A father who cuddles his hurting daughter is ministering comfort, a doctor who tends to a wound is ministering healing, and a pastor who carries out his calling well is ministering truth. His unique role is not to solve problems but to minister the Word to the people under his care. He ministers the Word because it has power, because it is communication from God. 

You don’t have to look far to find articles about how and why the pastor’s job is uniquely difficult. Having been a pastor for a number of years now (in both paid, full-time and unpaid, part-time capacities) I can attest there are ways in which it is unlike any other vocation. It really does come with unique challenges, though it certainly provides unique blessings as well. There is one realization about pastoring that came to me slowly but which finally arrived like a breath of fresh, cool air on a hot summer’s day. I found it freeing because it counters an expectation church members can have toward their pastors and, even more so, an expectation pastors can have toward themselves. Here is what I realized: The pastor’s job isn’t to fix things.

Many people first begin to attend church when they are hoping to find a solution to a troubling circumstance. They want to have an easy and joyful marriage instead of a difficult and grievous one. They want to have polite and obedient children instead of troublesome and disobedient ones. They want to overcome an addiction or beat a bad habit. Low points like these often provide fertile ground for the gospel and many people come to faith only after they have reached the end of their own strength, their own abilities. In this way church is the place they find meaning by finding Jesus Christ. But they enter the Christian life bearing so much pain and grief.

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