Join a Church and Follow a Faithful Pastor

Attempting to run a marathon without any proper training would be foolish, and possibly deadly. Your mind, legs, and lungs are not able to run that type of distance naturally.

To pursue pastoral ministry without proper training would be even more detrimental to yourself and others.

That training could include seminary. However, there are two components more vital than seminary to ministry preparation—joining a church and following faithful pastors.

You may think these go without saying, yet they need to be stated and restated. The training that comes from joining a church and following faithful pastors is invaluable and irreplaceable.

Joining a Local Church

The New Testament is clear: identifying with Christ necessarily includes identifying with his people (Matt. 16:18, Acts 2:47, Heb. 10:24–25). The church is the family of God—the new covenant community. In aspiring to be a leader within this family, you must first join the family, which is formalized through church membership.

Joining before leading is common sense. Apart from joining a church, you’ll have nothing more than assumptions about how the church functions and lives as a local body. You learn so much within the church that shapes how you would lead a church.

As a member, aspiring pastors experience how the church weeps and rejoices together (Rom. 12:15). They’re trained to humble themselves and submit to leaders and fellow members (Heb. 13:17, Eph. 5:19). They see what it looks like to labor to fulfill the Great Commission.

Joining a church is also essential because brothers are to be exemplary members prior to serving as pastors. A pastor is more than a church member, yet they’re not less than one. The qualifications of an elder assume he is to be a model member before being installed as an elder (1 Tim. 3:1–7).

Aspiring pastors, then, must do the work of pastoring long before they become pastors. They must labor for the maturity of the church, serve their brothers and sisters (Rom. 12:9–11, 1 Pet. 4:9–11), look to the interests of others (Phil. 2:1–5), speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15–16), bear burdens (Gal. 6:2), maintain unity eagerly (Eph. 4:1–3), encourage straying and struggling sheep (Heb. 3:12–13), and prioritize the gathering (Heb. 10:24–25).

The longer one is a faithful member of a faithful church, the more prepared he is to pastor.

Following Faithful Pastors

Scripture mandates that members follow their pastors’ faith and life (Heb. 13:7). Following faithful pastors in your local church allows you to learn from those who are seasons ahead and get a window into the work you aspire to do someday. Without this, you can have a romanticized view of pastoral ministry—like assuming it only consists of sermon preparation, or that pastors are spiritual CEOs. Following a good man will quickly debunk and correct wrong assumptions.

In theater, the director ensures that the main character has an understudy, a person who is able to act as a replacement if necessary. The understudy shadows the lead character, learning his or her lines, following moves, and asking questions. The more the understudy observes, the more he or she is prepared.

In spending time with faithful pastors, aspiring pastors observe how to prepare sermons, pray for church members, equip the saints for the work of ministry, minister to struggling sheep, pursue straying sheep, conduct weddings and funerals, lead elders’ meetings, and more. These opportunities are invaluable and available to the one who chooses to take advantage of them. You witness in real time what you read about in books, and it pays dividends in the long run.

The saying holds true, “More things are caught than taught.” Paul could speak so highly of Timothy’s character and competence because Timothy spent so much time following Paul and ministering alongside him (1 Thes. 3:1–6, Phil. 2:19–22, 1 Tim. 1:3–4, 2 Tim. 3:10–11).

When you reach miles ten, fifteen, and twenty in a marathon, you know what to do because—if you’re wise—you’ve trained for it. In pastoral ministry, prior prioritization of church membership and following faithful pastors provides experience that will help you persevere to the finish line.