Advice for Young Pastors in the First Five Years of Ministry (Part 1)

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

The following is the first in a two-part series on pastors surviving the first five years of ministry, by Alex D. Montoya, senior pastor at First Fundamental Bible Church in Whittier, California, and author of the book, Preaching with a Passion. In Part 1, he addresses the first two of the five key instructions that Paul gave to Timothy in ministry: be an example of a believer and build your ministry on the Word of God.

The first five years of a new ministry are the most challenging. The average tenure for pastors in a church is three years. For youth pastors, it is even less than that. Most new missionaries do not return to the field after the first term.

In short, knowing how to navigate the first years of ministry is exceedingly important. For new young pastors, this can be a make or break time. They may sense the congregation losing their confidence in them, or worse, the congregation may choose to let him go. These early years are crucial.

Factors of success

Over the course of ministry and teaching in seminary, there are a number of factors that needed to be in place if a new pastor wanted to survive the first years of ministry. These same factors are the ones that Paul gave to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12-16. We have found that if a young minister puts these five precepts into practice from the start, he will have a greater chance of succeeding. Paul lays down these five prescriptions for Timothy which are also the ones necessary if we are to survive the first years of ministry.

Paul’s prescriptions for young pastors

The Apostle Paul begins by laying down the main problem: “Let no one look down on your youthfulness” (1 Tim. 4:12). The young and new pastor faces the necessity of proving himself in ministry. As with Timothy, not everyone is excited or ready to submit to the ministry of a new and young minister. He faces a three-fold problem.

First, he is usually young, under the age of 30, and if married, is a newlywed with a young family. How can he address the lives of older saints?

Secondly, many of our new pastors are new converts, almost fitting the charge of being “neophytes” (1 Tim. 3:6), although they have gone through 4-6 years of seminary. They are ministering to people that have been Christians for a long time, if not for most of their lives. What can they add to their spiritual life?

Finally, they are new to the ministry. For many young pastors, this is their first real job as pastor or senior pastor. They may have served in the church in various capacities but not as the main pastor. Hence, they are actually new at this, and the congregation is fully aware of it. Not all congregations are as kind as the one who said to me upon receiving their young pastor, “Don’t worry; we will teach him how to be a good pastor.” Which they did, and he survived and has had a long ministry to them.

Let us look at the five key instructions that Paul gave to Timothy, which are the five key factors that will help a new young minister survive the first years of ministry.

Be an example of a believer

Churches usually hire pastors for their preaching but fire them for their living. Their manner of life contradicts their preaching. Paul advised Timothy that the way to overcome initial rejection is to be an example of a true believer: “Show yourself an example of those who believe” (1 Tim. 4:12). The pastor will lead by example and as such it must be his priority, not just for himself but also for his entire family (Heb. 13:7; 1 Peter 5:3).

He must be an example in speech, what he says and how he says it; in conduct, how he behaves in private and public. He must learn to accept the reality that he and his family will live in a fishbowl, under the public eye of the congregation. And he must be a loving pastor, learning to love every member of the congregation, knowing their names and caring for them. He must keep in mind that the average member does not care how much he knows until they know how much he cares. He must be a man of faith, learning to trust God for everything. A congregation facing all their daily fears must be led by a man who has his heart fixed on God.

Above all, he must be holy, living in obedience to the commandments of the Lord. If the young minister watches his conduct, there will never be a reason to dismiss him from the ministry as one not having the character of a godly man (1 Timothy 3:1-7).

Build your ministry on the Word of God

The second exhortation Paul gives to Timothy is to focus on the ministry of the Word of God: “Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching” (1 Tim. 4:13). In other words, make the main thing the main thing. The primary task of the pastor is to lead the people of God into the Word of God (2 Tim. 3:16-4:5). Although preaching is not his only task, it is by far the most important task. But he must keep in mind that the whole purpose of preaching is to present every person complete in Christ (Col. 1:28-29).

If he makes it his endeavor to build a church on the Word of God, and to help every believer understand the importance and benefit of the Scriptures, he will build a church obedient to the Lord, living according to His Word. Such a church will not be tempted to act in a godless fashion with their pastor, nor will they follow evil dissenters who will arise to cause divisions or distractions (Rom. 16:18; Acts 20:28-29; Eph. 4:11-16). I would recommend the exposition of the Matthew, John, Romans, I Corinthians and Ephesians, along with various series on the family, the stewardship of gifts and money, and evangelism and missions. These choice books and topics are great at laying down a good foundation for Biblical ministry.

Improve your preaching

Another feature of this exhortation is the call for the young pastor to improve upon his preaching abilities. Although the main cause for dismissal of pastors is their lifestyle, the second major reason is for their poor preaching. A common error made by most seminarians and young preachers is that they think they have perfected their preaching style and thus do not need improvement.

After over 20 years of teaching homiletics in seminary it is a forgone conclusion that most graduates are for the most part poor preachers and need to perfect their skills. These early years are a good opportunity for the young preachers to hone down their skills and styles. They have a ready audience that will be there to help them along the way and who will be gracious with them as they “practice” on them. But such patience will wear thin if they do not see improvement in their young new preacher. The new preacher should review his homiletic textbooks, seek feedback from the audience, and endeavor to be the best preacher possible.

In part two of this article, Montoya writes bout the importance of making sure of your calling to the ministry, showing progress in your ministry, and taking care of your spiritual life.

Read part two here