Estimated Read Time: 6 Minutes
A while back, a pastor friend of mine posted on Facebook about his “study.” Ps. John pastors in Canada and worked with my dad at Sheffield Family Life Center under Dr. George Westlake in the 90s. Like my dad, Ps. John is more traditional than the young contemporary pastor. He still wears a suit on Sunday Morning to preach. He also has a large library.
The idea of a pastor’s study is becoming all the more foreign.
I have yet to hear a pastor my age or in my neighboring millennial generation utilize the term personally. They often will refer to their place of work as their office.
They have offices.
They do administrative work. They have meetings. They lead teams. They do sermon prep. They speak. They lead ministries. They go into the office.
Office hours…
Pastors like Pastor John are getting older and us—their replacements and successors—do not have studies.
I speak in generalities, but the condition warrants the conversation.
I am rapidly approaching three years of pastoral ministry. I am daily tempted by the societal and trending pull to become an entertainer and manager. These are not bad things. To be clear, I seek to utilize these mechanisms as any pastor will in some capacity. Yet, I—as many pastors would probably confess—have been tempted to focus on developing speaking and communication skills, team and volunteer management, visitor retention, engagement tactics, and other leadership skills in much greater proportion to my pastoral study.
Here lies the deadly allure.
In seeking to grow as leaders and speakers, pastors are rapidly becoming more practical and less deeply rooted in the rich biblical and theological art of living revelation.
To be clear, I am guilty of this too… Over the last few years, I have seen how easy it is to trade an hour of study knowing I can rely on utilizing a story, joke, or charismatic oration.
In college as student, I was accustomed to study. Sadly, that study of the Bible was often detached from the life blood of the faith: Jesus and the church. Yet, study was still the key aim of my life. Study became a beautiful desire; deep within my soul longing to know and see the wonders of God.
Then pastoring got busy. Buildings needed cleaned… people needed help… lives needed guidance… emergencies needed tending to… budgets needed addressing… teams needed managed… Study gets the crumbs….
In seeking to grow as leaders and speakers, pastors are rapidly becoming more practical and less deeply rooted in the rich biblical and theological art of living revelation.
A brief excursus (sidebar)
The study being explored here is more than the contemporary Christian leadership or living book. As great as Sadie Robertson or Craig Groechel’s popular level books may be, they are not the same as deep pastoral study.
Sadly, where pastors of the past were reading John Wesley, Barth, Luther, Calvin, Spurgeon, Ladd, Anchor Bible Dictionary, NICOT, their biblia hebraica stuttgartensia or NA28, Augustine, and others, now, pastors maybe read leadership books, popular pastors, and other Christian speakers.
Again, to be clear, I know that this is painting with wide strokes—possibly unfairly.
But with the rise of podcasts, leadership models in churches, and trendiness (fashion, music, coffee, lights, etc…) deep pastoral study and readings seems to be evolving in the younger pastorates.
Pastors are legitimately pressed for time. The need for accessible information is valid and legitimate (pastors, please check out LOGOS. This is an affiliate link; get 20% off Silver and up. I have used it for 3 years and it will help you study, sermon prep, and organize research.). Yet, podcasts did not replace study in my pastoral work. I tried…
Youtube can’t replace pastoral study.
Books labeled Christian living won’t replace pastoral study.
A Secondary excursus: Pastoral Theology
Please subscribe to Joseph Lear.
Joseph frequently reminds me that theology is always linked to the church. The pastor is always theological.
Coming from the academy and seminary, I had yet to understand this. I had not yet experienced it as a pastor. I spent years writing papers that had no impact on the way people view God. I spent years debating things with people who had no stake in what I said. Now, I understand, all of my theology is connected to my pastorate. Every sermon impacts the way our people begin to view God. Every challenge and debate I engage impacts their view of Jesus.
My theology is now pastoral.
My study is linked to my vocation. When I sit and study, I do so not to find the nuances of theological semantics. This study shapes my pastoral mind and imagination, thus shaping the hearts, minds, and lives of those God has entrusted into my care.
Our theology is critical. Our study is connected to our theological depth.
Theology is played within popular books, but often theology is solidified in the depth of pastoral study.
Dwell in the study
Where do we land this ship…
Am I being slightly dramatic and hyperbolic, possibly… Yet, I still think that many pastors are experiencing the temptation of study-less pastorates.
Don’t be fooled into thinking your yearly YouVersion plan is study. Reading alone is not study. Study comes from the depth of God’s living revelation. That can come within the simple reading of the text, but only through study and meditation can we dive deeper into the vast ocean of God’s divine splendor.
Language reveals reality… the office has replaced the study. Pastor’s libraries are smaller. We manage more people… more teams… more events… we pastor less.
My heart is not to be a dissenter, rather the opposite—a pastor. Possibly a pastor with a prophetic—a challenging reminder—call to re-enter and dwell in the study of the pastor.
Ditch the coffee shop… Ditch the trendy sermon prep… Ditch the reliance on funny stories, charisma, and props…
Pastors, we need to study. We need to dwell and live in the deep study of the scriptures and their connected meaning. We need to study the connections. There are tens of thousands of cross-references. There are hundreds of thousands connections points to our past, present and future as God’s creation.
The temptation to become more and more entertaining is real. The temptation to focus on good leadership and management to keep our churches modern is heavy. These things must not distract us from the study of pastoral office. May we study as though our vocation and our congregation depends on it. They just may.
Get in the study. Dwell in the study. Study.