Is there any believer that does not need to be discipled? I think many of us would be quick to say no, but so often we treat our pastors as if they do not need discipleship—a neglect that impacts both their spiritual life and our own. So, first, let’s establish what discipleship is.
What is Discipleship?
To be a disciple is to be a follower of Jesus, being one who seeks to observe all that Jesus commanded (Matthew 28:19-20). Discipleship—learning and obeying all Jesus taught—is how a Christian learns to live a life that grows in maturity and becomes more and more like Jesus (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18).
Discipleship is not merely growing in knowledge but growing in love and truth and deeds (1 Corinthians 8:1, 13:1; 1 John 3:18). It requires having our minds renewed so that we can discern how to live to please God (Romans 12:2). And such renewal happens by regularly feasting upon and embracing by faith God’s Word (John 17:17).
There ought never to be a time when a Christian is not being discipled because there is never a time a Christian is not a disciple.
So, discipleship is the life of a Christian. Christians ought to always be growing in their faith and Christlikeness for the entirety of their Christian walk. No Christian is ever so mature to be “done” with discipleship.
Even the Apostle Paul admitted that he was not yet like Jesus and had to press on (Philippians 3:12) because no Christian will be fully mature until Christ returns and we see him (1 John 3:2). There ought never to be a time that a Christian is not being discipled because there is never a time a Christian is not a disciple.
And since pastors are Christians, and pastors are followers of Jesus, pastors need to be discipled. Pastors are not superhuman Christians who have spiritually “arrived,” no longer needing discipleship. Pastors are simply qualified mature men (1 Timothy 3:1–7) serving as shepherds of God’s sheep.
One of the reasons pastors disciple God’s people is to equip them for ministry (Ephesians 4:12). But since pastors are also one of God’s people, we can say not only that pastors need to be discipled, but pastors need to be pastored.
Is Your Pastor Being Discipled?
Pastors, like all Christians, are responsible to ensure they are being discipled and are growing in the faith. This means living out the Christian life—praying, reading God’s Word, fellowshipping with the saints, and confessing sin. Yet many pastors are crushed under the weight of expectation that they must be blameless people, available at all times, and know the right answer to every granular theological question.
This expectation hinders the discipleship of a pastor, preventing them from being a “follower of Jesus,” one who is not yet perfect, one who is given the room to be weak, to err, to be forgiven, to be growing in their knowledge of the Word, to confess sin, to miss a day—or a week—of Bible reading, to doubt, and yet to still be a born-again Christian covered by the blood of their Savior.
We can ensure pastors are discipled by having multiple pastors and by encouraging missionaries to plant churches that have multiple pastors.
Pastors have a responsibility to ensure they are walking faithfully as disciples of Jesus. Yet, sometimes we have lonely structures or high expectations of our pastors that do not support their discipleship. We see that when Paul wrote to the church at Philippi—he greeted the plural “overseers,” that is, the pastors—and at Miletus, Paul gathered the plural “elders” of the Ephesian church to meet him (Philippians 1:1; Acts 20:17).
Having multiple pastors within each church allows each pastor to have pastors who care for him. One of the ways we can ensure pastors are discipled is ensuring that our churches have multiple pastors and that our missionaries seek to plant churches among the nations with multiple pastors.
However, this is not always possible. Another way to ensure your pastor is being cared for is supporting him to attend gatherings and conferences of other local pastors in the area so he can be discipled.
Church members are also responsible to “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24), including stirring up their pastors. This can be as simple as asking your pastor if you can pray for him or sharing with him something that has encouraged you from God’s Word (Galatians 6:6).
Follow Pastors Who Point You to Jesus
My pastor regularly confesses his sin from the pulpit. I’ll admit that I was shocked the first time I heard it—but then immediately liberated. As he confessed his sin of anger, it immediately humanized him, eliminating any risk of him gaining untouchable celebrity status as a super-holy Christian. It allowed us to pray for him and to disciple him.
And it also discipled me. As I thought, if my pastor can confess his sin and show his need for Jesus, how much more can I? He lived as an example to us. In so doing, this pastor glorified the gospel of Jesus rather than glorified his own ministry.
He’s a great preacher and a great man. But he’s not Jesus. He’s a shepherd who leads God’s sheep to Jesus because he himself needs to be led to Jesus. He disciples his people, because he as a pastor seeks to and submits to be discipled himself.
Jonny Atkinson is the Global Investment Director at Radical and a pastor at Immanuel Baptist Church in Louisville, where he lives with his wife and seven children. He holds a PhD in Old Testament from Southern Seminary and has served in global missions since 2016. He’s also taught at Union School of Theology (Wales) and Southwestern Seminary.
