Wesleyan Pastoral Ministry, Evangelism, and Global Missions — Unit 1: The Wesleyan Pastor: "You Have Nothing to Do but to Save Souls"

Key Verse

"Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." (Acts 20:28, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Explain what John Wesley meant when he told his preachers that they had nothing to do but to save souls.

2. Name the three biblical words for the pastor's work (elder, overseer, shepherd) and show that they describe one office.

3. Describe the four main tasks of a Wesleyan pastor: preaching, teaching, guarding and caring for the flock.

4. Explain why the pastor's own holiness of heart and life is the first requirement of the work.

5. State three objections to the Wesleyan view of the pastor and give the Wesleyan answer to each.

The Voice of This Course

This course is written from inside the Wesleyan tradition, for pastors and future pastors who belong to it. By "Wesleyan" we mean the churches that keep the doctrine of John Wesley: the Church of the Nazarene, The Wesleyan Church, the Free Methodist Church, the Global Methodist Church, and Methodist churches in Latin America and Africa that hold to the Bible and to Wesley's teaching. We hold that the Bible is the inspired and authoritative Word of God. We hold that Christ died for all people, that God's grace comes before our choice, and that God calls His people to holiness of heart and life.

Other Christians, and some historians, see these matters differently. We state their views fairly and then give our answer (1 Thessalonians 5:21). For history, salvation and holiness, see Courses 1, 2 and 3. This course asks a practical question: how does a Wesleyan pastor do the work?

Why Begin with the Pastor?

The Wesleyan revival of the eighteenth century did not spread by buildings, money or famous names alone. It spread because a large number of men and women gave their lives to the care of other people's souls. Some were ordained clergy. Many were laypeople with little schooling. All of them knew what they were for. Wesley gave his preachers a simple charge, and it became the best-known sentence of his teaching about ministry: "You have nothing to do but to save souls." We use it as our unit title. It appears in the instructions that Wesley gave to his preachers in the minutes of the early Methodist conferences.

What Wesley Meant: "Nothing to Do but to Save Souls"

The sentence is easy to misunderstand. Some hear it as a command to ignore everything except preaching. That is not what Wesley meant or did.

First, "to save souls" in the Bible means to save persons. In the Scriptures the word "soul" often means the whole living person (Genesis 2:7, where man became a "living being"). Wesley preached to the person who was hungry, sick, poor, in prison or in debt. He visited the sick, collected money for the poor, and wrote on medicine for people who could not pay a doctor. Unit 6 of this course will show this more fully. For Wesley, saving the soul and caring for the body were not rivals.

Second, the sentence was a rule about priorities. A preacher who goes from town to town has many good things he could do. Wesley told his helpers that the one thing that must rule all the others is the salvation of people, from the first awakening of conscience to the fullness of love for God and neighbor. The sentence therefore covers evangelism, teaching, discipling and holiness. It does not cover only the first step.

Third, the sentence is about the pastor's business, not his worth. The pastor does not earn God's favor by working. After he felt his heart "strangely warmed" at Aldersgate Street in 1738 (see Course 1, Unit 3), Wesley served not to win acceptance but because he had received it.

One Office, Three Names

The New Testament uses three main words for the person who leads a local church. Some Christians treat them as three offices. A careful reading shows they describe one work from three sides.

In Acts 20, Paul calls for the "elders" (Greek presbyteroi) of the church at Ephesus (verse 17). In verse 28 he tells the same men that the Holy Spirit has made them "overseers" (Greek episkopoi) and that they are "to shepherd" the flock (Greek poimainein, from the same family as the word for pastor). Peter does the same in 1 Peter 5:1-2. He writes to "the elders" among them and tells them to "shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers." The words are used together because they describe one group of people.

• Elder points to maturity and standing. The elder is a person whom the community respects for faith and character.

• Overseer points to responsibility. The overseer watches over the whole life of the church.

• Shepherd (pastor) points to care. The shepherd feeds, guides, protects and seeks the lost.

Wesleyan bodies use different titles (Course 4 studies them), but the New Testament puts the work first and the title second. A man who has the title but does not shepherd has missed the point.

