Dear Brothers and Sisters; I have been called, but I'm not very smart. Whenever I try to witness, I eventually get run over by the intellectual non-believers and then I feel and look foolish. They are very, very, intelligent. They tell me things about the Bible being false etc. They hurt me so much when they say that my Lord does not exist. So, I then do as Christ Jesus instructed and turn the other cheek and walk away from the discussion with my tail between my legs and head down. I do not like to debate. Poor example of a good witness I am! I will never be a good pastor or Scripture lawyer, I'm too stupid. I have no clue why I was called to spread seeds of The Living Word, but I still try.
You know, here is food for thought: Christians need pastors, and so do atheists, but the difference is atheists are trying to prevent themselves from that need, like how a smoker needs to stop smoking but finds quitting too difficult (but through the grace of God, some people can be delivered, and also, we all have our vices and peccadillos; I use smoking as an example because of its known unhealthiness).
To have any chance of bringing over atheists, it helps to have a congregation of Christians, and to be visible in the community.
If you feel called to be a pastor, you should focus on being a servant to a group of Christians, perhaps in a denomination or existing church - there can be benefits to being a part of an existing church because the unity of the Body of Christ is stressed as important in 1 Corinthians and elsewhere in Scripture, and there are facilities to develop your vocation and train and so on, and from there you focus on serving the community.
And that is how atheists often get converted: A good friend of mine in his stride was proudly atheistic and reconciled with our Lord on his deathbed thanks to the comforting ministry provided by the wife of a Methodist elder.
So basically, to be a pastor, you just have to understand how the church works, and it is extremely simple: people worship God, baptizing new members of the community, perhaps infants, perhaps converts, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, reverently, and celebrate Holy Communion, perhaps spiritually in the manner of the Quakers or Salvation Army, but usually with bread and wine after the manner of the Last Supper as described in 1 Corinthians 11, doing all things decently and in order as the Holy Apostle Paul instructed, reading the scriptures and preaching the Gospel, and singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. From this group some people will be able to assist in serving the community, in many different capacities: food banks, various forms of health related services, collecting and distributing clothing, basically, acts of mercy: clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, caring for the sick, visiting the imprisoned, comforting the bereaved, caring for widows and orphans and one’s own neighbors, and these acts will draw people to the church.
The main use for arguments against atheism is defensive, so as to strengthen the flock against the temptations of the world that would cause them to give up. Arguing with atheists is I think potentially counterproductive, because it encourages them in their false idolatry, for atheism is just another false religion, despite its pretentious claims to the contrary; indeed it is an ancient superstition which has been debunked probably millions of times by millions of intellectuals over the many thousand years of human civilization, just like sun worship, numerology, astrology and other really silly superstitions which are contrary to all piety. So don’t despair if you lost an argument to an atheist, because they thrive on getting into such arguments. Also, if one develops a novel argument against atheism, employing it against atheists exposes them to it; it is best that such wisdom be disseminated to the pious Christian youth to defend them from being bullied out of their faith.
I believe sincerely
@glenninindy that you have good intentions and feel a real calling, and I find myself wanting to cheer you on and support you if you really want to be a pastor. Because a good pastor will help people.
