The Rookie Pastor Manifesto

A few things you need to know

Josh Tandy

It is time. Time to be who we were created to be.

To stop being:
Administrators Speakers Babysitters Nickel and Nose Counters Nice Young Men and Women Maintainers Programmers Bored Afraid Restrained

To start being:
Pastors Kingdom bearers Bold Painfully Humble Servants Leaders You cant learn to be a pastor you either are or you arent.

Calling
It doesnt matter if you get paid or if you volunteer. Nor does it matter if you are still unpacking your office or if you have helped many pack up their offices. If you are a pastor, act like it. Before you interview or send out any resumes understand your calling. Before you start looking for something else understand your calling. Personality tests are great tools but they dont speak to calling. Calling comes from God and God alone. Others may speak to this or confirm it, but it comes from God. Get on your face. Pray in silence. Try things and be receptive to the Spirit as you do. Let God close the door. Figure out what you were created to do. You could articulate this as a position or location, but at the core this is about your personal mission from the Creator of the Universe. Understand your calling. Then get ready to serve.

Reality
Knowing your calling does not mean you get to live in your calling. Cleaning out the church van, leading the church choir, dressing up as the mascot for VBS, going to committee meetings and any number of other things are all things you will be doing that are outside of your calling. Ministry is preaching, leading, and counseling but it is also about cleaning toilets and office work and monotonous work. I wasnt prepared for this reality. I should have been, but I believed that I would be able to lock myself in a room preparing messages and go on youth trips. There is a line that you will have to discover here. At some point you will be operating so far outside your calling that you will become frustrated and cynical. Being 100% within your calling is not a realistic expectation as a Rookie Pastor, figure out how broad your calling is and what you need to serve from a sustainable spot. Manage your expectations, embrace that part of this is a job, and check your ego at the door. It will be humbling, but you could probably use some of that.

Humility
The confident excitement that we have when we first start is close to something useful but is as misguided as it is helpful. At the root of this is pride and pride is antithetical to calling. Be confident in your calling not in your abilities or your opinions or even your theology. We need pastors that are confident in their calling. Pastors who dont try to preach like their favorite podcast preacher. Or want a church like the last church memoir you read. You dont know the reality because you arent there. You dont have their calling, you have yours and this should give you peace. Your calling has nothing to do your glory and everything to do with Gods. So if in your mind your calling has to do with book sales, attendance numbers, and conference invitations. Repent. The specific calling as a pastor should bring glory to God as you: Live faithfully to that calling

Minister to your family first Help others experience their calling through enabling and equipping Live out the Gospel and Kingdom as you sing it and preach it and forgive and reconcile with those who dont reciprocate

Learn
We like to argue about Scripture. It is important and at times life giving. But to paraphrase Mark Twain lets concern ourselves with the Scriptures in which we have no doubt. Entertain the possibility that Bible College and Seminary were not the conclusion of your education. That potentially you have yet to complete your formation. And that your favorite preacher/author/leader may be mistaken. By definition you are a Rookie if you are new to this, but you can choose to be a Rookie if you never stop learning. Rookie Pastors usually find themselves working under other pastors who are more experienced. The generational gap, among other things, tends to create tension. If you havent already you will find how easy it is to be critical of those leading you, but it isnt effective. Find a way to learn from those around you. It is great for your development, humility, and garners respect that will make the relationship more effective. If you cringe of that because it smacks of politics, Im sorry but this is the reality of ministry.

Patience
Speaking of learning respect those who came before. Your arrogance is giving all of us a bad name. I know you have some great ideas and are ready to go, but tap the breaks. There is a difference between urgency and recklessness. The stereotype for Rookie Pastors is that we are prideful and unreliable. Stereotypes exist for a reason, but they arent fair. You can be bitter about this or you can do something about it. Yes, you will have to overcompensate but leadership is about developing trust. The only way you can build trust is by consistently leading and serving with humility. You cant coach speed and there is no replacement for experience. Put in the time and pay some dues.

Contentment
As you settle in fight the urge to drift. No one begins ministry aiming to achieve the first list in this manifesto. Yet we all are tempted. We live the first list when cynicism creeps in. When we get lazy. When we start thinking more about the next job than our current one. Cynicism is easy and has zero redeeming value. Ive seen cynicism in myself and in other Rookie Pastors when weve been burned. We get cynical when we lose sight of why we are pastors in the first place. It all comes back to calling. Fear leads to laziness. A fear of taking a risk. Fear of conflict or of making someone upset. Fear paralyzes and results in laziness. Working harder isnt the solution, understanding the fear is. Probably the biggest obstacle that Rookie Pastors face is the moment they start focusing on their next ministry position. The grass is and always will be greener. The only way to take a step towards your ideal ministry position is to fully commit to where you currently are. Dont settle for discontentment. Fight to find passion in what you are currently doing.

Final Words
No one has ever set out to have a mediocre ministry. Turning into a steward of a stale past isnt a long-term goal. You dont set out to fall into these ruts, but we do. The challenge wont be dealing with the big problems that pop up from time to time. It will be the sustained, almost repetitive issues that come. If you wash out of ministry chances are it wont be because of a big theological brouhaha. Youll end up looking for another line of work because you got fed up living something you didnt expect. This disconnect is hard to deal with, particularly as you dont see it coming until it has knocked you down. It is hard. It is worth it. What we are doing does matter it does count. Whether we are pastoring a handful or thousands it counts. It counts when we cant go to another meeting and when the critics are the loudest. As you clean up another mess a student left know that it counts. Even the inherited events and programs that you hate, they count too.

It all counts because we have been called to something bigger than we understand. We help others move into a new Kingdom, a new reality. Whether we are young or old, liberal or conservative, paid or volunteer, artistic or practical, supported or alone, under funded or under staffed, barely holding on or brimming with excitement. It is time. Time to be who we were created to be.

About the Author

Josh Tandy is a Rookie Pastor who works with students, small groups, and gets to preach from time to time. He is also a writer and a pastor to pastors. Indianapolis is where he and his wife Heidy are raising a son, Isaac. Connect with him: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Email