be the true spiritual head he needed to be and not worry himself  day to day that physical needs were not being met.

And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. 2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reasonable that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. 3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. 4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. Acts 6:1-4

Today tho we seem to have this idea that the Pastor should do it all. Everything gets dumped on the Pastor. After all that's why he gets paid so generously right? Not hardly unless you're talking about the tele-evangelists.
Our Pastor says it takes him at least 25 hours to put a sermon together. He puts alot of time into reading, study, prayer, and power-point presentations. He has a schedule he goes by. He teaches SS and Wednight Bible study as well as many other duties including marriage counseling. When he can, he does visitation especially in the hospitals but he encourages the church to do this in his stead as well. We have a very active church group as a result of this. Anytime we have someone in the nearby hospital many nurses have commented on the visitors that are streaming in. At this point our church is pretty well known to our local hospital as the "caring church."

We need to remember that it is the "church's" duty to visit the sick, to pray with those in need, to help do whatever we can to encouage and build up the body of the church. Church is not a building. Church is God's people.  It's people helping people that Christ intended as ministers. He said we are all a Kingdom of Priests. 

Let's not just rely on the Pastors to do the job that Christ intended for us to do.