The ministry of the Word and prayer. In the busyness of pastoral life these two tasks can fall off the radar. In the rush to professionalise the ministry and ensure that we are great leaders who maintain focus, build churches, streamline processes, create memorable online content, and structure teams, we will often neglect the primary focus: The ministry of the Word and prayer.

The Sins of Commission

It’s hard not to go online in any Christian setting these days and not see a litany of sins that pastors commit.

In fact there is a whole industry built around these matters, which often expose every sordid detail of sexual sin, or financial sin or other type of relational sin.

And some of it is pretty grubby. And most of it is disqualifying.  It’s not hard to find it. And it’s not hard to find commentary about it. These sins of “commission” are up front and lamented. They anger and hurt many people.

And I’ve also written around these matters, especially in the more grey areas of abusive leaders – the “rough sheep” spoken about in Ezekiel 34, which I also believe to be disqualifying of pastors.  There are plenty of temptations out there that we can succumb to.

But it struck me reading my Bible this morning of another set of sins, this time not of “commission” – the stuff that is being done that should not be done -, but of “omission” – the stuff that ought to be done that is not being done. And there are two sins of omission that are are just as tempting.

Now at this point many a pastor is rolling their eyes and sighing “Tell me about it!’  The work of pastoring churches is complex and the tasks never seem to be finished. There are lots of sins of omission sitting in your Macbook’s in-tray.

And if you are of certain personality types, then your own frailties and psychology (and sometimes laziness) will ensure that some tasks that ought to get done don’t.

And also, what you don’t need at this time is probably a church member telling you what you should be doing that you are not. If anything kills the will to live – or at least kills the will to serve in church – it’s church members who are hypercritical of their pastors.

Ok, sure keep your pastor to account as a congregation. But make sure that you are not calling them to a level of busyness or task-oriented work that you don’t commit to yourself.  The fact is one of the pastor’s primary roles is to keep you to account!

The Sins of Omission

So, what are these sins of omission that we can be tempted into?  What’s the stuff pastors need to do that they might be drawn away from on a regular basis, or at least to push to the side and allow to wither through neglect?

Well, as I said, in my Bible readings this morning, I read 1 Samuel 12, the farewell address of the prophet Samuel to the people of Israel after they have chosen a king.

And after recounting Israel’s history (a common feature of farewell addresses in the Old Testament), he calls on the LORD to call out the wickedness of the nation for asking for a king when they already have one in the LORD.

But then, when the people are sufficiently sorrowful for their asking of a king, he assures them that if they follow the LORD all will be right with them.  And then he says this:

Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and right way. (1 Samuel 12:23).

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