LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Assignment Title: Indicators of the paradigm shift in contemporary pastoral ministry
Course: CHMN 699 - Internship
Student: Kristine Sage
Date: January 29, 2022
Professor: Dr. Joel Breidenbaugh
Indicators of the paradigm shift in contemporary pastoral ministry
Shift in biblical foundation for pastoral ministry
Many who are engaged in the pastoral ministry in Nigeria today are impoverished in the
biblical grounding for the ministry. They lack adequate biblical knowledge of the nature and
function of the pastoral office. As Thomas Oden warns, "It is dangerous to the health of the
church for ministry to be practiced without good foundation in Scripture and tradition, reason
and experience."3
A pastor's need for biblical knowledge flows from the fact that "the biblical documents
themselves are in many cases written as pastoral documents."4The Old Testament writings and
the gospels and epistles are all couched in clear pastoral tones because the Scripture itself is an
embodiment of God's love and his purposeful agenda for humanity's good. Consequently, every
claim or engaged activity must have the Scripture as its starting point to be accredited as
"pastoral ministry".
However, today there are some who claim to be pastors who understand the pastoral
function from an African socio-cultural and traditional religious point of view without recourse
to the biblical tradition. Their orientation and practice of ministry is guided by that worldview
and those beliefs. The Bible is used only as a tool to Christianize their activities and is often
perceived as possessing magical power to confront the many ills of African society.5
A number of these so-called pastors (as 22% from the research revealed) are in ministry
not because they are called to the ministry but because they want to escape joblessness. As
one respondent put it, "Some ministers, pastors, evangelists and missionaries are not called by
God. They only force themselves into the pastoral ministry." When pastoral ministry is
approached from a socio-economic perspective without significant emphasis on the biblical
roots, a shift in paradigm becomes obvious.
Fundamentally, Scripture reveals the pastoral office as a called one. As Robert C. Anderson
asserts, a pastor "is an ordinary person who knows the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour,
has experienced the call of God in his life for full-time Christian service, and knows that he is fit
for such service because he meets certain biblical character qualifications."6. He also rightly
asserts, "Not everybody can be a pastor - only those who meet the biblical requirements, sense
the call of God on their lives, and have the appropriate gifts needed to make the office a
success."7 The presence of people in the pastorate who fail to live up to these requirements
suggests a distortion of the pastoral ministry.
A significant number of respondents (32.3%) confirmed that some who are in the pastorate
today are not called to the office. One respondent said, "Most people come into the pastoral
ministry for food, job, and as a last option; not because they are called into the ministry. So,
they serve as hired hands, not as good shepherds". Paul described such people as "peddlers of
God's word" (2 Cor 2:17; 11:13-15). Some are even wolves in sheep's clothing, deliberately
setting out to distort the truth and devour their prey (Matt 7:15; 10:16).
To sum up, the presence of misinformed, unguided, and untrained people in the pastoral
ministry distorts the biblical text and corrupts the ministry. Just as there were false prophets in
the Old Testament and false apostles in the New Testament, so there are false pastors,
preachers, evangelists, and missionaries in the ministry today.
Shift in theological foundation for pastoral ministry
Pastoral ministry has a theological foundation. This foundation is reflected in the
metaphors that are used for pastoral ministry, the most prominent of which is that a pastor is a
shepherd. In biblical times, the term shepherd was used both literally and metaphorically.
Literally, a shepherd was a herder who cared for sheep; metaphorically, the term referred to
those who were in political or religious leadership. Using the same metaphor, the kings of
Israel, and even Yahweh himself, are referred to as shepherds of Israel in the Old Testament,
and Jesus referred to himself as the good shepherd in the New Testament (Jn 10). Self-sacrifice,
care, love, mercy and compassion, provision and protection are demonstrated to be the
qualities of a true shepherd. The apostles adopted this metaphoric understanding in their
letters in which they expounded the Christological theology of pastoral ministry.8 As a
shepherd, the pastor carries the weighty responsibility of protecting and preserving the flock (1
Pet 5:1-4).
Next, the pastor is described as a servant (Rom 1:1; Gal 1:10; 2 Cor 6:4; 11:23) because the
responsibilities of the pastoral ministry are primarily geared towards offering service to the
believing community by attending to their spiritual, socio-economic, and material needs. This
idea too is found repeatedly in Yahwistic, prophetic, apostolic, and Christological ministry
models.
Thirdly, the pastor is described as a steward (1 Cor 4:1; Titus 1:7) who serves as a custodian
of the Word of God and the flock of Christ. The stewardship metaphor stresses that a pastor's
"responsibility is to manage the resources and fulfil the commission of [the] master rather than
to create any basis for ministry in himself or herself".9 Paul testifies to what this means when he
describes his own ministry in Acts 20:17-31.
Furthermore, the pastor is an overseer (1 Cor 9:27; Heb 13:17; 1 Pet 5:1-4). This function
emphasizes the crucial responsibility of exercising spiritual oversight, a role that has preventive,
protective and corrective overtones. As an overseer, the pastor instructs the church in
Scripture, doctrine, theology, and Christian ethics, with the basic aim of correcting wrong
doctrine and bad theology. The goal is to prevent the flock from feeding on spiritual chaff that
will produce a malnourished, distorted, and misguided Christian spirituality.
All the metaphors for pastoral ministry presuppose that the effectiveness and success of
the pastoral ministry are anchored primarily in the pastor's intimate relationship with God and
Jesus. He is the Master all true pastors serve. Pastoral ministry is also anchored in a cordial
relationship with the flock. The type of relationship required is modelled in the life of Jesus (Jn
10:1-5, 9-14, 27-29) and in the ministry of Paul (Gal 2:8-9; 4:14-15; Phil 1:4-5, 8; 1 Thess 2:6-8).
Tidball observes, "The quality of relationship, implicit in the shepherding motif, is vital in
determining the success of pastoring. ... [For the true shepherd] always sensitively takes
account of [the flock's] needs, situations and personalities."10 Thus the theological foundation
of the pastoral ministry presupposes a deep, Christ-like passion for the lost and great care for
the saved. It is a ministry that demands sacrifice because of numerous risks and the
unquantifiable demands that the Lord places on it.
Unfortunately, many claimants to the pastoral ministry in Nigeria are more self-centred
than sheep-centred. They fail to pay careful attention to the functional descriptions of the
pastoral identity discussed above and to the demands of the ministry. As a result, the
theological foundation for their vital ministry is slipping from their grasp. A number of the
respondents to the survey (17%) agreed that there are pastors who care more about their
personal benefits than they do for the needs of church members. When pastoral ministry is
approached from a humanistic perspective rather than from the standpoint of biblical theology,
a negative shift in paradigm is unavoidable.
