Pastor, if you want your church to grow deeper in its relationship with God, you must be willing to go there first. You cannot keep telling people to pray if your own prayer life is weak, and you cannot keep preaching holiness if you are making peace with sin. You cannot tell people to surrender fully to God while you are holding parts of your own life back from Him.
People watch more than they listen, and Paul understood that. He wrote:
“Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:1
That is a serious statement. Paul was not telling people to follow him because he was perfect. He was telling them to follow him as he followed Christ, and that is the pattern for every pastor.
Your church does not need a perfect pastor because there are none, but it does need a pastor who is serious about following Christ. Peter wrote:
“Nor yet as domineering over those assigned to your care, but by proving to be examples to the flock.” 1 Peter 5:3
Pastors are not only called to preach truth. They are called to live it. If you want your people to be faithful, show them faithfulness. If you want them to pray, pray. If you want them to know Scripture, know Scripture. If you want them to repent, be quick to repent yourself, and if you want them to live holy lives, pursue holiness in your own life.
God told His people:
“You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” Leviticus 19:2
Peter repeated that command to believers:
“But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” 1 Peter 1:15–16
Holiness is not optional for the pastor. It is not something you preach to other people while excusing yourself. A pastor should be able to stand before his congregation knowing that, although he is not perfect, he is honestly pursuing Christ.
Paul told Timothy:
“Pay close attention to yourself and to the teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” 1 Timothy 4:16
Notice the order: “Pay close attention to yourself and to the teaching.” Before you watch everyone else, watch yourself. Before you correct everyone else, examine yourself. Before you ask the church to go deeper, ask whether you are going deeper.
That does not mean every member of the congregation will remain at the same spiritual level as the pastor. Some believers may grow beyond him in certain areas because God works in each life personally. But the pastor still sets an example, and when the pastor is careless with sin, weak in prayer, shallow in Scripture, and comfortable with the world, he should not be surprised when that same weakness begins to appear in the church.
A congregation often learns what is important by watching what its leaders take seriously. If holiness matters to you, they will see it. If prayer matters to you, they will see it. If Scripture matters to you, they will see it. If pleasing God matters more than pleasing people, they will see that too.
Pastor, do not ask people to follow you somewhere you are unwilling to go. Go deeper first, seek God first, repent first, obey first, and pursue holiness first. Then you can turn around and say, “Follow me as I follow Christ.”
Do not expect a strong spiritual ministry while neglecting your own walk with God. God can use imperfect men because every pastor is imperfect, but there is a great difference between an imperfect man who is pursuing holiness and a careless man who has learned to live comfortably with sin.
Pastor, be the example. Be holy, because God is holy, and if you want your church to go deeper with God, go there first.