By Melvin
The Magna Charta (Great Charter) of the Lay Pastors Ministry, I Peter 5:1-4, includes a crown of glory to notably successful lay pastors. You are earning your crown now, presentation will happen upon the Chief Shepherd’s return. Don’t let “notably successful” intimidate you. The point in one of Jesus’ parables is that God takes note of those who
are good and faithful. Matt. 25:21. Skills will not earn a crown or guarantee success, but God gives both to good and faithful lay pastors. The Bible says a lot more about character, gifts, and doing than skills.
I stole the idea of Seven Habits from Stephen Covey’s, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Why seven? I don’t know, but the Spirit is bugging me to offer you Seven Habits of Notably Successful Lay Pastors, a letter for ministry success.
Habit 1: Be Willing The Great Charter focuses us on willing—“Be shepherds of God’s flock…not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be!” Willing is to “take ownership,” make personal sacrifices and have authentic relationships.
Understand willing by its antonym, must—dutiful, reluctant, servile. Jesus knew slavish hired hands make poor shepherds. When the going gets tough, they run away. Jn. 10:11-13 Three scriptures teach that willingness is in a born-again person’s DNA: 1) Jesus, whose Spirit is in us, said “I am willing” when the leper begged for
healing; Mk 1:41 2) “It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose; Phil 2:13 3) The Corinthians’ willingness and completion of the task are laced together. I Cor 8:11- 12 God, pleased with your willingness, names you a notably successful lay pastor.
Habit 2: Be Eager The Great Charter shifts our focus: “Be shepherds of God’s flock…not greedy for money, but eager to serve.” Just as willingness is a divine-human blend, so is eagerness. Like most God-you blends, eager is understood best by observation, not
definition. For example, to know what it is to be eager, watch a firsttime mother stretching her arms out to take her baby from the nurse. Eager gets fresh meaning from its antonym, greedy. (Lay pastors are not paid, so substitute awards for money.) My thesaurus has eager as a synonym for greedy, so read “not eager for money, but eager to serve.” Let’s admit it: we “feel” what eager for money is, therefore we can “feel” what eager to serve is. Noting your eagerness, God identifies you as a notably successful lay pastor!
Habit 3: Be an example The focus moves on: “Be shepherds of God’s flock … not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.” A distressed lay person, asked by her pastor to lead the group starting their Lay Pastors Ministry, phoned me about a serious problem. Her voice was shaky, “What can I do about one of my group who is adamantly against including Example? He is convinced only Jesus is worthy of being an example, and warned me that he will speak out against it tonight, and he will!” Following the plan in Can the Pastor Do It Alone? they came to the ministry description—PACE: Pray, Available, Contact, Example. He was fully in favor of PAC, his only beef was with E.
I referred her to I Peter 5:1-4, especially being examples to the flock. I cited other biblical support: Phil 3:17; II Thes 3:9; I Tim 4:12, and I Thes 1:7 which makes it clear we do not choose to make ourselves examples, we are unintentional examples whether we want to be or not. This habit calls us to give attention to the fact we are already examples and should intentionally grow into being better and better examples. This habit precludes our “lording it over others.” Since God put example in the Great Charter, noting it tells he includes you in the notably successful lay pastors crowd. You will therefore receive the crown of glory.
Time out: These first three habits are so supremely important to the Church of Jesus Christ that they are included in the order to shepherd God’s flock. This three-fold divine-human blend is indispensable to your working alongside Jesus as he continues building his Church— “so that the body of Christ may be built up…as each part does its work.” Eph 4:11-13 These three blends are, 1st, divine strategies to keep the gates of hell from overcoming it. Matt 16:18 (aka keeping members from falling through the cracks), 2nd, divine tactics to encourage Christian brothers and sisters to mature in Christ, and 3rd, our Father plans for the Church to be the “family of God,” Eph 3:14-15 brothers and sisters in Christ who love and care for and about each other. Actually, these blends flow, first, from Jesus’ love for Peter, then Peter’s love for Jesus —ord, you know all things, you know that I love you.” Jn 21:17Think of it! Your source of love is Peter’s source—Jesus—who was the first to take on the form of a willing, eager and exemplary servant. Phil 2:5-8 Loving marks a lay pastor as a notable success.
Habit 4: Covet Integrity It’s not cleanliness that’s next to godliness, it’s integrity—“I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. I Chron 29:17. What does God test for integrity? The heart (aka spirit), that non-physical, inner secret center of one’s life, a little higher than man, a little lower than God. It is inaccessible to family, friends, science, philosophy, accessible only to God and you. It’s where integrity and/or hypocrisy rule, where decisions and inner drives originate, finally surfacing in external behavior and attitudes. Integrity matches inner drives with external performance, something like the color and flavor of Reagan’s Jelly Bellies (gourmet jelly beans) are the same inside as outside.
Though integrity can be defined as complete, incorruptible, and fixed adherence to values, it is best understood by seeing it. The more we “see” Jesus’ life in the gospels and the Apostle Paul’s in his letters, the farther we will move from coveting integrity toward being a person of integrity—“I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you,” Jn. 13:15 and, “Whatever you have heard from me, or
seen in me, put it into practice.” Phil. 4:9 We know what the antonym, hypocrisy, is by “seeing” Judas kiss Jesus, Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde and Madoff’s ponzi scheme. Hypocrisy = failure; integrity = notable success in life and ministry.
Habit 5: Be free with love and joy After telling the sports reporter the best ad-vice she ever got, “Let go and let God,” America’s No. 1 college basketball player from the UConn 2009 NCAA winning team, answered his question about what she wanted her epitaph to say: “Here lies Renee Montgomery who loved life and loved everyone in it.” Don’t you just love a person who loves you! Jesus taught that love and joy form the core essence of life—“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another,” and “…So that my joy may be in you and that your joy will be full.” Jn. 13:34-35; 15:11 Edwin Markum said, “We have committed The Golden Rule to memory; let us now commit it to our lives.” I say, “Let us now commit love and joy to our lives.” Go for them! And share them!
Habit 6: Think Pastoral Care Pastoral? Certainly, because most church members would like their pastor to care personally for them as doctors care for each patient and teachers care for each student— Pray for them individually about their spiritual and physical needs; be Available for drop-in visits, emergencies and celebrations; Contact them (be in touch) occasionally; and know him or her well enough to have a helpful Example of how another Christian struggles with his or her life issues. Clergy cannot do this (you do the math). God calls them to pastor the congregation as a whole (preach, teach, train laity, and the like). Lay pastors can do this. God calls and gifts them to
be “love with skin on it,” to PACE the congregation…one person at a time. That’s why the congregation needs dozens of lay pastors (scores in larger churches), but only one clergy pastor (or staff).
Habit 7: Keep the end in mind Jesus prayed to his Father near the end of his life, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. Jn. 17:4 From the beginning, Jesus knew he was to preach, teach, heal and finally give his life for the sins of the world. To be able to say from the cross, “It is finished” he had to be doing these things each day through his years. Paul, near the end of his life, wrote “I have fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith.” II Tim 4:7-8 For this to be true, starting with his conversion, he kept the crown of glory in mind each day through his years. Keeping the end in mind will keep you on track for the crown of glory to be presented to notably successful lay pastors!