I once asked a long-time pastor: “What’s one piece of advice you would give a first-time pastor preparing to plant a church?”
His answer? “Before you do anything else, make sure your people know you love them.”
WHAT LOVE IS NOT AND IS
Sometimes it helps to know what loving our people is not before we know what it is. It’s not always telling them what they want to hear, or being a people pleaser, or even trying to get them to love you in return, whatever it takes.
In fact, loving our people isn’t about us at all. Rather, to love your people means to show them how dear they are to you by gently and sacrificially giving of yourself to feed them with the nourishment of the gospel for both their eternal good and God’s glory. To follow Paul’s analogy from 1 Thessalonians 2, loving them means seeking their good at your expense, their flourishing above your recognition—like a mother. You love them because they are dear to you, having been placed into your care by God.
AIMING FOR LOVE
So, from day one, I endeavored to make that my aim. More often than not, I failed miserably. But by
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