You may have seen in the news recently that many pastors are choosing to leave the ministry. Some take a little time off but so many are turning their backs on ministry all together. Even the secular media is picking up on how difficult it has become to be a pastor in America today. Stress, burnout, and all the medical conditions that come along with those things - there is no way that this is what God had in mind for his shepherds!
We really need to take a serious look at what we are expecting from our pastors if we want to break this cycle and help pastors thrive and succeed in ministry instead of crashing and burning.
I'm sure we all think we love our pastors and treat them well - but consider what we expect them to be:
- All Seeing: We often expect our pastor to know everything that is going on in our lives even when we don't tell them. We may be missing from church for weeks or months and have no contact with the staff, but we still expect the pastor to be informed about what we are going through and we get mad and upset when we find out they had no idea what is going on in our lives!
- All Knowing: Even though we would never admit it, we expect our pastors to know the right thing to do all of the time. I know that because I have experienced what happens when the pastor makes what we consider to be the wrong decision. We would say that don't expect our pastor to be perfect, but we do expect their decisions to be perfect. (Of course a perfect decision is one we agree with!).
- All Doing: They say that in church 20% of the people do 80% of the work, but in many churches the pastor is about 80% of the 20% of people who do everything! Why do we expect that? Because we pay him! Every Sunday there are so many people who show up to church expecting a life changing service with no idea about all of the things that have to happen to make that service perfect. Most church members would be shocked to see just how much goes on behind the scenes at church, but as long as it gets done why worry!
- An Ever Present Help: When you have a crisis in life you want certain people around you - your family, your closest friend, and your pastor! If you are fortunate there will only be two or three times a year when a situation like this comes along, but what we forget is that there are many other people in your church - people who also have two or three of those events a year. People who also want their family, friends, and pastor to be with them. So do the math and you will realize that your pastor will never have time for his own family or friends. I can't count how many pastors I know who were forced out of their church because they were not able to be with someone who wanted them to be somewhere.
Are you starting to get the picture?
All seeing, all knowing, all doing. An ever present help. Is it just me or does that sound like someone? Scripture describes God in these exact terms, and I don't care how great he is, your pastor is not God!
So please remember that your pastor is a human person just like you. He has a family, he likely even has a house and a mortgage and stuff to remember to pick up at the store. He even has two or three of his own difficult situations to deal with every year. If we would remember they are people just like us, we might take some of the pressure off some of these wonderful people who really do love us and want to help us as often as they can.
One more thing - please don't wait until October to show your pastor some appreciation!
