Advice for Pastors of New Churches: From Milk to Meat
The question haunts every new pastor: How do you take a spiritually immature congregation and move them corporately into maturity? It’s a challenge that demands both theological conviction and pastoral wisdom—a delicate dance between prophetic boldness and patient shepherding.
Start With Meat, Not More Milk
The Hebrew writer’s metaphor is devastatingly clear: some believers remain perpetually milk-fed, never ready for solid food. If you inherit such a congregation, your instinct might be to ease them into maturity gradually. Resist this temptation. Start them on meat immediately.
This doesn’t mean theological brutality. It means cutting the meat into small pieces while maintaining its essential nature. The pulpit is your primary tool, supplemented by exhortations accompanying baptism and communion. Word and Sacrament—this is the twin foundation upon which mature churches are built.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: sometime in your first six months, you must say or do something from the pulpit that causes a stir.You must establish your right to be angular, to ruffle feathers, to provoke conversations that matter. This isn’t about being obnoxious or rude—it’s about demonstrating that God’s Word has edges, and those edges will cut through comfortable complacency.
Expository preaching becomes your ally here. Choose books with angular passages—texts you might be tempted to skip or soften. Let Scripture do the heavy lifting. When the Word creates tension, you’re not the villain; you’re simply the messenger.
The Strategic Sequence of Reform
Wisdom demands the right sequence. Start with your elders, not your congregation.The last thing you want is to preach a sermon about worship music and then divide your elder board. Unity among leadership must precede public teaching on controversial matters.
Share articles, blog posts, and books with your elders. Work through issues together. Ask the crucial question: “Is this something we all agree we want to see changed at some point?” Only when leadership is unified should you develop a timeline for congregational change. Be deliberate, not lurching.
This approach respects the principle that lasting change flows from the top down, not from the bottom up. A divided leadership will undermine any reform effort, no matter how biblically sound.
The Paradox of Hard and Soft Teaching
Here’s a counterintuitive truth that will reshape your ministry: soft teaching creates hard people, while hard teaching creates soft people.
When you preach with a jackhammer—declaring “Here’s the Word of God; this is what it says”—you break up the concrete of hardened hearts. Preach with a feather duster, and you leave everything exactly where it was, allowing people to calcify in their sins.
Ironically, churches filled with “all you need is love” Christians often harbor the most grievous sins. The absence of clear biblical boundaries doesn’t create grace; it creates license. When serious sin emerges—and it will—don’t shy away from church discipline. The congregation needs to see that biblical standards have real consequences.
As Proverbs teaches: “Strike the fool, and the simple learn wisdom.” Sometimes the most loving thing you can do is demonstrate that God’s standards matter enough to enforce them.
Navigating the Tension of Compromise
Every reforming pastor faces a moral dilemma: Is it sinful to continue practices you believe are wrong while working toward change? The answer reveals the complexity of pastoral leadership.
Consider communion practices. Many churches use grape juice monthly rather than wine weekly. If you become convinced this is doctrinally wrong—a 19th-century temperance innovation rather than Christ’s institution—are you sinning by continuing the practice while working toward change?
Sometimes the greater sin would be forcing immediate change that splits the church. The Lord’s Supper symbolizes unity; fighting about it at the table is profoundly anti-sacramental. In such cases, you might pray, “Lord, we’re about to sin again, and I’d like to ask you to bless it”—acknowledging the compromise while working systematically toward reform.
This requires the wisdom of Hezekiah with the unclean Passover participants or David eating the showbread. Sometimes pastoral care demands accepting a lesser wrong to avoid a greater one.
The Ditches on Either Side
Two errors threaten the reforming pastor. The first is impatience—forcing maturation the congregation isn’t ready for, destroying the very thing you’re trying to build. The second is false piety—knowing what’s right but doing nothing about it, feeling superior while maintaining the status quo.
How do you know if you’re moving too fast or too slow? First, make sure you’re moving at all.God doesn’t steer parked cars. If you’re convinced something needs to change, your first prayer should be: “Lord, we need to get out of this. I need a plan, and we need to start moving.”
Then stick pins in the map. Set concrete goals: “I’d like us to be here by November, here by spring.” Preach sermon series that prepare the ground. Maintain forward motion while adjusting speed and direction based on congregational response.
The Long View of Pastoral Ministry
Mature churches aren’t built overnight. They’re the product of sustained biblical preaching, consistent sacramental practice, wise leadership development, and patient reform. The pastor who tries to accomplish everything in the first year will likely accomplish nothing. The pastor who attempts nothing will guarantee failure.
Your congregation may be drinking milk now, but with steady, strategic effort, they can develop a taste for solid food. The key lies not in choosing between truth and love, but in expressing truth through love—sometimes tender, sometimes tough, always aimed at the spiritual maturation of God’s people.
Remember: you’re not just teaching doctrine; you’re forming disciples. You’re not just correcting errors; you’re cultivating Christlikeness. And that patient, persistent work of transformation—slow as it may seem—is perhaps the most Christ-like ministry of all.
John Geree（约1601–1649）是一位英国清教徒牧师和神学家，以其对清教徒信仰的捍卫和阐述而闻名。他曾在牛津大学受教育，并在英国宗教改革的背景下积极参与清教徒运动。
他最著名的作品是 The Character of an Old English Puritan, or Nonconformist（《旧英格兰清教徒或非国教徒的特征》），在其中他描述了清教徒的虔诚信仰、道德操守和神学立场。他强调清教徒的生活方式是敬虔、勤勉、严格遵循圣经教导的典范，同时批评当时英国国教中的形式主义和妥协。
