The Secret of Great Pastors

It's a little known secret of what makes great pastors. Some believe it is their ability to open the Scriptures, others believe it is power that comes from being on their knees. Many believe it is their ability to lead ... both navigating the cultural waters and getting people to follow. Those things are crucial. I'm convinced that there is another very crucial element to effective pastoral ministry. And I do believe it exists in part, apart from the pastor's leadership. One of the secrets of great pastors are ... great parishioners. Maybe that's obvious, maybe it's not. Maybe it just reflects my own issues. I was reflecting yesterday upon an older gentleman at church, who has little involvement with my ministry. He is more of a traditionalist in worship and my ministry is anything but that. Yet he constantly says things like, "You do a great job!" or "Nice work." People like that motivate me to be the best pastor I can be. Another incident: At a Vestry meeting, a woman was highly critical of the money spent to fund my position at the church. Yet a week later, she sought me ought to affirm my work and let me know it wasn't personal ... she just had a different view on what the church could be doing with that money. I love working for people like that. Sure they have different opinions but it wasn't personal, and despite speaking 'against my ministry', she was open to conversation, challenge and sought me out to make sure nothing was between us. I can work with that. I want to work with people like that. It's motivating. I can think of several other parishioners that give me a lot of love ... seemingly unconditional love. They are appreciative and affectionate (in an appropriate way). I really don't want to let them down when I do my work. I wonder if in some cases, where pastoral ministries flourish, if it has to do more with right combination of great followers than with the skills of the minister. I do believe that many parishes fail because of the unwillingness of parishioners to change, be flexible or get on board with the leadership. Yet I see pastors get a lot of credit for "turning that church around" or "leading them to a new level", when really it might have been as much or more the right set of followers lifting up the minister to be all s/he could be. I'm convinced lay people need a little more credit. The secret of great pastors is in no small way ... great followers.