March 19, 2025
It is not unusual for young men who serve on church staffs to reach a point in ministry and leadership development where they start thinking about becoming senior pastor of a church.
Not every senior pastor has his first ministry experience in a church staff position, but many will. Others, however, discover along the way that their gifts are best suited for student ministry, worship leadership, administrative leadership, or a second chair position and serve faithfully in that path for the duration of their ministry.
For those who feel called to a senior pastor position, how can they know when the time has come to make that transition? Here are five suggestions.
1. Talk to your pastor: Strive to build the kind of relationship with your senior pastor where he can be the number one cheerleader for you as you move from a staff role to a lead pastor role. If you have that kind of relationship, and if he is seeking God’s best for you, then you can lean heavily on his counsel. If he says you are not ready to pastor a church, then ask him to help you get ready and in what areas you need to grow. If he thinks you are ready, then ask what he sees in you that leads him to that conclusion and again ask him to help you think through timing, church fit, interviewing for a pastor role, and more.
2. Seek other wise counsel: Wise leaders apply the principle learned in Proverbs 11:14. This wisdom nugget reminds the reader, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” Other people see leadership traits in us that we may not see in ourselves. Ask discerning people who know you well if they think you are ready to be a pastor. If they say “no,” then ask where they think you need to grow. If they say “yes,” then ask them why they think as they do. These wise counselors will not determine God’s calling for you, but they can be used by God to help you move faithfully and with greater confidence into His calling on your life.
3. Consider your qualifications, gifts, and desires: One biblical qualification of an elder is that you desire the office. 1 Timothy 3:1 reminds the reader, “The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.” Do you have a healthy desire to shepherd a congregation toward spiritual maturity and disciplined engagement in God’s mission and do you possess the biblical qualifications and commensurate gifts for that role?
4. Give it a test drive: Ask your pastor if you can try some of the tasks that a pastor does to see how it fits you. One leadership expert likes to say, “You cannot see what I see until you sit where I sit.” Future pastors must learn how much they do not know before they can learn what they need to know to pastor effectively. Experimenting with some of the tasks of a senior pastor can help them decide if this work is for them.
5. Pray and yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit: Psalm 32:8 is a great place to start praying for God’s guidance on your life. The verse reads, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will counsel thee with mine eye upon thee.” While there is disagreement among scholars as to who is speaking in this Psalm, the most plain reading seems to be that God will guide His listening servant. Bathe your sense of calling in prayer and then pay careful attention as God leads.
Pastoring a church is one of the greatest gifts imaginable for those who are called to it by God. However, trying to pastor without God’s sustaining calling will be a miserable experience.
Let us pray together that God will lead men from all over the commonwealth to answer His call and serve churches as faithful shepherds.
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Todd Gray is executive director-treasurer of the Kentucky Baptist Convention. This commentary first appeared in Kentucky Today.
