Elder Before You Elder

The office of pastor isn’t the birthright of the aspirational. Wanting to be a pastor doesn’t make you one. The office of pastor (elder, shepherd, overseer) is a calling given from the risen Christ to be recognized by local churches. A congregation must affirm what God has done to prepare a man to shepherd God’s people.[1]

Many men experience a long onramp to formal pastoral ministry. For some, this can be a discouraging time, waiting for what feels like the glacial approval of a skeptical congregation. I would discourage such discouragement. Proper preparation will profoundly serve your ministry in the long run—and can be a great joy in the meantime.

The question remains: what should an aspiring elder do until he’s recognized as an elder? The answer is simple. He should elder before he elders. He should shepherd before he shepherds. He should actively exhibit the ordinary qualities of a faithful pastor before he is officially recognized as one. Below are just a few ways to do so.

Cultivate Communion with God

This is not an article about holiness. Nevertheless, the indispensability of a pastor’s piety cannot be overstated. Indeed, there’s no more practical way for a pastor to serve his congregation than through his own pursuit of godliness. This is why Robert Murray M’Cheyne (1813–1843) once told a friend, “It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.”[2]

M’Cheyne understood that the greatest need of a man’s future congregation is his own communion with God. Deep friendship with Christ and true usefulness in the kingdom are inseparable. This means aspiring pastors serve others from their own pursuit of holiness. Andrew Bonar wrote of M’Cheyne,

From the first he fed others by what he himself was feeding upon. His preaching was in a manner the development of his soul’s experience. It was a giving out of the inward life. He loved to come up from the pastures wherein the Chief Shepherd had met him—to lead the flock entrusted to his care to the spots where he found nourishment.[3]

The great task of a pastor is to lead sheep to the Great Shepherd. And the best pastor is the man who leads the flock along the same path he has tread time and time again.

Yet leading others to Christ is not a practice limited to pastors. If you’re an aspiring minister, every encounter with a church member provides a fresh opportunity to feed others out of the abundance of your own walk with God. Every greeting, every conversation, every email, every text message, every sermon, every devotional is a prime opportunity to share from the storehouse of your own experience of knowing God.

Do Everything Pastorally

When preparing to become an elder, preaching and public teaching opportunities are not the only ways to display the character of a godly elder. Rather, good shepherds are always shepherding. There’s a way to welcome visitors pastorally. There’s a way to email parents about the upcoming youth event pastorally. There’s a way to coordinate Sunday morning greeters pastorally. There’s a way to encourage and exhort an A/V volunteer pastorally. There’s a way to grab coffee with a new Christian pastorally. There’s a way to give announcements, pray publicly, and lead elements of a worship service pastorally. Each of these examples provides an opportunity to flex pastoral muscles and do spiritual good to others.

Pursue Public Virtue

Christians are right to prioritize private character over public. Indeed, there’s a type of performative virtue that Jesus condemns (Matt. 6:5–6). However, the character of a pastor must always be evident and obvious. The entire point of the elder qualifications in the pastoral epistles is for congregations to notice the character of aspiring officers.

This means it’s not enough for a young man to be able to teach—he must demonstrate his ability. It’s not enough for a young man to be hospitable—he must show hospitality. It’s not enough for a young man to be gentle—he must be known for gentleness. Even Timothy—who was already serving in a pastoral role and had received a glowing endorsement from the apostle Paul—was called to pursue pastoral virtue “so that all may see [his] progress” (1 Tim. 4:15).

It’s often the case that younger men can quickly prove their ability to teach, but they struggle to convey warmth and affection for the people of God. They may truly love their church, but it’s not always obvious in their tone and manner. It’s much easier to prove mastery of the text you’re preaching than love for the people you’re addressing. “Getting the text right” is non-negotiable. But conveying love for the congregation as you preach is just as much a priority (1 Cor. 13). The aspiring pastor should resolve that his love for the congregation is never questioned.

Another pastoral qualification young men tend to neglect is respectability (1 Tim. 3:2), and they therefore fail to earn the trust of older men.

When a man becomes a pastor, he’s called to shepherd the whole flock. He must be capable of providing soul care to the young, the middle-aged, and the elderly. If you’re an aspiring pastor, I encourage you to ask yourself the following questions, “Do I show spiritual care for the generations older than me? Do I struggle to earn the trust of older people in the flock? Would the fifty-year-old man in my church trust me to care for his soul? What about the souls of his wife and children? Are there any aspects of my lifestyle or the way I present myself that erect barriers to earning the respect of older members?”

Young men should remove roadblocks to respectability. This may affect the way they dress. It may affect how or whether they employ generational slang in their sermons. It may affect their priorities, their tone, and how they use their time. Every church is located in a cultural context, and a young man needs to be aware of his context, lest he carelessly puts stumbling blocks in people’s way in non-essential matters (1 Cor. 8:9). Paul said, “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity” (1 Tim. 4:12). This means that older generations should not discount a man sheerly because of his age. But it also means young men should not present unnecessary obstacles to earning the approval of seasoned saints.

Conclusion

Aspiring ministers can’t do everything an elder can do. But they can love and care for the people of God in meaningful ways. Nothing prevents them from growing in godliness and exhibiting pastoral character privately and publicly. Every church needs men who do the work of pastoring before they’re officially recognized as pastors.

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[1] Caleb Morell, “Do Elders Receive Their Authority by Congregational Vote?” 9Marks. August 19, 2022. https://www.9marks.org/article/do-elders-receive-their-authority-by-congregational-vote/.

[2] Andrew Bonar, The Memoir and Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray M’Cheyne (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust), 282.

[3] Bonar, Memoir and Remains, 36.