I was twenty-eight years old when I started in full-time ministry in 1999 as associate pastor of a large Presbyterian church. I was thirty when I was called to pastor a small suburban church on my own. I made loads of mistakes and learned a lot of things the hard way. I can’t turn back the clock, but I can share these lessons. I hope they might help young men who are just starting out in pastoral ministry. Most of these thoughts should be read in the category of wisdom or common sense, to be weighed accordingly.
Don’t talk about church all the time with your wife. On Mondays I took my wife out for coffee so that I could treat her to an in-depth analysis of the day before: who was there and who wasn’t, how well we connected with visitors, who was struggling or doing well, problems with the music, problems with the building temperature, etc. I made my number-one supporter feel second-best to the church.
Don’t talk about church problems in front of the kids. They begin to sense that their church is the enemy of their family.

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Campbell Markham | “Things I Wish I’d Known about Pastoring a Church When I Was Young” | January 17th, 2024

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