Читать книгу Pastoral Ministry - Маттс-Ола Исхоел - Страница 4

Andrew, John and Peter. These are some of the most common names not only in Russia, but more or less all over the world. These famous names go back to a group of men who 2,000 years ago decided to follow Jesus wherever He would lead them. Today we know them as the twelve apostles of the Christian church. They became the first leaders in Jerusalem, and later all the way to Rome. They wrote books in the Bible and guaranteed that the gospel was correctly established and handed over to new generations of believers. The wall around the heavenly Jerusalem will have twelve foundations; each foundation will be named after one of these men.

They are the giants of church history.

But they all began as disciples.

A book about the ministry of a pastor has to begin with God’s calling and the times of preparation that follow. Nobody steps straight into ministry. We begin by being disciples, by learning and practicing, guided by the Holy Spirit. When Jesus called His twelve disciples, He knew the future of each of them. They would be shepherds and pioneers in His kingdom and they would be examples and heroes for all generations of Christians who would follow. That is why He spent most of His earthly ministry training them.

They followed Him, watched Him, listened to Him and imitated Him. From Him they learned everything about being a spiritual leader. They wrote down His speeches and recorded His miracles. When they became too eager, He had to calm them down and make them understand that they had more to learn before He could send them into the world. But finally the day came when He returned to the Father and could say to them “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15) and “Tend My sheep” (John 21:16). Because they had followed Him all this time, they were now ready to fully be what He had intended them to be from the first moment He called them.

This must also be our story. The pastoral ministry begins with following Jesus. Only he who is willing to humble himself and be formed by the Holy Spirit can one day serve as a useful vessel. To be a disciple is never wasted time. Every day Peter and John spent with Jesus gave them something significant for the future, and He still works like that with us today.