The Counseling Pastor

I came to the pastorate well-equipped for understanding the biblical text, preaching, and discipling. I was moderately prepared to function as an elder, leading the church body. But I was ill-prepared to counsel.

It’s a blessing that in the first few years of ministry I rarely had appointments with people who were asking for biblical guidance for their lives since I wasn’t wise in what to do or how to direct people through their personal problems, trials, and sins.

Over time, I began to slowly receive more personal questions and requests for guidance, so I defaulted to the one thing I did know to do—open the Scriptures and explain what God had to say about the issue at hand. My first attempts at biblical counseling (I didn’t even realize there was a term for what I was doing) were tentative and too often ineffective (largely because I didn’t know how to use the sword of the Spirit accurately—I was like David attempting to use Saul’s armor and sword in 1 Samuel 17:38-39).

But eventually I became more skilled in the use of the Scriptures, received training through NANC (now ACBC), and my schedule expanded to include many more weekly counseling appointments.

As I began growing in my skills as a counselor (and I am still growing and need growth), I learned at least three lessons about my role as pastor.

The Pastor Is a Counselor

While every pastor should have the spiritual gift of pastor/teacher (Ephesians 4:11), the blending of that gift with other gifts, his own natural skills, his training, and his personal desires and godly inclinations suggest that pastors will carry out their roles in a variety of ways. Some will be pulpiteers and emphasize their preaching ministry. Others will be disciplers and emphasize their shepherding role. Others will be visionaries and prioritize their leadership role.

With all the demands of the pastoral ministry, it’s easy to forget that, by definition, the pastor is also a counselor; no matter his gifting, skills, training, and desires, he has a responsibility to care for the people entrusted to him through counseling. Preaching, the public ministry of the Word of God, is foundational to his role. And so is counseling—the private ministry of the Word of God. This was the example of the Great Shepherd (e.g., Matthew 9:20ff; Mark 9:2-13; Luke 10:41; John 9:2ff), it was the pattern of the early church (Acts 2:46-47), and much of what the pastor does is in the context of personal guidance and instruction:

“If you are a good counselor, then you’re learning how to sustain with a word the one who is weary (Isa. 50:4). This is wonderful, nothing less than your Redeemer’s skillful love expressed in and through you. You’ve learned to speak truth in love, conversing in honest, nutritious, constructive, timely, grace-giving ways (Eph. 4:15, 25, 29). You deal gently with the ignorant and wayward because you know you are more like them than different (Heb. 5:2–3). You don’t only do what comes naturally but have gained the flexibility to be patient with all, to help the weak, to comfort the fainthearted, to admonish the unruly (1 Thess. 5:14). You bring back those who wander (James 5:19–20), just as God brings you back time and again. You’re engaged in meeting the most fundamental human need, both giving and receiving encouragement every day (Heb. 3:13).”¹ —David Powlison

The pastor may not have an inclination or desire to counsel, he may not be well-equipped to counsel, he may not have theological training to counsel, but he is a counselor. Thus, his task is to grow in effectiveness and skill as a counselor.

The Pastor Is an Equipper

While a pastor is a counselor, with the size and demands of most congregations—even of “small” congregations—it will be beyond his ability to counsel everyone in his church body that needs assistance. There are two groups of people that the Lord has provided to come alongside him and serve the needs of the church body.

First, he serves in the context of a plurality of elders (1 Timothy 3:1ff). He is but one of several men that the Lord has given to that particular church to serve as shepherds and pastors (the words pastor, elder, and overseer are used interchangeably in the New Testament; cf. Acts 20:17, 28). There is a shared responsibility and accountability among all the elders for the care of the church members (Hebrews 13:17).

Secondly, he serves in a church body that is equipped to minister to one another. The gifts of the Holy Spirit demonstrate that no one individual (including a pastor) is responsible for caring for all the spiritual needs in the church body (cf. Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1ff). Additionally, his calling is not to do all the work of the ministry, but to prepare and equip other members of the body for ministerial work (Ephesians 4:12). And those members are able to do the work of even opening up the Scriptures to guide others (Romans 15:14). Every member of the church has the same Spirit and the same Bible to use to care for each other. Wise is the pastor who takes advantage of the full army of faithful followers of God to care for the flock.

The Pastor Is a Preacher

Many pastors are particularly skilled in and thankful for the opportunity to explain the Scriptures from the pulpit week after week. However, sitting in a counseling room and listening to the concerns and troubles of his congregants’ lives will equip him to use the Scripture more effectively when he preaches. Rather than turning on an overhead light to illuminate the listeners’ problems broadly and generally, he will be prepared to use the Word to penetrate and expose problems and solutions with laser-like focus. He will inevitably begin receiving comments like, “I’m not sure why, but your preaching is much more effective—it seems like week after week you are speaking directly to me and my circumstances.”

In summary, note the admonition of one of this generation’s most impactful counseling trainers:

“Pastor, you are a counselor—and much more than a counselor. A pastor also teaches, equips, supervises, and counsels other counselors. Is your preaching worth the time you put into it and the time others spend listening? The proof lies in whether they are growing up into wise mutual counselors. That is the call and challenge of Ephesians 3:14–5:2. Hands-on pastoral counseling never means that you become the only counselor in the body of Christ. You are training Christ’s people how to walk in the image of the ‘Wonderful Counselor’ (Isa. 9:6). This is a refreshing vision for the care and cure of souls! It is a distinctively Christian vision.”²

¹ David Powlison, The Pastor as Counselor, 14-15.

² David Powlison, The Pastor as Counselor, 15-16.