I stood with a friend last weekend and said “I ain’t stressed out but I’m stressin.” In swift he replied, “I know. I can see it.” This week’s been full of decompressing and I feel a little lighter as it comes to a close. I didn’t do much counseling this week. The one hour-long conversation that I did have ended with a profession of faith and planning a baptism. My pre-recorded sermon is finished. Our elder team has settled on a plan for regathering and I worked late last night to send out our churchwide communication announcing it. I’ve had some time to pray and talk to a few of the disciples and my afternoon meeting with another was just canceled. I’ve run to the post office, made a deposit at the bank, paid a couple bills, and finished the week’s administrative tasks. As I close up the office for the week I find myself praying for Pastors and Church leaders everywhere.
There’s often a lot to do and not enough time; we can handle that. However this 23rd week of social distancing has been full of stress for a number of Pastors around me. In my network of churches alone this week a young church planter in Central America passed away from COVID, a pastor in Europe died in a rock climbing accident, a US pastor is dealing with having returned to in person gatherings and a beloved church member contract the virus and die, a church planter on the east coast is dealing with the apparent reality of his wife taking her own life. These are just the updates within earshot. Undoubtedly they only scratch the surface.
this 23rd week of social distancing has been full of stress for a number of Pastors around me.
I May Not Be Your Pastor.
I started replanting a church 6 months before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. My shortlist of duties is reasonable for a pastor in this stage of ministry. It’s what I’ve heard from, and shared with, multiple Pastors recently that motivated this blog. I’ve heard enough from my contemporaries to know there’s a trend in the stresses facing church leaders today. The reality is, it could be argued that I have it easier in comparison to those leading the Church you’re in. Your pastor is likely accountable for hundreds, or thousands of disciples. They’re swamped with staff restructuring and losing sleep over recent or pending layoffs. They’re perplexed about what to do with empty buildings that carry existing leases/mortgages. And as I read this week on one day they might have receive a strongly worded email from a conservative member threatening to leave because the church has bought into the “scamdemic…” an hour later, [your] pastor might need to talk a progressive member off the brink of leaving because they claim the church is insufficiently outraged by whatever President Trump said that week.
I may not be your Pastor, but I feel em’. With the little bit of knowledge I have and a heart full of empathy for them I’d like to shepherd you a bit if you’ll allow.
Can I Pastor You?
Christian Friends,
Your pastors may very well be doing all they can and you may be increasingly aware that it’s not enough for you. That’s ok; truth is, they’re not designed to meet all your needs. God has placed servant leaders in your life to encourage and equip you for the ministry He’s empowered you to do. Your Pastor labors to see you grow strong in the Lord and resilient in trusting Him. I desire the same for you. In hopes of stimulating some of that growth here are a few humble suggestions(requests):
I may not be your pastor, but I feel em’.
Deepen your roots in the local church God has you in. On a call yesterday I was exhorted among several other Christians not to allow social distancing to lead me to spiritual distancing. COVID may have us taking precautions to limit contact in communities, but it’s clear many Christians are taking this as an opportunity to limit their commitment to community. Now is not the time to pull away from God’s people and the means of grace afforded you in fellowship.
Take personal responsibility for the discipleship of 2-3 other people in your local church. This is related to the first point. I recently spoke to a gentleman who was inquiring about our church online and considering joining us… because he felt like his Pastor hadn’t called or checked in on him enough. You may be able to relate. Rather than welcoming his potential transfer, I asked him how many people were in the Church? 300. Are there other staff Pastors? No. How many hours would you like your Pastor to spend calling the other 299 people?… What order would you like him to go in?… Have you considered that he may be calling the vulnerable-struggling-weak in faith-straying first? You see where I was going. I went on to encourage him to call, pray for, admonish, and otherwise care for 2-3 others the way he wished he’d been. I even told him to feel free to include his Pastor in his 2-3. The next time I saw him he had a completely different attitude and was thriving.
Read your bible as if you really believe God desires to speak to you without the aid of a man or woman. He does. God has given His Word to you, and His Spirit for understanding, so that you have everything necessary for life and godliness. That’s true in peaceful times and in pandemic. The problem with quarantine and social distancing in a social media world, is that it makes it easy to fall into idolatry. One way you can get practical help fighting this is to consider committing a fraction of the time you find yourself spending online, in the news, and with entertainment growing your faith.
Recent studies show how media may account for upwards of 90 hours of your week.
Repent if you’ve been critical/judgmental of your leaders. If you’ve been disparaging about your Pastor in private there’s grace for that. In fact I’m sure they understand. We all started this out unable to put a sentence together without using the U word. It would be ridiculous to think anyone has a handle on what to do in unprecedented times. But Paul told Timothy that gossip was saying things that shouldn’t be said. If you’ve been criticizing and denouncing your Pastor to others there’s also grace for that. Grace to repent. Stop doing that, and stop giving an ear of approval to those who bring their criticisms to you. An easy way to turn from this would be to apply the point below and intercede for them.
Pray for your leaders. Your Pastor is probably struggling more than you know. Furthermore that hypothetical scenario from above isn’t imaginary at all. Your Pastor is likely wrestling with the pressure to lead you, as you desire to go in a direction opposite of half the other people they’re leading by faith. They can’t do this. Never could. We’re under-shepherds among God’s sheep. All in all your Pastor is just like you. Pray for them to have supernatural help and wisdom from above.
If things seem to be going a direction you wouldn’t choose remember that you can disagree in an agreeable way. Plainly: You can differ in opinions without dividing over opinions.
Humbly,
sr