Pastoral Care is a Shared Responsibility

Scripture — 1 Thessalonians 5:14

And we urge you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the faint hearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them.

Devotion

1 Thessalonians 5:14 contains a series of four short imperatives: 1) Admonish the idlers; 2) Encourage the faint hearted; 3) Help the weak; 4) Be patient with all of them. In the NRSV, these are tasks assigned by Paul and his colleagues to the “beloved.” But the Greek original uses the word adelphoi, which means “brothers and sisters,” with “beloved” implied. The “brothers and sisters” are supposed to admonish, encourage, help, and be patient.

But who exactly are these brothers and sisters? When we see what they are to do – admonish, encourage, help, and be patient – we might be inclined to think these imperatives are for the leaders of the Thessalonians. In our day, these are tasks we associate with what we call “pastoral care.” And those who offer pastoral care are church leaders, pastors in particular. This reading in supported by the fact that only two verses earlier the leaders of the Thessalonian church were mentioned as “having charge over and admonishing” the church members. Moreover, a number of commentators on verse 14 have assumed that it is addressed to the leaders of the church.

But this interpretation seems to read into the text what isn’t there. It would have been easy for Paul and his co-writers to make it clear that they were speaking only to the leaders in a passage that is otherwise addressed to all believers in Thessalonica. But the writers didn’t do this. Moreover, thirteen other times in 1 Thessalonians the word adelphoi, “brothers and sisters,” addresses the whole church, not the leaders. It would be odd and confusing if adelphoi in 5:14 meant “you leaders” rather than “brothers and sisters.”

I believe this verse urges all of the Christians in Thessalonica to “admonish the idlers, encourage the faint hearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them.” Whereas we might assume that pastoral care is something pastors alone should do, Paul and Co. saw this as something given to all members of the body of Christ. Pastors, as we learn in Ephesians 4:11-13, are assigned the particular task of “equipping the saints for the work of ministry.” Pastors should teach and prompt the members of the church do things like admonishing, encouraging, helping, and being patient. It is not the job of pastors to do the ministry assigned to all of God’s people, though pastors should certainly share in admonishing and the like.

In our time of history, it’s more important than ever for us to understand that pastoral care is a shared responsibility. Why? Because economic realities are leading to there being fewer and fewer pastors to go around. Many smaller churches can no longer afford even one full-time pastor. Larger churches are laying off associate pastors and others who traditionally carry the pastoral care burden. Thus, even apart from the biblical mandate, if churches are going to be healthy and if individual believers are going to flourish, then the adelphoi, the brothers and sisters, will need to do more and more of what was once assigned to pastors. From one perspective, this might feel like a loss for the church. But, from another perspective, this might actually give the church an opportunity to become more and more the body of Christ envisioned in Scripture.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the High Calling archive, hosted by the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: The Purpose of Ministry.

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