3 Traits of Great Pastors

Being a pastor is difficult. Pastors are subject to constant evaluation of everything in their life, from their sermons and leadership decisions to what they wear, the car they drive, and the grades their kids get in school. They are criticized—sometimes fairly, but often not—more regularly and casually than most people would be able to bear. 

Great pastors not only don’t take this personally, but they also remember why they became a pastor in the first place: they want to see people experience the love of Jesus and be transformed by it. And so they choose to see the burdens that other people carry, helping them bear those burdens in a way that makes them feel light.

When they are barraged by difficult circumstances and difficult people, great pastors ooze love, compassion, and kindness. No pastor will ever get this perfectly, and there will be moments when a pastor’s hurt feelings, anxieties, or frustrations will leak onto some of those he leads in ways that are less than ideal.

But great pastors are the ones who are known for being a calm and steady presence in difficult circumstances, and even in direct response to difficult people.

3. Great Pastors Lead Decisively but Don’t Take Themselves Too Seriously.

Meekness is not the same thing as weakness, and great pastors know that. So they take the task of leading a local congregation of believers seriously, but not themselves. 

They understand that decisions need to be made in order for the mission and vision of the church to continue moving forward. They also understand that some of those decisions are difficult and will result in some measure of criticism regardless of which course of action they choose. But they are neither afraid of those decisions, nor do they approach them with hubris. 

They seek the counsel of their fellow elders and other leaders and strive for consensus, and they chart a course forward. When things don’t go as planned, they feel no shame in backtracking and going in a different direction, and depending on the situation, they are comfortable enough to appropriately joke about it.

As a result, they put their people at ease and help them to step into their giftings and flourish as God intended, rather than causing them buckle under the weight of feeling as though they need to perform.

At the end of the day, great pastors know that the legacy of their ministry does not rise and fall on how many home-run sermons they preached, how strategically they led, or how big their church grew. 

Those endeavors are not unimportant, but great pastors aren’t consumed by them. Instead, they are focused on helping their people experience Jesus and share him with the world. That’s a slow, often mundane, and even thankless process, but is the task that great pastors are built for.