John Piper shares how pastors can remain approachable even as their churches grow

How does a pastor stay close to his congregation as the church around him keeps growing? John Piper has spent decades wrestling with that question, and he says he still hasn't gotten it exactly right.

The prominent theologian and retired pastor who led Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis for 33 years recently laid out his views on how pastors can remain approachable and involved in their congregations, even as their churches grow considerably.

On an episode of “Ask Pastor John” uploaded to the Desiring God website on Monday, an unnamed pastor asked Piper how to remain an involved clergyman in a growing church.

Specifically, the listener asked about this in the context of 1 Thessalonians 2:7–8, which reads: “But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherish her children: So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.”

“In light of this model, how did you approach the work of pastoral care for individuals and families under your shepherding?” the listener asked.

“What principles shaped your ministry to the hurting, the wandering, and the grieving? Especially as your church began to grow, how did you balance spiritual counsel from the pulpit, practical support, and emotional presence?”

Piper responded by admitting that he doesn't think he "ever got this exactly right."

“The only way a conscientious pastor can survive over decades of ambiguity, and here I guess I’m just speaking out of my own personality or situation, … is to lean on the blood-bought, forgiving mercy of Christ, and try over and over again to do it better," Piper said. 

Piper pastored a church that, over the past few decades, has grown from around 300 members to about 4,000. He said it was “pastorally helpful not only to teach the people in large groups, as from a pulpit, but in smaller groups in informal settings.”

The theologian cited Acts 20:20, which reads: “And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house.”

“I don’t think this is a mandate that a pastor must be in every member’s house. We don’t know how many people gathered in those house meetings,” said Piper.

“But the guideline is a shepherd is not content to speak from a distance to a crowd, but seeks out other, less formal gatherings for instruction and common life.”

While considering his time in the pulpit “as my primary way of shepherding the people,” Piper noted that he would also set aside time after the service to briefly pray with worship attendees.

“I would typically stay for an hour or more after that second service. First service, you could only do it for about 20 minutes, but I would stay until they were all gone,” he recounted.

“I was regularly the last person to walk out of the sanctuary, absolutely exhausted, because standing there and praying with people is more taxing than preaching. And yet, everybody knew the pastor does that. Anybody in this church can walk right up to him, take his hand, speak into his ear, cry on his shoulder, and get prayer from our preaching pastor.”

Piper concluded by telling the unnamed pastor to try to incorporate "various strategies to mingle public and personal ministry" even as situations change at the church. 

In a 2022 op-ed published by The Christian Post, Pastor Sam Rainer, president of Church Answers and lead pastor of West Bradenton Baptist Church in Florida, listed five ways clergy could be “more approachable."

Those tips include taking the initiative, sitting and standing in different areas of the sanctuary during worship, standing with greeters as they meet attendees, having extended conversations with early arrivals, and inviting people to talk after the service.

“At the end of our services, we have a time where we invite people to respond. This response time has many different forms. We often pray together. We often call people to action,” Rainer wrote at the time.

“Though I don’t say it every week, I will let people know during the invitation that they are invited to talk with me or another pastor after the service. While people respond during the invitation time, far more respond afterward.”