Pastoral Ministry According to Paul | James Thompson

James W. Thompson. Pastoral Ministry According to Paul: A Biblical Vision. Baker, 2006. 176 pp.

In the present era, the minister is ultimately measured by the ability to organize, build, and manage a complex organization. Congregations continue to assume that the minister will maintain the traditional roles of marrying and burying, but they believe that the ultimate goal of the minister is to take the congregation to a new level of growth. The minister must be both an effective communicator and an administrator. In a competitive religious marketplace, the task of the minister is to ensure that the congregation maintains its place among religious consumers. Often search committees no longer look for someone who conforms to one of these models. Instead they seek someone who is a combination of, for instance, Jay Leno, Lee Iacocca, and Dr. Phil.

These often unstated assumptions indicate that the missing dimension in the conversation about ministry is a theologically coherent understanding of the purpose of ministry that incorporates the numerous roles of the minister. . . . The literature on the various tasks of the minister is abundant, but we lack a comprehensive theological understanding that provides the foundation for the minister’s many tasks. . . .

Despite the pressures that often come from the church and society to define the minister’s role in pragmatic terms as the maintenance and growth of the institution, the answer to the question of ministerial identity . . . is a theological one. In this book I address this missing dimension in the conversation about ministry by offering a pastoral theology that rests on a conversation with recent interpreters of Pauline theology. Examining the theological foundations and goals of Paul’s pastoral work, I argue that the Pauline vision will contribute to the discussion that now occupies churches and seminaries throughout North America: What is a minister? For what roles do we prepare future ministers? What are the goals of ministry? As a New Testament scholar who often works on the boundary between biblical studies and practical ministry, I wish to initiate a conversation between the two disciplines, for Paul provides a coherent pastoral vision that can be the basis for a contemporary pastoral theology. My purpose is to move beyond the focus on the roles of the minister and the how-to literature of ministry in order to determine the ultimate aims of our work. . . .

Paul’s Pastoral Ambition

In every instance in which Paul declares his pastoral ambition, he indicates that the success or failure of his work will be determined only at the end, when he will either “boast” of his work or realize that his work has been in vain. The eschatological horizon is a central feature of Paul’s pastoral ambition. Using language taken from Israel’s story, he refers consistently to the “day” (1 Cor. 3:13; 2 Cor. 1:14; Phil. 2:16) that will reveal the quality of his work. He will “boast” of work that has been accomplished (Rom. 15:17; 2 Cor. 1:14; Phil. 2:16; 1 Thess. 2:19). A church that is “blameless” (Phil. 2:15-16) at the coming of Christ will be the goal of his work. In the meantime, Paul indicates on some occasions that he is already proud of his churches (cf. 2 Cor. 7:14; 8:24; 9:2) and of the work that he has done on their behalf (1 Cor. 9:15), but on other occasions he considers the prospect of working “in vain” (Gal. 2:2; 4:11). His pastoral ambition is therefore corporate and eschatological. Because the ultimate test of his ministry is the outcome of his work with the churches, the ultimate goal defines his ministry in the present. . . .

The Shape of Paul’s Letters

Paul’s correspondence reveals his pastoral concern as he writes to nurture his converts. We discover this pastoral theology implicitly inasmuch as a constant element of his letters is the movement from theological reflection to the challenge Paul gives his churches to live “worthily of the gospel” (Phil. 1:27; cf. 1 Thess. 2:12). The consistency of the exhortations within the letters reflects Paul’s pastoral theology, which is rooted in his expectation of moral progress among his readers. His pastoral theology is also implicit in the prayers at the beginning of the letters (cf. 1 Cor. 1:4-9; Phil. 1:3-11) inasmuch as they frequently describe Paul’s hope for the ultimate outcome of his work. His initial evangelistic work is therefore only the beginning of a process that will not be complete until the end of time. His work will be successful only if his congregations live out the consequences of the gospel through transformed lives and are fully transformed at the coming of Christ. Thus all theology is pastoral for Paul. . . .

Paul’s Pastoral Theology and the Contemporary Church

The historical distance between Paul and the contemporary church, as acknowledged above, demands that we exercise caution when we employ Paul’s pastoral theology in our own time. As the founder of churches in a pagan environment, Paul could speak about a corporate narrative that is unknown to most contemporary congregations. Paul’s task was to shape first-generation converts into a community that had experienced a new beginning; whereas, we minister primarily to communities in a Christian culture who have little sense of the radical break that creates a corporate memory. In our mobile society, our churches have little sense of a corporate narrative. Nevertheless, I am convinced that we can merge the horizons between the ministry of Paul and that of the contemporary minister. Paul’s clear articulation of his pastoral ambition provides focus to the contemporary minister who struggles with a variety of expectations. His focus on community transformation is a welcome alternative to our own focus on meeting the individual needs of members of the congregation. Moreover, his call for a communal and countercultural ethic provides a missing dimension in the contemporary understanding of ministry. For Paul, all of the functions and skills of the minister fit within a pastoral theology of transformation.

Taken from pp. 7-29 of Pastoral Ministry according to Paul by James W. Thompson. Used by permission of Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, copyright © 2006. All rights to this material are reserved. Materials are not to be distributed to other web locations for retrieval, published in other media, or mirrored at other sites without written permission from Baker Publishing Group. Visit http://www.BakerPublishingGroup.com

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