Unrelenting
I have looked in the eyes of pastors. I see a lot of tired people. I see a lot of pain. The unrelenting pressures of ministry weigh you down with such a weight that you literally can no longer stand upright.
Since leaving campus based pastoral ministry in exchange for Microchurch ministry, I have visited several churches. In most situations I look up front and see a pastor who is tired and in pain. I see a weary minister in need of help, guidance and prayer. What I see, honestly breaks my heart.
The Unrelenting Screams
The Enemy of your soul speaks loudly. He is quick to tell you of your inadequacies, your weaknesses, your mistakes, and your inabilities. He reminds you how much more gifted the pastor down the street is. He tries to convince you that neither you nor your ministry matters and you are making no kingdom impact.
The Unrelenting Pressure
There is denominational pressure to report financial gains, worship gains, and new members. There are congregational pressures to preach creatively, provide programs, counsel, and lead. There are financial pressures rooted in keeping people happy so they keep giving. There are relational pressures as people with competing agendas in a congregation wage war for the heart and mind of those in attendance.
The Unrelenting Hope
Year after year you hope things will get better and year after year it doesn’t. Yet you are called by God so you get up the next day, the next Sunday, the next denominational gathering and do your best to wash your face of the pain that stings deeply in your heart and soul.
The whole thing is an unrelenting burden and in an unrelenting ministry world it can be hard to hear…
The Unrelenting Whisper
Can you hear the whisper of your Heavenly Father? You are loved. You matter. Your life counts in the Kingdom of God. You are not the sum of the unrelenting screams, pressures and unrealized hopes in your life.
You are a child of God and co-heir with Christ. The Father, through the word of Jesus Christ and the infilling power of the Holy Spirit cradles you in his arms in your pain. He comforts you in your grief. He restores your soul like water to a parched desert. He whispers your name with a sweet and loving tone then you turn to see Him smile at you. The Father loves you and is proud of you, regardless what the statistics read.
I have seen so many pastors slump their way forward on Sunday morning and I just want to stop them and run up to the front and hug them and remind them of who and whose they are.
As a MicroChurch pastor and public school teacher, many of the old pressures of campus-based ministry are no longer a part of my life. However, these transitions have made it easier to see what was once a haunting part of my life and what now haunts hidden thousands right now.
While I am a passionate and vocal advocate for the MicroChurch model, there are those God has called to remain in campus-based ministry settings. If that is you, I pray that the restoring work of the Spirit will be yours right now. I pray that healing will come to your soul, heart, mind, family and ministry. I pray you would listen more closely to the whisper of the Spirit and less closely to the noise that tries to drown out that whisper.
So let me say it one more time. You are loved. You matter. What you do counts in the Kingdom of God.
