I'm somewhat of a late adapter. I still don't have a DVD player and am now forced to borrow videos from the library. When I was in college, I consistently called my cordless phone a cell phone because I’d never owned a cordless phone. I loathe text messaging. I grew to appreciate nineties alternative rock a decade after most songs were released. I just got a phone with a camera (and only because I cracked my old phone in two and that model is no longer available.) Thus, it should come as no surprise that I'm about to blog about a subject that everyone else blogged about a year and a half ago. Hey, I've got to be me.
Here are some statistics that Mark Driscoll posted on the Resurgance in May of last year. I'm sure you'll recognize them from about twenty seven other blogs that dealt with this issue in a timely manner:
*Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.
*Fifty percent of pastors' marriages will end in divorce.
*Eighty percent of pastors and eighty-four percent of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors.
*Fifty percent of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.
*Eighty percent of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years.
*Seventy percent of pastors constantly fight depression.
As I drove to Trader Joe's this evening (since the contents of my refrigerator consisted of nectarines, pears, oranges, apples, peanut butter, parmesan cheese, semi-sweet chocolate chips and one miniature pepperoni pizza, I figured it was probably time to buy groceries), I listened to callers on a Christian radio show discuss pastor's wives who attend different churches than their husbands. Apparently, some pastor's wives are under so much strain that they feel they must leave their husband's church for the sake of their own spiritual health. This led the host to cite some of the above statistics.
As I listened, I began to wonder why ministry takes such a toll on pastors and their families. My warm, compassionate side (the one that cried at the end of "Ratatouille") acknowledged that many churches have unrealistic expectations of pastors since the role of the American pastor has grown to include CEO, marketing strategist and comedian, among other things. As a pastor's kid, I've definitely seen the hardships and discouragement that come with full time ministry. However, my cold, critical side (the one that laughed at the end of "Titanic") wondered if modern pastors are a bit (for lack of a better word) wussy. It's no surprise that ministry is tough. Consider Paul's description of his ministry in 2 Corinthians 11:26-29:
I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is a daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?
And this was a man who was able to say in 2 Timothy 4:5-8 near the end of his life:
But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure as come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.
Are these statistics an indictment of the spiritual maturity of churches or an indictment of the spiritual maturity of pastors? Do we need to rethink how we treat our pastors and their families or do pastors need a more realistic understanding of the trials of ministry? Or both? Or neither?
I’m an opinionated person longing for an opinion on this issue. Please help me form one by posting your thoughts. In the meantime, I need to learn how to take pictures with my phone. I still can’t figure out where you’re supposed to load the film.
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3 comments:
Wow, this is very thought provoking reading right before I go to bed. I would venture to say that a lot of these problems have to do with the Christian ideal of perfection. We're all supposed to have it all together. I wouldn't put the "blame" on pastors or churches, but maybe look at the overarching problem of trying to get by on our own strength and merits. Look at the "screw ups" that were used by God; obviously perfection is not something to strive towards. There are a lot of huge misconceptions about spiritual maturity and ministry. Wasn't Maggie saying a couple weeks ago that it turns out Mother Theresa suffered from depression and felt far from God?
And yet as a Bible school grad, I guess I'm guilty for thinking that ministry is for those who seem to fit the general ideal. I can say that it's hard to believe some of the people I knew were headed for the ministry when they seemed to be different people in class and in the cafe.
I haven't formed much of an usually dislike any accusation that begins with, "The church is doing this wrong ... it needs to be more like this" because it's a huge generalization. It's nearly impossible to draw any individual conclusions from nation-wide statistics.
Now that I've said that, the most disheartening statistic to me is that 50% of pastors would leave the ministry if they had another way of making a living. I find it tough to swallow that God-fearing men can not make in secular employment. Where's Philippians 4:13 when you need it? If we cannot do small tasks such as worldly jobs, how can we be trusted with the huge command to shepherd God's people? Can one teach a sermon on Ephesians 4:28 or Proverbs 10:4 without living it?
I generally don't like dialectics (because their easy to argue from), but I think there is a genuine both/and here. First, I do think we have unrealistic expectations of pastors, because a HUGE contingency of the church thinks that the pastor's job is to do all the ministry. Therefore, the pastor needs to be the jack of all trades. He needs to be an incredible orator; a CFO; a vision-caster; he has to be an incredible counselor; he needs to start entire small group ministries, and justice ministries; he needs to manage the staff; he needs to etc, etc. But who's good at all these things? Seminary doesn't train you for these things! I think the business model of ministry is killing the church. We want CEO's to run churches, but so many churches aren't filled with employees; they are filled with consumers! I find it absolutely hilarious and astoundingly unbiblical that people feel comfortable walking into churches and immediately evaluating their programs, as if the church exists to make Christians happy! The church exists to be Jesus to the rest of the world to the glory and praise of God! Anyways, I think what happens is that churches become consumeristic, and pastors are supposed to meet the needs ot the consumers, and then the consumers don't grow because they are sitting in the pews, and the pastors are disillusioned because their poeople aren't growing. Then, the pastors try and do more work, hurt their families, and people still don't grow (because they aren't doing anything!). All that to say, I think false hopes for pastors are a huge part of this.
Moreover, I don't think people realize how discouraging ministry can be. At another job, you can put in your time, accomplish some goals, and then leave. In ministry, you are supposed to go into the office and think of how to help people grow. That's not really quantifiable in terms of hours! A pastor can't say at the end of the week, "I got all my work done!" because his work is his people and people don't arrive at where they are supposed to be until Jesus returns. Anyways, that's tough. It's also tough to know every problem going on in the church. After a while, this just gets really, really depressing. So much for point 1. Second, pastors are called to die. Paul said that he carried the death of Jesus in his body so that the life of Jesus might be made manifest. Anyone who wants to go into ministry should read 2 Corinthians like 50 times a month. I think we glamorize the role of pastor in this culutre, so people grow up thinking that it's a fun job, and that's why you should do it. It is a fun job, but it's a brutal one. Moreover, pastors are called to change their churches, so it is their own faults if they maintain the stupid and grossly unbiblical CEO model. Pastors need to be subversive as Eugene Peterson says. We need to undercut people's expectations and show them the truth of the Bible, even at the risk of seeing people leave the church. Moreover, pastor "burn-out" is not a biblical category. When pastors get to the judgment seat, I don't think they will be able to say, "I would have persevered in ministry Lord, but my people were just to tough to work with, so I had to quit."
I've written too much already
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