Rooted shepherds: A vision for healthy pastoral ministry

Dan Steel  |  Features
Date posted:  8 Dec 2025
Share Add       
Rooted shepherds: A vision for healthy pastoral ministry

Photo by Biegun Wschodni on Unsplash

In a busy, bustling world, healthy pastoral ministry begins not with motion, but with a kind of stillness, an abiding, a willingness to dwell where God has placed you, even when your heart feels tired or stretched thin.

Many pastors and ministry leaders quietly carry the weight of wondering whether they should be doing more, producing more, or moving on to something larger. Yet the gospel’s invitation is gentler than that.

Ministry is not a race to outrun your exhaustion, nor a ladder to climb toward significance. It is a field to inhabit with tenderness. It is a flock to walk among slowly. It is a place where your presence—your steady, faithful presence—becomes a gift.

Share
< Previous article| Features| Next article >
Read more articles on:   leadership  /  ministry  /  pastoral care
Read more articles by Dan Steel >>
Features
Tending to our souls in a distracting world

Tending to our souls in a distracting world

Pastoral ministry has always been demanding, but our current age presents a peculiar challenge: distraction. (Even as I write this …

Features
Pastor: Are you the same in public and private?

Pastor: Are you the same in public and private?

Paul writes to his protégé Timothy in 2 Timothy 3v10: “You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of …

Subscribe

Enjoy our monthly paper and full online access from just £18/year

Find out more

Need to advertise?

We can help you reach Christians across the country

Find out more