Should church members have access to their pastor? Should churches members expect their pastor to be available for counseling, for advice, for discipleship, for relationship, and for ministry opportunities outside the pulpit? Are these reasonable expectations, or should church members simply be satisfied with a pastor who shows up to preach every Sunday morning?

My answers (plural) to this question are no, and it depends, and yes. Let me explain.

According to statistical means and medians, I pastor a medium sized church. This means that when folks come to my church, they are usually coming from churches that are significantly smaller than Immanuel or much larger than Immanuel. Those coming from smaller churches have typically grown accustomed to having access to “their pastor.” In a small church, this is often a single, senior pastor, and most people in a small church have reasonable access to their pastor. On the other hand, those coming from larger churches have typically grown accustomed to having little access to “their pastor.” In a large church, this is the main, preaching pastor who just doesn’t have the capacity to personally shepherd everyone in his congregation.

As the pastor of a medium sized church, I regularly visit with people coming to our church from either smaller or larger churches. Those coming from a smaller church still want to have access to their pastor (potentially, me), but in a medium sized church it’s impossible for me to personally shepherd every member. On the other hand, those coming from a larger church are excited at the idea that they may have increased access to their pastor (potentially, me). Again, while I may be more available than the mega-church pastor down the street, I simply don’t have the capacity to personally shepherd every member of my church.

Back to my original question: Should church members have access to their pastor? In light of my experience as the pastor of a medium sized church, does a person’s answer to this question determine what size of church they can join? For those who want access to their pastor, must they join a small to medium sized church? For those who want to join a larger church, must they give up the idea of having access to their pastor?

Back to my original answers (plural): no, and it depends, and yes.

No … The pastor of a church – any size of church – is not called to be everything to everyone. In a large church there are simply too many people for the pastor to personally shepherd. However, because pastors of small churches are often forced to wear so many hats, their margin is often razor thin just like the pastor of a large church. Regardless of how many people attend a particular church, pastors simply are not called to be everything to everyone in their churches. Rather, pastors are called to equip the saints for the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12).

It depends … Specifically, it depends on what it going on in the life of the church member, in the life of the pastor, and in the life of the church. When church members face serious life crises, they are right to expect access to their pastor for counseling, advice, and comfort. Obviously there are times when the church schedule or the pastor’s personal schedule will prevent him from personally caring for his people. However, church members are right to expect these things because a pastor is a shepherd, and shepherds care for the sheep (1 Peter 5:1-5).

The reason there is tension in this question for many church members is rooted in the fact that most Americans think of the pastor as the guy in charge who preaches most of the sermons on Sunday. The availability of that one man will vary, and the size of his church will be one of the major variables. To remedy this, many larger churches have separated the roles of preaching, leading, and shepherding, assigning each of these to different staff members. Conversely, most smaller churches expect a single man to do all of the preaching, leading and shepherding. This is a burden too great to bear. The answer to all of these questions lies in the fact that the New Testament assumes a local church will be led by a plurality of men rather than a single man. These men are referred to as elders (prebuteros), overseers (episkopos), and pastors (poimen). This brings me to my final answer.

Yes … Church members are justified in expecting to have access to one of the pastors of their church. Biblically speaking, there is one office of pastor (elder, overseer), and in a particular church, more than one man is expected to fill that office. When a church of any size has a plurality of pastors (elders, overseers) in place, the members can rightly expect to have access to one of their pastors. One man is not called to bear this weight alone, and church members should not have to settle for having no access to one of the pastors of their church.