"As a pastor, what I need are the understanding from believers and some rest. Comforting and helping others, we are also human in need of support.”
Many churches highlight the Great Commission, the nourishing of believers, and services in the community, which are without a doubt very important. But meanwhile few people pay attention to the needs of pastors. While what pastors really need may be further study, contributions, or prayer support, an experienced pastor claimed that they only want a vacation from the busy work.
Recently, the Christian Times, an online Christian newspaper in China, interviewed Pastor G (pseudonym) who leads two churches with rich pastoral experience. With a disability in his 40s, G was issued a “Disability Certificate” by the authorities. His answers are written down in the first person as follows.
The best thing for me is being entitled to one day off a week. I schedule Monday off, but who replaces me to do so many things? At any time, someone may come to me with difficulties, such as a problem that needs to be fixed or a bad thing that has happened to them.
Not only I, but many other pastors don’t have a chance to rest, as well as retreats. Some foreign pastors have a sabbatical year every seven years, but this is completely absent in China.
So, I don't know about other pastors, but for me, I think what a pastor needs most is rest, as well as understanding from church members, not too much, just a little.
Christians are used to getting pastoral care from pastors without gratitude, as they think it is the pastor’s duty to help them. I think they have the wrong attitude, though it is right for pastors to pray and help them.
I just want to say that a pastor should nourish believers, but I am a disabled person who also has many inconveniences and difficulties that other healthy people can’t imagine.
Once, a female believer asked me, "Pastor G, as you are working so hard, what do you need us to do for you?" I replied, "That's great, but you just have to stand in my position. If you're willing to pray for me, that's even better."
- Translated by Abigail Wu
“对于牧者而言，其实我们并不需要信徒为我们特意做什么，我们需要的就是信徒的理解和支持，这就已经够了。作为牧者，我们在安慰很多的人，我们在支持和帮助着很多的人。但是同时，我们也是人，我们也盼望着能够得到信徒的理解和支持。”
很多教会都非常注重大使命、注重信徒的牧养、注重服务社区.....毫无疑问，这些确实都是非常重要的。只是在牧者牧养信徒和服事教会的同时，因为种种原因，却很少有人关注教会牧者的需要。牧者们究竟需要的是什么？学习进修？经济奉献？还是祷告支持？
G牧师今年40多岁，患有残疾，持有国家发放的残疾人证书。G牧师在华东某地的教会服事多年，拥有很丰富的牧养经验，目前在带领着两所教会。日前，基督时报采访了G牧师，问他“您觉得牧者需要什么？”他回答了这个问题。
以下为G牧师的口述整理：
牧者需要什么呢？最好的服事就是能够给我们一些休息的机会。现实情况是包括我在内的很多牧者根本没有休息的机会。退修会？不是很少，而是根本就没有。一些国外的牧师们还能够每7年有一个安息年，但是在中国应该是完全没有的。如果我休息的话，谁来代替我呢？那么多的事情没有人能够处理。现在我是自己给自己规定一周要休息一天，就是周一这天。|
但是规定是规定，实际上执行起来想要休息是非常有难度的，信徒来找的话不能放着不管吧？随时都有可能有人找过来，而且往往找过来的还都是急事或者坏事。我也不能给别人说，“你明天再来吧，今天是我的休息时间。”
所以，不知道别的牧者如何，至少对我而言，我觉得牧者可能最需要的就是休息。然后就是希望能够得到信徒的一些理解，不需要他们理解的太多，能够稍微有一些就可以了。（==当summary）
信徒想着牧者帮助信徒是他的职责。有一些信徒只知道从牧者这里索取、一味的索取，而不知道感恩。他认为为他祷告是应该的，为他付出很多这些都是应该的。其实，这样说从内容上并没有错，但是错在了心态上。
我只想说，我是牧者，牧者牧养和帮助信徒，这确实是应该的。只是不要忘记了，牧者也是人，更何况我还是一个残疾人，在现实生活当中残疾人存在着诸多的不便，身体健康的人很多时候很难切实地发现残疾人的难处。
有一次，有一位姊妹信徒问我：“G牧师，你那么辛苦，你需要我们为你做什么事情呢？”我的回答是，“太好了，但是其实别的事情都不需要你们做，只需要能够理解我就好了。如果你们还愿意为我祷告的话，那就再好不过了。”
https://christiantimes.cn/news/37182/%E5%AF%B9%E8%AF%9D%7C%20%E7%89%A7%E8%80%85%E9%9C%80%E8%A6%81%E4%BB%80%E4%B9%88%EF%BC%9F%E5%8D%8E%E4%B8%9C%E4%B8%80%E5%9F%BA%E5%B1%82%E7%89%A7%E5%B8%88%EF%BC%9A%E7%A8%8D%E5%BE%AE%E7%BB%99%E6%88%91%E4%BB%AC%E4%B8%80%E4%BA%9B%E4%BC%91%E6%81%AF%E7%9A%84%E6%9C%BA%E4%BC%9A
"As a pastor, what I need are the understanding from believers and some rest. Comforting and helping others, we are also human in need of support.”
Many churches highlight the Great Commission, the nourishing of believers, and services in the community, which are without a doubt very important. But meanwhile few people pay attention to the needs of pastors. While what pastors really need may be further study, contributions, or prayer support, an experienced pastor claimed that they only want a vacation from the busy work.
Recently, the Christian Times, an online Christian newspaper in China, interviewed Pastor G (pseudonym) who leads two churches with rich pastoral experience. With a disability in his 40s, G was issued a “Disability Certificate” by the authorities. His answers are written down in the first person as follows.
The best thing for me is being entitled to one day off a week. I schedule Monday off, but who replaces me to do so many things? At any time, someone may come to me with difficulties, such as a problem that needs to be fixed or a bad thing that has happened to them.
Not only I, but many other pastors don’t have a chance to rest, as well as retreats. Some foreign pastors have a sabbatical year every seven years, but this is completely absent in China.
So, I don't know about other pastors, but for me, I think what a pastor needs most is rest, as well as understanding from church members, not too much, just a little.
Christians are used to getting pastoral care from pastors without gratitude, as they think it is the pastor’s duty to help them. I think they have the wrong attitude, though it is right for pastors to pray and help them.
I just want to say that a pastor should nourish believers, but I am a disabled person who also has many inconveniences and difficulties that other healthy people can’t imagine.
Once, a female believer asked me, "Pastor G, as you are working so hard, what do you need us to do for you?" I replied, "That's great, but you just have to stand in my position. If you're willing to pray for me, that's even better."
- Translated by Abigail Wu