Jesus Himself is the model. He called Himself the good shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11). After the resurrection He asked Peter three times, "Do you love Me?" and gave the command, "Feed My lambs . . . Tend My sheep . . . Feed My sheep" (John 21:15-17). The order is important. Love for Christ comes first. Then comes the work.

The Four Tasks of the Pastor

From Scripture and from the practice of early Methodism, we can describe four main tasks. They cannot be separated, but it helps to name them.

1. Preach. Paul tells Timothy, "Preach the word!" (2 Timothy 4:2). The pastor calls people to repent, to believe and to go on to perfect love. Unit 2 will study this task.

2. Teach and disciple. The pastor does not only win people to Christ; he helps them grow. Paul's aim was to "present every man perfect in Christ Jesus" (Colossians 1:28). The Wesleyan way of teaching was not mainly a classroom. It was the small group, the class meeting, with leaders who knew each person. Unit 3 will study this task.

3. Guard. Paul warned the Ephesian elders that "savage wolves" would come in and that men from among themselves would speak "perverse things" (Acts 20:29-30). The pastor guards sound doctrine and also the moral life of the church. Wesley's General Rules asked members to do no harm, to do good and to use the means of grace, and he removed from the societies those who would not keep them. This is not cruelty. It is the shepherd's protection of the flock, and it is meant to restore, not to destroy (Galatians 6:1).

4. Care. The pastor visits the sick, comforts the grieving, strengthens the weak, and seeks the one who wanders. Paul says, "warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all" (1 Thessalonians 5:14). Unit 4 will study this task.

A pastor who preaches but does not care will have a church that admires him and does not love. One who cares but does not teach will have a church that is warm and shallow. The Wesleyan pastor keeps all four together.

The Pastor's Own Holiness

The Wesleyan tradition insists that the pastor's life is part of the message. Paul told Timothy, "Be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity" (1 Timothy 4:12). He added, "Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you" (1 Timothy 4:16).

Wesley's practice agreed with this. When he examined candidates for the preaching work, the questions did not stop with learning. He asked, in substance, whether the person had gifts as well as grace for the work, and whether there was fruit: whether sinners were being turned to God through his labor. Gifts, grace and fruit are still a good test for any call to ministry today.

For Wesleyans, the pastor's holiness is not a matter of looking perfect. Course 3 taught that Christian perfection is perfect love, not freedom from mistakes or weakness. The pastor is a believer who is still being made holy, and he says so honestly. The pastor loves God with all his heart and loves his neighbor, including the difficult neighbor in his own church. A pastor who prays little, reads Scripture little and uses the means of grace little will soon preach without power. Wesley taught that God ordinarily gives grace through the means He has appointed: prayer, the Scriptures, the Lord's Supper, fasting, and Christian fellowship. The pastor needs these for himself before he leads others in them.

The pastor also needs someone who watches over his soul. Early Methodist preachers kept watch over one another's lives and teaching in conference. A Wesleyan pastor today should have a friend, a district leader or an older pastor to whom he is accountable.

How Wesleyan Pastors Have Been Called and Sent

Wesley found that God was raising up men and women with a gift for preaching and caring, and he put them to work as lay preachers under his direction. They traveled to places that had no minister and met with him in conference. In America, Francis Asbury sent circuit riders into the new settlements (see Course 1, Unit 6, and Unit 7 of this course).

Scholars still debate how Wesley should be understood. Some historians stress that he remained a priest of the Church of England until his death and never meant to found a separate church. Others stress that his actions, especially the sending out of lay preachers and the ordinations of 1784 for America, created in practice a new church. A fair reader can see that both points have evidence. For our purpose the debate matters less than the principle that stands under it: Wesley judged an office by whether it served the salvation and growth of people.

Objections and Wesleyan Answers

A pastor should be ready for questions from other Christians. We state three objections as their holders would.

Objection 1: "Saving souls" is too narrow. The pastor should care about hunger, justice and health.

