Eugene Peterson On What It Means To Be A Pastor
In an interview last year, Eugene Peterson was asked what is at the heart of being a pastor – and what advice he would offer to a student pursuing a career in pastoral ministry. This is what he said…
I’d tell them that pastoring is not a very glamorous job.
It’s a very taking-out-the-laundry and changing-the-diapers kind of job.
And I think I would try to disabuse them of any romantic ideas of what it is. As a pastor, you’ve got to be willing to take people as they are. And live with them where they are. And not impose your will on them. Because God has different ways of being with people, and you don’t always know what they are.
The one thing I think is at the root of a lot of pastors’ restlessness and dissatisfaction is impatience.
They think if they get the right system, the right programs, the right place, the right location, the right demographics, it’ll be a snap. And for some people it is: if you’re a good actor, if you have a big smile, if you are an extrovert. In some ways, a religious crowd is the easiest crowd to gather in the world. Our country’s full of examples of that.
But for most, pastoring is a very ordinary way to live.
And it is difficult in many ways because your time is not your own, for the most part, and the whole culture is against you. This consumer culture, people grow up determining what they want to do by what they can consume.
And the Christian Gospel is just quite the opposite of that.
And people don’t know that. And pastors don’t know that when they start out. We’ve got a whole culture that is programmed to please people, telling them what they want. And if you do that, you might end up with a big church, but you won’t be a pastor.
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I am a husband, father, pastor, leader & reader. I love God, love people & love life.
I love Eugene Peterson’s concept of what it means to be a pastor – as it includes not only the idea of being a leader, but of being a shepherd and doing very ordinary and non-glamorous assignments that are often filled with ambiguity and messes to clean up or sort through.
Eugene gently rubs the off idealism to reveal the realism of pastoring. The tension of consumer culture will remain. May God help us as pastors navigate the pull of pleasing with the tug to teach the truth. Love and serve God, love and serve others.
“God has different ways of being with people, and you don’t always know what they are.” – I love that. I have had to learn that I can’t fix people, I can’t solve every problem. I can however, love people, walk alongside of them through their trials and pray they’ll do the same for me.
Love this perspective! So rooted in the reality of the daily grind of ministry. Thanks for sharing Pastor Brian.
“A religious crowd is the easiest crowd to gather in the world.” It would be interesting to have a discussion about what qualifies as a religious crowd. I suspect it would generally be a list of characteristics that describes some other pastor’s church.
I really appreciate Peterson’s example and contributions to our work as pastors.
Dan – what I hear E.P. saying about a religious crowd being the easiest to gather in the world is in reference to our blatant consumerism. Christians flood to movies like Heaven Is For Real and God’s Not Dead. Why? They’re not good (not according to Rotten Tomatoes anyway – God’s Not Dead got a 17% rating and Heaven Is For Real got 46% – both rotten). And yet Heaven Is For Real earned $91.4M at the box office, God’s Not Dead took in $60.8M.
Compare that to Calvary – a rated R film about a priest being threatened by a mysterious parishioner – which received a fresh rating of 89% from Rotten Tomatoes and only took in $3.5M at the box office (this film does not have the “Christian” label even though it is clearly about Christian issues).
Offer the “right” thing and Christians come running / attending / spending.
Excellent. I read The Pastor a couple years ago and loved it.
Thanks for sharing the interview link. I am especially fond of Eugene Peterson because his writing is so accessible and down to earth. Years ago I read Run with the Horses. Just looked and I still have it on the bookshelf. Great points about the congregational attention span. I’ve started turning off my phone in church so that I can 1) get a short mental break, 2) try and make a meaningful connection with God, and 3) actually receive and think about the messages you and your pastoral team labor over.
PS: I kind of liked Heaven is for Real. Not an award winner, but no horrific violence, gore, abuse, speeding vehicles or blatantly stupid characters. Just real people making mistakes and some not-so-great special effects. Imagine … maybe angels hover over our church altar every once in a while. :O)