Let's free our Pastors

"In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."

This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith."

Acts 6:1-7 (NIV)


There are some incredible things we see in these verses. I want to focus on just one. "...[we will] give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word". There is so much power in this verse. This was the Apostles making this statement. The leaders of the early church. In our churches today, the leaders are usually pastors. I think this verse is freeing to pastors. Could you imagine how dynamic our churches would be if pastors really freed themselves from all their busyness and focused solely on prayer and the word of God?

God has set this up in His word. Pastors spend hours trying to figure out what they should be doing as church leaders. They read books by men on church leadership many of which may or may not have been successful themselves. God's word has the answers they are looking for.

If pastors found folks in their churches to handle the busy stuff of church and they focused on prayer and the word, we would have dynamic churches. Churches preaching and teaching the entire word of God. Lives would be changed because pastors would be challenging people into change by the convicting power of the word of God. The Growth Movement would be made of real growth of people from the inside out and not just referring to putting bottoms in the pews. Imaging pastors freed to become prayer warriors. Praying for their congregations, their families, their staffs, and praying for real change to come, a revival.

I get excited when I think of this. I have discussed this with church leaders who agree with me. Now our job is to pitch in and help our pastors get to this point. Let's think of ways to take the load off our pastors so they can focus on "prayer and the ministry of the word".