Some critics say that a slogan about souls leads the church to ignore the suffering of people's bodies. Others, from a different direction, say the opposite: the pastor should do only spiritual work and leave the poor to the government.

Our answer. Wesley's own life answers both. He understood "souls" as whole persons. He visited prisons, gave away most of what he earned, and helped open a free medical dispensary for the poor, and in later life he wrote against the slave trade. At the same time, he did not make social work a replacement for the gospel. Jesus fed the hungry and also said that man shall not live by bread alone (Matthew 4:4). James writes that faith without works is dead (James 2:14-17). The Wesleyan pastor does both, and does not let one push out the other.

Objection 2: The pastor is only one believer among many. All Christians are priests, so the pastor has no special office.

Many free-church Christians hold that the New Testament teaches the priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:9) and that a special pastoral office puts one person above others.

Our answer. We hold the priesthood of all believers; every Christian has access to God through Christ and a share in the church's witness. But the same New Testament teaches that Christ "gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry" (Ephesians 4:11-12). The pastor does not stand above the church as a ruler. He stands in front of it as a servant, to equip all the saints for their work. Peter says the elders must not be "lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock" (1 Peter 5:3). The office exists to serve the priesthood of all, not to replace it.

Objection 3: Wesley himself led like a ruler. Wesleyan leadership is too controlling.

Historians have noted that Wesley held great personal authority over the societies and the preachers, and some of his contemporaries objected to it.

Our answer. Wesley did lead firmly, and he was not perfect. We do not copy every part of his style. We keep the principle that the pastor's authority is that of a servant who answers to Christ and to others. Wesley met his preachers in conference to examine doctrine and conduct together, and later Wesleyan bodies gave members and local boards a larger voice (see Course 4).

Pastoral Application

Pastor Mateo serves two small congregations in the hills outside a town. He also works three days a week as a mechanic. On Sunday afternoon he is tired, and a deacon tells him that Doña Rosa has been sick for two weeks and no one has visited her. Mateo also has a sermon to prepare, and a family matter in the other church.

He remembers that Wesley's charge is not to do everything himself but to give himself to the saving and growth of people. He decides on four things. First, he goes to see Doña Rosa that evening, prays with her and reads Psalm 23. Second, he asks two mature women from the church to visit her each week, and he trains them in what to say and what not to say. Third, he gives a regular time each morning to prayer and Scripture, even if it is short, because he knows he cannot give what he does not have. Fourth, he calls another pastor on his district and asks him to pray for him and to hear how his own soul is doing.

That is the Wesleyan pattern: a pastor who shepherds, equips others and stays close to Christ.

Summary

John Wesley told his preachers that they had nothing to do but to save souls. This means the whole person, from first awakening to perfect love, and it sets the priority for all the pastor's work. In the New Testament, "elder," "overseer" and "shepherd" describe one office from three sides, as Acts 20:17-28 and 1 Peter 5:1-4 show. The Wesleyan pastor has four tasks: preaching, teaching and discipling, guarding, and caring. The pastor's own life matters, and the early Methodist test was gifts, grace and fruit. The pastor needs the means of grace and needs someone to watch over his soul. Historians debate whether Wesley meant to found a new church, but the principle stands: offices exist to serve the salvation and growth of people. We answered three objections. The pastor serves the whole person; the priesthood of all believers and the pastoral office belong together; and the pastor leads as a servant under the Word.

Further Reading

• John Wesley, "The Means of Grace," in the Standard Sermons.

• John Wesley, The Journal of John Wesley, especially the entry for Aldersgate Street in 1738.

• John Wesley, "A Plain Account of the People Called Methodists," a primary source on the early societies.

• The General Rules of the United Societies, a primary source.

• John Wesley, Notes on the New Testament, on Acts 20 and 1 Peter 5.

• Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (1656), a Puritan classic on the pastor's work.

• George Herbert, A Priest to the Temple (1652), a classic on the country pastor.

• Francis Asbury, The Journal of Francis Asbury, a primary source on the circuit-riding pastor.

• Course 1 (history), Course 3 (holiness) and Course 4 (ordained ministry) of this specialization.

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