I came across this little gem in my reading today and thought it was important enough to share with all my brothers and sister engaged in Christian ministry of any kind.

Whatever ministry you find yourself in (whether children’s ministry, youth ministry, college ministry, adult ministry, senior ministry, or if you are just ministering to your family) the principle will stay the same: the greatest gift you can give to others is your own personal holiness.

Jason Helopoulos beautifully exhorts us:

A pastor who continually seeks after Christ and grows in holiness pursues the most important thing for his own soul and also for those under his care. They need a pastor who loves and is growing in the Lord to lead them to love and grow.

We cannot lead where we have not tread.

We cannot give what we do not have.

We cannot teach what we do not know.

We cannot set an example when we are not passionately seeking the Lord ourselves.

Where our affections have grown cold, the church will suffer. When our confidence in the Lord is low, the church will feel the effect. The church requires, by God’s design, pastors who are holiness-seeking, faith-building, gospel-preaching, love-motivated, grace-imbibed, affection-stirred leaders of God’s people. Men who have a solid grip of the Great Shepherd’s belt (1 Cor. 6:19-20; Phil. 3:8-11), know His grace, and live in His truth are the men who we need in our pulpits. This precept cannot be overemphasized and must not be minimized. (Taken from The New Pastor’s Handbook, p. 77).

The church has no shortage of scandalous pastors, let us strive with all we have to reverse the trend. May we love our families, our churches, and our neighbors by striving every day for holiness.