A friend of mine, recently graduated from Fuller, is involved in his first pastoral assignment. He asked what practices help one to be a healthy and flourishing pastor. Here is my list. What should be added?
- Practice Sabbath—make one day a week different.
- Be sure to take good time off—daily, weekly, monthly, annually.
- Eat well; get lots of sleep; exercise.
- Spend regular time in Scripture and prayer.
- Worship and be in community with God’s people.
- Develop good spiritual practices and experiments.
- Keep your family and friends a priority.
- Don’t place expectations on a spouse or children.
- Don’t compare yourself or your ministry to others.
- You are a person loved by God before you are a title, a set of degrees or a job.
- Don’t take yourself too seriously.
- Don’t believe what others say about you—good or bad.
- Surround yourself with good people who will be honest with you.
- Listen to, and share with trusted family and friends.
- Find a mentor; be a mentor.
- Laugh a lot.
- Strive to work well with others.
- Show respect to others.
- Remember, you aren’t as important as you think you are.
- Realize that leading is difficult, that change is hard, and you will always have critics.
- Avoid celebrity status.
- Don’t get caught up in degrees and titles.
- Practice humility.
- Don’t complain about your congregation.
- Slow down and be patient. Good change takes time.
- Be still and know that God is God—live in that place
- Never stop learning—read, and study
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions, to wonder, even to doubt.
- Listen to and learn from voices different from yours.
- Spend time exercising the other side of your brain.
- Spend time in God’s creation.
- Read Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Henri Nouwen, Eugene Peterson, and Dallas Willard.
