7 Steps to Identify & Raise Up Future Pastors

In his last letter in the New Testament, St. Paul reminds Timothy that a central part of his ministry as a pastor is to raise up and entrust the gospel message to others who would then, in turn, entrust that message to others still (2 Tim 2:2). In other words, one of the most important tasks of any pastor is to work himself out of a job. Whether it is in leading Bible studies, discipling and caring for others, or the administrative duties of his office, a pastor should always be working to raise up new leaders, and especially new pastors, to take his place.

Even though many pastors would agree with the importance of this task, many also struggle to identify and raise up future pastors. Most pastors are already overworked. If we are brutally honest, we might think that risking the time and investment to raise up future pastors who may not pan out (or worse, go to another church!) isn’t worth it. But our ministry should not be focused on self-preservation or risk management. Our call is to lay down our lives so that others might live. And this includes laying down our time to raise up future leaders—even when they might not stay at our church.

To that end, I would like to suggest seven intentional but brief and doable steps for pastors to identify and raise up future pastors.

Table of contents

1. Be a faithful pastor
2. Watch carefully
3. Invest in emerging leaders
4. Be patient
5. Equip them well
6. Let them fail
7. Send them out

1. Be a faithful pastor

We can start with a simple principle that all pastors should be able to get behind: be a faithful pastor. This is not exactly revolutionary, but we often need a reminder. Near the end of his first letter, Peter tells his fellow pastors to shepherd the flock eagerly and joyfully, not by looking to get something from the sheep, but by giving a faithful example to them that models Jesus, the chief shepherd (1 Pet 5:2–3).

As you faithfully walk with your people, you will have the opportunity to equip them for the work of ministry (Eph 4:11–12). The job of a pastor is not to do all the ministry himself; instead, one of the most important jobs of any pastor is to help people get ready for the ministry to which God is calling them.

2. Watch carefully

As you equip people for ministry, as you pray, disciple, preach, and administer the sacraments, watch your people closely. Watch especially for people who show evidence of the self-controlled, gentle, wise, and humble character that describes a pastor in 1 Timothy 3:1–7.

Look for people who look to serve, those who reach out to care for the struggling.

Most of those qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 are focused not so much on competency but on character. The history of the church, not least the Western church in the last twenty-five years, has been littered with gifted leaders and teachers whose charm and winsomeness masked a lack of wisdom and character. Don’t just watch for those who have leadership gifts (though this matters). Look for people who look to serve, those who reach out to care for the struggling. This will give you a good sense of who genuinely wants to serve Christ’s church and not just find their way into positions of leadership that give them the status and power they’re looking for.

3. Invest in emerging leaders

As you begin to notice who leads in serving and who may be developing the gifts for pastoral ministry, be intentional about investing in them. Take them along with you; invite them to pastoral meetings, as appropriate; pray and read Scripture with them; invest in their spiritual development. This seems to be what Paul was doing when he wanted Timothy to accompany him in Lystra (Acts 16:3). He brought along a young man in an apprenticeship-like model.

To be clear, this will not be efficient. It is almost always easier to do things ourselves. My dad was a genius with his hands, able to build or fix just about anything. But I still have to think “lefty-loosey, righty-tighty” when using a screwdriver because it was always easier for him to do things himself than teach me (but he taught me lots of other good things). Investing in a potential pastor will inevitably slow you down. But our first goal in pastoral ministry is not efficiency, it is transformation.

4. Be patient

This leads to a fourth principle: Be patient. Of course this is true in all pastoral ministry (e.g., 2 Tim 2:24–25 tells us that our disposition as we correct and confront evil should be marked by patience and kindness). Yet we sometimes fail to apply this principle to our discipleship. We need to remember that young disciples grow slowly and inconsistently.

Let’s be honest. If you have a young person who has some experience with public speaking and a minimum amount of Bible knowledge, you can likely get him to the point of delivering a passable sermon relatively quickly. But it is much harder and takes much longer to transform unhealthy patterns in his marriage, ungodly ways of thinking, and unthinking assumptions about how to operate in the marketplace.

These things take time, prayer, and patience. As Paul also reminds us in 1 Timothy 5:22, we cannot be hasty in ordaining pastors. Let’s not make the mistake of rushing a gifted young man into leadership before he has had a chance for the training, formation, and life experience to be able to provide the same kind of patient, prayerful training for others.

5. Equip them well

Let me add a caveat to what I wrote above. It is true that preaching a single adequate sermon does not take years of preparation; however, having a seasoned pastor walk you through sermon preparation once is entirely different from him preparing you for a lifetime of preaching. Add to this all of the other tasks of pastoral ministry from counseling to administration, and we are looking at a need for serious preparation.

This does not mean every pastor has to have an MDiv, but I think that denominations that require the MDiv or its equivalent for ordination are on the right track. They recognize that the call to pastoral ministry is a call to prepare well.

Unfortunately, in the over twenty years since I started in seminary, I’ve seen the emphasis on the need for theological training diminish in many churches. There was once a time when every MDiv degree required Greek and Hebrew, along with substantial theological and pastoral training. Unfortunately, as our general focus in education has moved from formation to vocational skills, this has trickled into the seminary and the church.

I’ll get off my soapbox for now, but pastoral training is not a rushed checking of boxes but instead a patient, prayerful equipping for a lifetime of service. Most often, this requires some kind of formal training program. Encourage young pastors to take the time to get the training and formation they need for a lifetime of ministry.

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6. Let them fail

Let’s go back to the example of Paul and Timothy. Just a few months after meeting Timothy in Acts 16, Paul left him and Silas in Berea when he had to flee from persecution (Acts 17:14). He continued to equip and disciple Timothy, but whether from necessity, intentionality, or some combination of the two, he entrusted Timothy with real pastoral and ministry responsibility when he left him in Berea.

As you are raising up and equipping these future pastors, it is crucial to give them opportunities to do real ministry. Yes, there should be a season of shadowing you or other pastors in many areas, but at some point it will be important to give them the wheel, so to speak. This testing period requires trust: both trust in the Lord and trust in the up-and-coming pastor. It also requires us to be willing to let them fail to one degree or another.

Many lessons are learned when things don’t go as planned. And in ministry things rarely go exactly as planned.

To be clear, we should not let anyone fail at the cost of orthodox teaching or a congregant’s spiritual well-being. But many lessons are learned when things don’t go as planned. And in ministry, things rarely go as planned. So it is okay if a pastor in training plans an event that is kind of a flop or preaches a boring sermon. These little failures help them learn and grow.

7. Send them out

As you patiently invest in and equip young leaders over time, by God’s grace some will emerge as qualified pastors.

As you have identified them as called and competent pastors, you should also help them identify the context of their calling. God may be calling them to remain in your congregation and to join your current pastoral team to help shepherd and equip the flock. But you may also face the problem I mentioned earlier. God may call them to a new context, to plant a new church, join another staff, or step into a new role.

When that happens—and it will inevitably happen—you can rejoice in how Jesus is building his kingdom. Help your congregations see that their investment in that young man was not a waste of time or resources, but instead one of the key ways that churches can partner with and support one another.

If your church gets to a place where you are regularly raising up and sending out new pastors, then rejoice in the role that God has given you. Send out those pastors well, trusting that your labor and investment in them will bear fruit beyond what you may ever see in this life but that will echo in the kingdom for eternity.

Share your thoughts

What steps can pastors take to raise up future pastors? Join us in the Word by Word group to share your thoughts.

Chris Bruno’s suggested resources

• Croft, Brian, and James Carroll. Practically Trained Pastors: A 52-Week Field Guide for Ministry in the Trenches. Evangelical Press, 2021.

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