I advise new ministers that when they take a new call, be patient, and wait about five years before they make any big changes to the church. Study, ask questions, observe, and determine why and how things exist in your church. Don’t automatically assume that your way of doing things is inherently superior. Once you’ve studied the situation, consult with your elders, and slowly begin to introduce changes.

I suspect one of the more exciting things for a seminary graduate is the day when he officially receives his first pastoral call. All the years of training, studying, late nights, and hard work finally pay off—he finally gets to stand before a congregation and preach the word of God. Frankly, it still amazes me that I get to study the word of God full time and that I get paid too! It’s very rare in life that you get to do something you love for your vocation.

Once the excitement of being ordained and installed wears off, you begin to take a look at your church and, naturally, notice things that you would like to change. Any number of things come to mind—you don’t like the color of the walls in the sanctuary, you’re not fond of the fact that the church has music specials in the middle of the worship service, you think that the church would be better served if it spent more time in prayer, and the list goes on. I don’t think that most newly ordained ministers go into their churches with the assumption that they need to change everything. Rather, I think theoretical knowledge + too much time with books rather than people + youthful inexperience + impatience + zeal for theologically informed practice = disaster. In other words, I think new ministers have a lot of zeal and passion and lack wisdom.

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