May 13, 2008 – Punta Cana, Dominican Republic…[Libna Stevens/IAD]
Magdiel Garcia is a district pastor in South Mexico. He ministers to more than 1,500 church members in the Maranatha disctrict in Pichucalco, Chiapas. Although he is still in his twenties, he has been employed by the Seventh-day Adventist Church for eight years already, and is the pastor of 24 churches in his district. With a tight schedule week by week, Garcia visits all of his churches during a month-and-a-half rotation through Sabbath services, weekly prayer meetings, committee meetings, and visitations, not to mention district-wide evangelism efforts and activities.
He is not alone. Thirty-two other pastors in his region have an average of 18-24 churches and even more sometimes.
“Some [pastors] may even have up to 30 churches in my conference,” said Garcia. “There isn't a single pastor who ministers to one or two churches.”
There's not much spare time, he says. He is joined by his wife Raquel who is just as busy helping with children's and women's ministries, coordinating and training deaconesses, and Dorcas Societies, among other activities.
A second generation pastor, Garcia loves his job.
“I always had the conviction of being a pastor since I was very young seeing my father and consider it a great calling from God,” Garcia said.
Garcia says managing to connect with every single member is a challenge.
“I try to visit three of my church leader's home every time I visit a church. I generally can only visit elder's homes and depend on them to visit the members who are in need, sick and discouraged.”
Depending on the help of his church elders and laypeople allows him to be a pastor, yet it's challenging, he said.
“I have a lot of dedicated elders and laypeople yet the greatest challenge sometimes is getting a working team among the members who lead ministries in the church to assist my ministry,” added Garcia.
He tries to somehow spend quality time with his wife and two small children once a week.
Garcia is one of nearly 2,300 pastors who belong to the ministerial workforce of Inter-America's 15 church regions, boasting a total membership of more than 3 million.
He was selected along with another district pastor in the North Chiapas region to breakaway from his busy schedule and join hundreds more district pastors like him to attend Inter-America's first large scale Ministerial Association Summit, held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, April 30 to May 3rd, 2008. More than 900 people, including district pastors and their spouses, church leaders and administrators traveled to participate in the four-day ministerial event.
The summit was not only an opportunity to get away, but to spiritually inspire and remind ministers of the need to reacquaint themselves with their pastoral identity in the face of their overwhelming responsibilities, said Pastor Hector Sanchez, ministerial association director for the church in Inter-America and the summit's main organizer.
A major concern highlighted during the summit was the need for pastors to connect in a more personal way with their members.
“The pastor of today has lost some of his identity in regards to personally visiting his members,” says Pastor Sanchez. “We wanted to remind pastors to delegate more so that he can dedicate more time to the real work a pastor needs to do,” added Sanchez. “A pastor shouldn't forget that his main job is being a shepherd to his flock.”
Carl Sterling, who pastors seven churches in West Jamaica and has worked as a minister for 28 years, agrees.
“I believe we need to go back to going house-to-house and have more of a personal contact with the members' needs and study and pray with them,” said Pastor Sterling, who visits three of his churches every Sabbath, ministers to his membership, and even squeezes in board meetings after sundown. The rest of his week is spent with week-day services and some visitations, not to mention the street evangelistic campaigns he often leads. A father of two university sons and two younger daughters in school, Sterling says he doesn't much have time with his family, yet he tries to spend as much quality time with his wife and children.
Spending time with family was another issue emphasized during the summit. Pastors and their spouses participated in seminars on marriage enrichment, family strengthening and the importance of keeping their families healthy by not neglecting their children as they lead their congregations.
Much time was dedicated to praying sessions for the pastoral family, the children and the church all across Inter-America.
“We wanted to clearly emphasize to our pastors the correct order of priorities in theory and practice for them follow: to put God first, then family, then the church, and all else after that,” added Pastor Sanchez.
In addition, emphasis was given to encouraging ministers to ensure that local church elders, leaders, and members are trained towards contributing in the fulfilment of the mission of the church, said Pastor Sanchez. In turn, this will allow time for the pastor to care for his congregation in a more personal way.
“We can accomplish so much more when we care, train, and inspire our church members to serve others,” he said.
Easier said than done.
With a pastoral workforce of 2,300 in a territory with three million members, the average pastor in Inter-America has 1,304 members to look after. Lowering that ratio might not be as easy as it seems, said Pastor Israel Leito, president of the church in Inter-America, who spoke at the summit.
“We are fighting a losing battle,” said Pastor Leito. “Ten years ago we determined that an average load for a pastor should not be more than 600 or 700 members. But we have found that in many instances…there are pastors who average 2,000 members.”
“This affects the ministry because our growth outstrips the ability to produce ministers,” he added.
These and other challenges are being addressed by the church, leaders say. A survey of ministers' needs is underway in Inter-America. The survey, which is scheduled to be completed within the next four months, will help church leaders to better understand and provide for pastors' needs in Inter-America.
In addition, each of the 15 regional delegations submitted five recommendations to strengthen the ministry in Inter-America. The recommendations will be studied and presented to the executive board for approval and implementation, according to Pastor Sanchez.
During the summit, 15 veteran retired pastors and their spouses were honored, and took the opportunity to encourage their younger colleagues.
“I want all of you to remember not to ever lose the mission you have been called to do,” said Pastor Gustavo Gil, who served for 36 years in the North Central American Union in Guatemala.
Among the guest speakers and seminar presenters from the Adventist World Church included Pastor Ted Wilson, vice president, Pastor Jim Cress, ministerial association director, Jonas Arrais, associate ministerial director, and Sharon Cress, associate secretary of Shepherdess International.
For more information on the summit and the Ministerial Association, visit us at www.interamerica.org.
To view a photo gallery of IAD's Ministerial Summit, click here or go to www.photos.interamerica.org.
