PHILIPPIANS‬ ‭2‬:‭16‬-‭18‬ ‭‬‬

Many in the modern church suggest that the church worker be less of an admonisher and more a cruise director. To admonish is to give directive counseling. It is to say you should or shouldn’t do something, when approached with a question or problem. It is to know someone so intimately that your advice is not casual but meaningful and that it provides a signpost upon there journey. It is not a service to the body alone. It is also a calling, and as such, it comes with a cost. In today’s culture, it could be said that by Paul giving directive admonishment, he is shaming those who don’t adhere to the strict ways of Christ. They might say that he is also adding guilt feelings to his clients by mixing their success with his emotions. Yet Paul does just this. He bases his own feeling of joy on their adherence to Christ. It is not clinical pastoral leadership. Perhaps culturally repugnant, it is biblically sound for leaders to have a stake in there congregants success. We are to be more like parents who rejoice at our children’s successes and weep at their failures. We are to be like parents who spend long nights wondering how to love their children better and losing sleep over their futures, in deep prayer and supplication. This love is right to be expressed. Pastoral care shouldn’t be clinical. When children see how much their parents care, it is a motivator toward making choices that are good for their future and is a model for everything from good parenting to good partnership, as they grow older. Pastors need to be more transparent about their struggles, concerns and hopes for those they care for.