Burned out and Fed Up

Have you ever met someone that loved their job, but were 'burned out'? I think we all know someone who fits in this category. They literally worked themselves to death. Leading the charge is the poor pastor. According to Ligonier's TableTalk Magazine, over 1500 pastors leave the ministry every MONTH in the US alone. It's not hard to figure out the reasons why many of them leave, never to return to the ministry that they felt so called into, for it's a very demanding job. You are working with people and their problems, who feel that because you are a pastor, this entitles them to be able to berate you for each and every thing that is 'going wrong' in the local church. While some criticism may be warranted, much of it is not done in a godly and biblical manner, nor is much of it relevant. "But hey, he's the pastor, I pay his wages!" Right. We can talk about the dismal tithing record of "evangelicals" another day.

Our churches today are filled with people that walk in, take, take, take, then leave; usually complaining before they even reach the exits. They expect the pastor to do and be everything to them, when they want it. They expect the pastor's wife to sit in the front (make-up and looking very Barbie-ish to boot), and work just as hard at the church as the pastor does...for free of course!

My beautiful bride is worried about planting a church. She worries that the pressures of the congregation for her to be something she is not, to neglect her family for over-critical sheep, that think she should sing, play the piano, start and maintain the women's ministry, and try to raise godly children will be just too much. She worries that I, as the pastor of the church plant, would also pressure her into being someone she is not. Should she worry? Show me a church that hasn't had to deal with this issue. I think she's got reason to worry, but God blessed her with a husband that has learned through godly pastors and teachers what the qualifications are for elders in a church. Not only should a pastor be 'above reproach', but he also needs to lead his household. If he cannot lead his house, how can he lead a church? If I neglect my wife and kids in the name of the church, I disqualify myself from ministry. If my wife neglects our home and children (in the name of church activity...or any other reason), I will no longer be qualified to be a pastor. We can alleviate much of this problem in the church today by a couple of biblical methods.

First, the body of Christ (the believers) have all been given gifts to build up the body. Through training and overseeing this growth in the spiritual gifts, we as pastors can and should train up the people of the congregation to use those gifts given, thereby taking much of the pressure off of the pastor. Second is for the churches to follow strictly to the qualifications of the office of elder and deacon. If pastors were held accountable to the biblical standards set forth by the bible, then they (pastors) would be much more concerned with the leading and training up of their own families, rather than being tossed to and fro by every idea that the congregation brings to him. It would also ensure that the pastor's wife is doing what she is supposed to do; maintain the home and raise her children, not being the unpaid pastor's assistant. Too many pastors forget that their first calling is to love God, and they can do this best by loving the wives that God gave them.