The blessing of the long pastorate. . .

When I went out from Seminary the average tenure of the new pastor in his first call was 22 months.  I increased the average staying for nearly 13 years in my first call.  The reality is that I would have gladly stayed but it did appear to me that the Lord was calling me somewhere else.  That said, 13 years afforded me the opportunity to confirm those I baptized and to marry those I confirmed.  It gave me the opportunity to watch as young adults entered into middle age and the aged entered into glory.  Many of those wonderful folks are still there in that parish though many of them have departed this life in faith to rest from their labors.  We had our children there and it was home for a very significant part of our life.

When I accepted the call to Tennessee I did not know what the future would behold.  I often said that I did not think I had more than two moves in me and it proved to be true.  I moved once to New York and once to Tennessee and here I will finish out my years.  Though 13 years is a long time, 32 is a very long time.  I would not trade it for anything.  After three decades in the same parish, I can say that the folks in the pews are not my friends but my family.  As I took our new Associate Pastor to visit shut ins with me, I realized how true this is.  I was helping them reach back into their memories and tell their stories because their stories had become my story.  It made me think how hard it will be for this pastoral relationship to change.

I was told by a pastor once that you do not begin real ministry among your people until after your seventh year in that parish.  Maybe that is just one man's opinion but I have learned to see the wisdom of it.  It takes years before you are preaching to people as their shepherd.  Sure, officially you are their pastor or shepherd from the get go but in the beginning the face of one sheep looks like another.  After a while you begin to know the differences and your sermons reflect that knowledge.  Many times people have walked out the door and greeted me by saying I must have had a crystal ball into their life because I was preaching directly to them that Sunday.  Well, I was.  It was not quite planned on my part but that is the fruit of the Holy Spirit and the long pastorate.  You preach to people you know, whose lives you know, and it shows.  Stay in the parish and learn to know those to whom you are preaching.

Some may think I have stayed too long.  I will admit that it is not easy to follow a fellow who has been there 30 years or more.  Sometimes people treat the long pastorate as a problem to be solved.  Baloney.  If you are threatened by a long tenured pastor, there is a problem and it is not with the long tenured pastor.  Grow up and learn from him.  Treat that man as you would your father.  As long as my dad was alive I constantly asked his advice.  I did not always take it but I asked him and I listened to him no matter what.  That long tenured pastor could be your greatest helper if you pay a little attention to him and ask him about things.  You do not have to take his side or follow his advice but you would be a fool not to ask it or consider it.

I know I have made mistakes.  So do the people I have served.  They are Christian people.  They have forgiven me and I have forgiven them.  It is the way of Christ -- ask for forgiveness and forgive.  No pastor is perfect.  The mark, however, of a mature relationship is that you work through errors and hurts.  The longer you are in a family, the more you know the faults and failings of each family member but the more you also know the power of love and forgiveness to sustain that love.  Pastors who have been in the same place a very long time know something of forgiveness and of asking for it.

As a young pastor I was sure I knew just about everything.  As an old one I am more sure about what I do not know.  If you move too often you never learn that about yourself.  Staying in one place a long time means you have learned to change your mind, negotiate, compromise (about non-doctrinal things), and give in.  In the beginning of your pastoral ministry you are ready to die on every hill but after a while you learn that not ever hill is worth dying on.  I would like to think that I have learned a bit about this. 

For everything that could be cited as a negative about a long pastorate, I will counter with something that is positive and more significant.  The people in the pews know that -- even the folks who do not like you very much.  They know the value of a steady presence over the long haul.  Remember that the pastoral ministry and the parish are more like the tortoise than the hare -- it is an endurance race and not a sprint to the finish line.  The long pastorate certainly helps people see this and experience it and appreciate it.  It also helps to remind folks that we are not competing for anything but working toward the same goal.  Stick around the parish long enough to stop looking for a better place and to begin making where you are at that better place.  I know that people pay attention to me and trust my judgment because they know I could have left many times but believed always that it was the Lord's will that I remain where I was.  The best pastors I know have been in the same place a generation or more.  A long tenure will not automatically make you a better pastor but it will not hurt that cause either.

So to my younger peers I say stick around a while and see what God will show you and see what you might be able to do.  Time is on your side.  There is no perfect congregation or perfect pastor but a long tenured pastor always has an edge on one who has been a lot of places for a short time. Don't look for a better place but work together to make where you are better.  It is always a win and your family will appreciate it as well.