Eight Reasons Why Pastors Fall #1: Churches are becoming complex enterprises which pastors are not equipped to lead. The following are some of the issues contemporary pastors grapple with: Many churches of 1,000 or more are larger than the average church often because of location, so much of the mega church phenomenon is based on sociological/geographic reasons–not just anointing, gifting and how much prayer takes place. Like the McDonalds franchise, one of the most important keys to success is not the quality of the ministry but its location. As in other words, are there ample options for parking and/or is the facility near public transportation; is the facility visible to the masses of people? Thus the pastor needs to have skill in picking out the right location. 2. New Facility Needs: Pastors have to hire the right architect, lawyer, and undergo a grueling capital stewardship campaign (these campaigns are enough to destroy many churches because the pressure of fundraising can easily become the focus instead of ministering to the needs of the people). 3. Cash Flow Questions: Pastors have to know when to expand their programs and facilities by debt financing (bank loans, etc.) or building by cash and/or consolidate assets and focus internally for growth. 4. Networking: Today’s urban pastor must have political access and access to key community leaders in order to successfully tap into all the resources available to fund all the programs needed to meet the vast needs people have, especially in the urban context. 5. Business/Administration: Most pastors are good preachers but I have noticed that many of the most successful churches are those run by leaders with a business background. This is why I tell all those training for the ministry to get at least an associates degree in business finance. Just having anointed services on Sunday cannot build a successful church. You must have continual vision casting, strategic planning with 3-5 year goals, implementation and administration of the vision, leadership development, discipleship training, team building, selecting and funding the proper gift mix for your staff, and much more. 6. Learning How to Relate the Gospel to Your Audience Pastors need to have the skill and the information to know the demographic make-up of their community and know how to connect to their community. Connection is based on the age, ethnicity, economic and religious context of your community. Pastors need to constantly monitor the sociological trends in their community so they can raise up the leadership necessary to relate to the people that will be the dominant group in their community. For example, because of gentrification, a community like 7. Leadership Development How does the church effectively mentor potential leaders who have 10 hour workdays with 2-3 hour daily commutes to and from work? Usually those with the potential to lead already have responsible positions at their jobs. Thus they are already spent and weary before they come to church and minister. 8. Pastors have to answer the question: Are we going to be a program-based church or are we going to depend on empowering lay leadership for shepherding (the cell church model). 9. Board Development Issues Who do I select to be on the church’s Board of Trustees? This changes based on the maturity of your leadership, type of church government, the age of your church, the history of your church, and if the pastor is the founder or entering into an already developed board. #2: The Lack of a 1. Most Pastors Lack True Accountability 2. All pastors need other pastors over them as mentors, and peer relationships with others they can trust in transparent relationships for self-renewal. John Wesley said “The Bible knows nothing of solitary religion. Christianity is a religion of fellowship.” 3. Most pastors feel isolated and alone even in the midst of their congregation. 4. Many pastors are comfortable in the pulpit because they hide behind their anointing and their ministry giftings but are socially dysfunctional, never allowing anyone to really know them or relate to them for a real emotional connection. Even when they are with other pastors, the bulk of their conversations are regarding ministry and not about personal issues like marriage, the state of their inner lives, etc. #3: Tension Between Spiritual Leader Role and Organizational Leader Role They need skill (training) as to both the business and spiritual aspects of the church. Another problem is that many pastors don’t know how to balance their time between administration and spiritual preparation and are spending 40 hours per week in administration. The Book of Acts 6:4 teaches us administration is primarily the work of the deaconate while a large percentage of pastors are neglecting time studying and praying in the presence of God. This results in pastors burning out because the needs of the people are pulling on their grace gifting to come forth and they are not able to give it because their spiritual tank is on empty. #4: Compassion Fatigue God placed sacred rhythms in our lives so that there would be regular times of refreshing and renewal. God calls the Sabbath “a sign between us and Him.” What is the sign? That He is God and that our church or work will not fall apart when we take time off because He is the one building the church! (Matthew 16:18-19) Life is not a marathon but a series of 100 meter dashes. We have to continually take time to rest and regroup before we go out to run the race again. Because I am filled with so much vision I often hate the fact that my body gets tired and needs 6-8 hours of sleep per night, but then I realize that God did this on purpose, not to rest my body but primarily to rest my mind and emotions so that I can start each morning with a fresh perspective. Most pastors can trace burn out to not regularly replenishing their souls with rest, prayer, reading, fellowship, exercise and caring for their emotional lives. We can renew ourselves by doing things that we enjoy; it doesn’t always have to be prayer, study, or a spiritual or religious discipline. It could be viewing art, playing a sport, being with one’s spouse, having a social life, or just having a hobby that you enjoy. #5: Many Pastors Don’t Know How to Build a Dream Team, and have people operating outside of their gift mix Every pastor should have the Every dream team is made up of at least four kinds of leaders: Notes regarding each kind of leader: Strategic leaders are perfectionists who have a hard time making deadlines and pulling the trigger on important decisions. The team builders given heavy administration will be frustrated (unlike the operational leaders they hate paper work)! Asking operational leaders, strategic leaders and team builders to cast vision will only hinder the church and frustrate these three leaders. This is a job only the directional leader can do correctly. One time a senior pastor I was overseeing asked me to mediate a problem between him and one of his staff pastors. I had to tell him after we spoke for half an hour that this staff person was misplaced: the senior pastor was trying to get this (team building) leader to be an administrator, and the result was both pastors were getting frustrated and almost parted ways. #6: Competition Among Churches (or among pastors) Unfortunately many leaders are driven and not led by the Spirit. They are driven by their need to feel significant based on the growth and success of other churches in their community or region. This is a serious issue among some pastors and causes much self-induced stress and feelings of inadequacy, depression and insecurity. When a leader endeavors to grow a church numerically without commensurate church health, it is a sure sign that the leader is driven more by ego and/or insecurity than the pure desire of obeying their God-given assignment. Because of this competitive spirit some pastors secretly celebrate when a fellow pastor is struggling, and secretly gets discouraged when a church in their community prospers and grows more than theirs. This is a sure sign of unhealthy competition. One reason for this is because pastors get confused when a church in their community is blessed and their church doesn’t grow as fast; it causes them to wonder what they are doing wrong and what the other pastor is doing right. This is driven by insecurity. Paul teaches leaders not to compare themselves with others, see 2 Corinthians 10:12. When pastors understand that the #7: Lack of Personal Vision/Life Plan #8: Many Leaders Don’t Know How to Lead I agree with George Barna (as stated in his book A Fish Out of Water) when he says that there are habitual leaders (born leaders) who are so gifted that leadership comes natural to them so they can just intuit leadership. I also agree with John Maxwell, who says that we can grow as leaders by asking people to mentor us and by taking the time to study on leadership. God has called each leader to know and articulate their own mission statement. Solutions 2. Pastors need at least one (or more) other pastors who will coach them, hold them accountable and speak to the needs of their emotional and inner lives. 3. Pastors need to erect boundaries and firewalls around them and their families so that their personal lives and families will have time to replenish and be renewed. 4. Pastors need to take care of their physical bodies with regular exercise, solicitude and silence, rest, and proper diet. 5. Pastors need to take regular times of rest and/or sabbaticals. 6. Pastors need to pay attention to their emotional needs, not just their spiritual lives 7. Pastors need to take care of their intellectual lives. 8. Pastors need to bring their spouses along in all facets of self-renewal and ministry so that there is unity and compatibility of vision in their marriages.
|
Home 
