The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1961-09-15
Pastors Needed
Lesson for September II, 1861

NO OtlltI ItllSlOl Uut I'LL iSIl-
anity has anything like pastor
They have monks, priests, "holy
men," religious beggars, preach
ers; but no pastors. When the
Christian religion began, there
was no precedent for pastors. No
body drew up a diagram of
church organization and put the
pastor into it. This particular
office "a very dry word for it,
of the pastorate grew into exis-
tence as the church grew. Ger
tain men proved to be indispen-
sable doing the kind of thing that
pastors do. and so the pastor be-
gan to be a long-lived institution.
A Man First
A good pastor is a man first.
You can't take a misfit and
make pastor out of him. There
is no other occupation in the
world like it, there is no other
that calls for so many different
kinds of skills. We have a picture
in the New Testament = you
might say a set of snapshots
rather than a full-length movie
of a young man developing into
a pastor: namely Titus, a close
friend Of Paul. He travelled with
Paul around the rim of Asia, as
a missionary; but he was much
more than an ordinary travelling
companion. Paul was a Jew and
Titus a Greek, yet Paul was ex-
tremely fond of him and depend
ed on him no little. He writes in
one place that his mind could
have no rest. because Titus was
not there. Titus was his second
self, if Paul could not reach a
church, he would send Titus in
his place This was not merely
formal, so that Paul would be
"represented;' TITUS was sent
into some pretty troublesome and
ticklish situations, but always
made good. He could operate in
a team or on his own. We see
him as a young man $50 young
that Paul called him my child"l
with firm character, with high
ideals; reliable, dependable
man, a real leader of men.
Other things being equal, the bet
ter the man, the better pastor he
will be.
Worker With People
Not all friendly men make good
pastors; but a good pastor must
be a good friend, as he must be
a good man. He needs to be
sympathetic with the people of
his church and community; but
unlike so many of our friends
the pastor will never be quite sat-
lsfied with us. For his high and
difficult aim is to produce better
Christians, to help every one he
knows to become a Christian, if
not one already, and to be bet
ter Christian if the Christian life
has already begun. He is a kind
of gardener of souls, and that is
a harder kind of garden to care
for than orchids. Titus must have
had tact, because Paul used him
so often as a trouble shooter: he
had sympathy with other Chris
tianS, we never hear of his get
ting into church fights and argu-
The good pastor identi-
fies himself in his minds eve
with those with whom and for
whom he works - he takes us as
we are ~ but does not leave us
as we are. This. we remember,
was the way of Jesus.
Help Wanted!
The church of Christ has al
ways had officers and leaders,
from the first. But the church
came first, the officers and lead
erS grew out of the needs of the
Christian community. No church
full of people really gets on very
well without leaders. In Louis
vile, Kentucky. there is a con-
gregation which for many years
had as its pastor a bank presi-
dent, who declined to take any
from his congregation.
But however it's done. such a
leader is always needed. There
aren't nearly enough.
The best service a church can
render to the world is to produce
young men who will volunteer for
the Christian ministry. especially
as pastors. But how is this done?
The experience of Titus gives us
a hint. Paul took this young man
with him, he drafted him, so to
speak, into the service of Christ
and the church. It is quite true,
as Christians are aware. that
only the Holy Spirit can call a
man to the ministry. But God S
call often reaches men, as it
reached Titus, through the sug-
gestion, help and example of
older Christians who are Gods
to the young and un-
decided. Does your church en-
courage its young people to listen
for the call of God?
Based on outlines copyrighted