A pastor’s personal life and health

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Introduction

Paul instructed Timothy to keep a close watch on himself and his teaching (1 Tim 4:16) because Paul knew that personal life and teaching are the two most important areas of a pastor’s life. Likewise, Newton wrote, “the most important focus of a pastoral ministry must be the pastor’s care for his own soul.”[1] My goal of this paper is to give some suggestions by drawing from the wisdom of seasoned pastors on what can pastors do to keep a close watch on ourselves so that we can have the health to be faithful to God’s calling as a shepherd to His flocks.

We need to devote our life to prayers

Pastors, like the apostles, should devote their life to prayers and ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4). Therefore we should pay attention not to let ministry eats away our prayers to the Lord. For example, it could be a sign of trouble if we spend more time in public prayers than in private prayers.

Keeping a prayer journal could help us in organizing our prayers. For example, Prime divided his prayers daily into three parts: a daily prayer list for urgent needs, which he updates frequently; a weekly prayer list patterned after the Lord’s prayer; and a monthly prayer list for each day of the month covers all the people he feels he has some responsibilities.[2]

We need to watch out for temptations

To stay healthy, we as pastors need to be aware of our temptations and do everything we can to avoid them. Baxter wrote that ministers have greater temptations than most men[3]. Sadly, many ministers have fallen into temptations of sex, money, and power in recent years. We could be one of them if we ignore temptations in our life. That is why our Lord asked us to watch and pray so that we do not enter into temptation (Matt 26:41). We need to regularly access our weakness and environment and ask the Lord for wisdom and protection.

We need to manage our time well

Time is limited and precious; therefore, we need to learn how to protect it. As we grow in our maturity and influent, the more we need to learn when to say no. Prime suggested limiting ourselves to one extra meeting a week is probably wise.[4] We must master the art of delegation at church to have time for our personal health. If our calendar is packed with ministry appointments, we are heading for trouble. Allen wrote: “In life’s busyness we need to fight for time to listen to God’s Word. If we don’t, the thistles and thorns of work, ministry, and worry will choke our souls.”[5] Therefore, we must develop a discipline to protect our study time.[6]

We need to read the Bible devotionally

A pastor is to be a teacher of the word of God. However, it is a great temptation to read the Bible only for ministry, but not for ourselves. Therefore we need to have a devotional bible study time, just for our own edification and nourishment. A tree must be panted by steams of water to yell fruit, or else its leaf will be wither (Ps 1:3). Prime has a great suggestion and he wrote: “the most helpful practice I know to maintain freshness is never read my daily passage without writing down a word, a phrase, a sentence, or a whole verse that is especially meaningful, or through which I feel God is peaking to me.”[7]

We need to read Christians Books

Because a pastor is constantly ministering to others, we have a great need to be ministered by others. One of the ways is to read Christian books that will nourish our souls and renew our devotion to the Lord (2 Tim 4:13). Prime advised focus on classic Christian books since they have been tried and tested. But do not entirely neglect contemporary books. Prime’s advice on choosing a book to read is that it must feed his soul and lead him to Christ Himself. If he starts a book and finds it does not do that, he will read another book.[8]

We Need Friends

Like a soldier needs other soldiers, a pastor needs other pastors to support each other (Phil 2:25). Therefore, a pastor should strive to develop friendships with other elders. We will become a hypocrite if we do not love our fellow elders and share life with each other.

A pastor should have friendships with other pastors outside of the local church. For example, John Calvin started the “Company of Pastors,” a group of pastors within and around Geneva who met on Friday mornings to have fellowship[9]. We could look for an existing fellowship or start a new one, depending on your particular situation.

We need to exercise

Many pastors are tempted to skip exercises to have more time to work. The fact is, exercise helps us to be more productive (1 Tim 4:8). Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which was bought with a price; therefore, we ought to glorify God with our body (1 Cor 6:19). Therefore, we ought to pay attention to our bodies and adjust our exercise accordingly. Piper wrote that he used to run when he was young, jog when he was older, and add weight-lifting when he was even older. Therefore we ought to develop our own exercise regimen. A proper aim is important. Piper wrote that his aim is to have the health to love people, and be productive.[10]

We need to rest

Pastors must have sufficient rest. We need to have a sabbath day where we are not doing ministry. Spurgeon recommends that preachers should take time away from ministry to spend time in nature and let the beauty of nature do its appointed work.[11]

When a pastor is weary from his ministry, a sabbatical will be a helpful rest to replenish his energy. A sabbatical does not have to be seven years. Eugene Peterson wrote that he took his first sabbatical after 23 years of faithful ministry to the same church.[12] Peterson spent time in nature with his wife writing, resting, praying, contemplating, and worshiping God during the yearlong sabbatical. He came back fully recharged and ready to serve the church again.

We need to spend time with our family

One survey shows that the number one issue leading to marital problems with pastors is insufficient time with our spouses[13]. Since a pastor’s marriage (1 Tim 3:2) and children (3 Tim 3:4) are part of his qualification as a pastor, he needs to prioritize caring for his marriage and children. Prime wrote, “if we neglect our families, we eventually undermine our entire pastoral and teaching ministry.”[14] We need to set intentional time for our family. Prime suggested a minimum of one hour for the children. As children grow, we need to be sensitive to their needs and readjust our schedules so that we can minister to them as they grow.[15]

Conclusion

In the article, I have provided some suggestions by drawing from the wisdom of seasoned pastors on what pastors can do to maintain and improve our personal health to have longevity in ministry and be faithful to our calling as pastors. I hope this paper will help you to get started in your journey to make your health, both spiritually and physically, a priority in your life. So therefore, brothers, let’s keep a close watch on ourselves.

  1. Phil A Newton, 40 Questions about Pastoral Ministry (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2021), 67. ↑
  2. Derek J Prime and Alistair Begg, On Being a Pastor: Understanding Our Calling and Work (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2004), 90–91. ↑
  3. James Blackmore, A Preacher’s Temptations (Raleigh, NC: Edwards & Broughton Company, 1966), 1656. ↑
  4. Prime and Begg, On Being a Pastor, 273. ↑
  5. Lewis Allen, The Preacher’s Catechism (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 33. ↑
  6. Newton, 40 Questions about Pastoral Ministry, 95. ↑
  7. Prime and Begg, On Being a Pastor, 93. ↑
  8. Prime and Begg, On Being a Pastor, 95. ↑
  9. Newton, 40 Questions about Pastoral Ministry, 113. ↑
  10. John Piper, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry, Updated&expanded edition (Nashville, TN: B & H Publishing Group, 2013), 186. ↑
  11. C. H. Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students: A Selection from Addresses Delivered to the Students of the Pastors’ College, Metropolitan Tabernacle., vol. 1 (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1875), 172. ↑
  12. Eugene H. Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub, 1993), 146. ↑
  13. John MacArthur, Richard Mayhue, et al., Pastoral Ministry: How to Shepherd Biblically, The John MacArthur Pastor’s Library (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc, 2005), 121. ↑
  14. Prime and Begg, On Being a Pastor, 247. ↑
  15. Prime and Begg, On Being a Pastor, 252. ↑

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