Jesus

To finish well… A word to Pastors (pt. 1)

According to research shared from Barna Group, 29% of pastors thought about quitting during the pandemic. Our local paper, the Wilkes Journal Patriot, ran a national article reflecting on the difficulty of the pandemic year for pastors, and how some had stepped away. Anecdotally, I know of several pastors who have stepped away from ministry of their own accord or were encouraged to leave by their churches. Also anecdotally, the associate pastor at our church shared that 5 of the 7 close ministry friends he has worked with over the past 20 years are no longer in vocational ministry.

Personally, the past 15 months have been challenging and at times overwhelming. I understand the sentiment and concerns for many of these pastors who have stepped away. But I long for something more. I long to finish well.

In this post, I’m writing to pastors and church leaders. My aim is to encourage you to apply some of the strategies for finishing well. In a subsequent post, I’m going to write to churches and church members encouraging you to support and encourage your pastors and ministers on their journey.

In his book, The Making of a Leader, J. Robert Clinton reflected on several barriers to leaders finishing well. They are:

  1. Finances-their use and abuse
  2. Power-its abuse
  3. Pride-which leads to downfall
  4. Sex-illicit relationships
  5. Family-critical issues
  6. Plateauing

The strategies below will not specifically address each of these barriers. But they will help us as leaders to build habits and character traits into our lives that will help us finish well.

No leader plans not to finish well, but leaders who finish well make plans to finish well.

Leaders don’t finish well accidentally.

Strategy #1. Create spiritual habits that keep you close to Jesus. If you examine the barriers above, many of them relate to sin issues. Fame, flirtations, and finances have been the downfall of many pastors/leaders better than us. Avoiding sin issues that disqualify leaders requires spiritual habits that keep us close to Jesus. We need to read and study the Bible devotionally, to pray dependently, to preach the gospel to ourselves regularly, and to confess and repent consistently. When we drift from Jesus, we will drift into sin.

Strategy #2. Keep your family a priority. Some ministers are forced to step away from ministry because ministry itself became an idol and destroyed their families. The leader who wants to finish well must prioritize healthy family relationships and interactions. Eat meals together. Talk. Have a family devotional time. Do fun things together. Go on holidays and vacations.

Strategy #3. Stay physically active and healthy. Vocational ministry is largely sedentary. Sitting, writing, reading, counseling, and relational interactions are not physically active parts of the job. Physical activity helps me sleep better and encourages better eating habits. Physical sloth encourages poor health habits. Take walks. Go running or hiking. Play an active sport. Physical activity is a natural stress relief and longterm health benefit.

Strategy #4. Never stop learning/growing. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is 2 Timothy 4:13: “When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.” Paul was in the latter days of his ministry, but he still wanted to read, study, learn, and grow. I was convicted by the reality referenced in Clinton’s book that many ministers don’t burn out of ministry, they plateau. Develop a reading and study plan. Write. Take a course. By continuing to grow and learn, we remain pliable and teachable as pastors/leaders.

Strategy #5. Develop friendships and accountability. I need people in my life to look me in the eye and call me out for folly or sin. God has graciously given me several people who will regularly speak truth into my life and ask the hard questions. If you don’t have these people in your life, pray that God will give them to you. Finishing well means that God has protected you from foolishness and sin, and often God protects us by using friends as our accountability. Get in a discipleship group. Find an accountability partner. Open up to your spouse.

Strategy #6. Ask for help. You can’t do everything you are responsible for. You need help whether that help comes in the form of staff members, assistants, or lay leaders. Pastors (leaders) that last are pastors (leaders) who don’t try to do it all. Delegate. Train others. Disciple fellow workers and leaders. Turn over key tasks and responsibilities. During the pandemic, our church has remained strong because we have so many key leaders (staff and lay) who have taken ownership of everything from technology to cleaning to other protocols.

Plan to finish well.

Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

If you have good news, share it.

St. Francis of Assisi is rumored to have said, “Preach the gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.” This is an oft cited comment to insist on living out our faith actively and only speaking rarely. The problem with this quote is that to fulfill our mission, we must speak.

The Greek word for gospel is euangelion, and it means “good news.” News is shared verbally.

Jesus commissioned his followers to make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching. One cannot teach without speaking.

The early church spread, not only by being a good deeds community, but by sharing the good news. What is this news? It is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It is the gospel account that Jesus is Lord and Savior.

According to J. I. Packer in his book Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, the gospel is made up of four specific truths.

  1. The gospel is a message about God and his holiness.
  2. The gospel is a message about man and his sinfulness.
  3. The gospel is a message about Jesus Christ.
  4. The gospel is a summons to repentance and faith.

Understood in this description is the reality that the gospel is a message. For the gospel to be shared, there are some things that must be said. God is holy and demands righteousness. Our problem is that we are sinners and cannot fulfill God’s standard of righteousness. God knew our dilemma and sent Jesus Chris to solve our sin problem. As the perfect Son of God who became our substitute on the cross, Jesus died for our sin and rose from the dead that we might have new life. This news invites a response. When we hear this news, we should repent (turn) from our sin and believe in Jesus alone as Savior and Lord.

The good news is something that we must share. In just the last couple of weeks, I’ve had multipole opportunities to share the gospel with unbelieving adults. Part of the reason for these opportunities has been keeping the gospel mission in the forefront of my mind.

Our mission at Wilkesboro Baptist is to lead our neighbors and the nations to follow Jesus. In order for us to fulfill this mission, we must share the good news about Jesus with others.

You may be wondering, “But what do I share? Where do I begin? But what if I’m rejected? I’m afraid of what might happen?”

Remember this. The temporary discomfort you and I might experience in public witness is minuscule when compared to the permanent suffering unbelievers will experience in eternal separation from God.

Here are some basic practices we can all engage in to be more evangelistic.

Obey the Lord. Being evangelistic is a command. Instead of thinking about sharing the good news based on how we feel (nervous, afraid, unsure), we need to base it on obedience. When we share the gospel, we are obeying Christ. It is a spiritual discipline and a matter of growth. By the way, success in sharing the good news is sharing the good news. When we obey by sharing the gospel, we are successful. The results are up to God.

Pray for people. If you are unsure where to begin in your journey of being evangelistic, then pray. Pray for wisdom, discernment, courage, and opportunities. But even more, pray for unbelievers. Here is a post from a couple years back that highlights how we can pray for those who are lost. I have an ongoing list of unbelievers that I pray for. And God is faithful to regularly give me opportunities to reach out to them and talk with them.

Keep your eyes open for opportunities. Our circumstances provide numerous opportunities for evangelistic witness. When we suffer and handle it with patience and grace (the context of 1 Peter 3:15), we open the door for people to question why we have hope. Friendships, interactions, and opportunities abound for evangelistic encounters. Walks through your neighborhood, the sport or dance events of your children and grandchildren, conversations with co-workers, eating out, and many, many more situations are potential opportunities for gospel conversations. Our problem is not lack of opportunity. Our problem is that we are too often distracted by other things to consider the opportunities in front of us. In Acts 8, Philip offers us an evangelistic example on which we can model our witnessing. You can read some observations about Philip’s example as a witness here.

Ask questions. How do we transition from opportunity to gospel conversation? We can transition from “Hello” and “How are you?” to the gospel by asking insightful questions. Here are some examples although there are countless options: “How are you doing during this past year? What things are you doing to stay at peace? What do you think about all the difficulties we’ve experienced? What do you think about Jesus? Do you attend a church? If so, has your church/faith been helpful for you in the past year?” Open ended questions are preferable. Questions that engage the mind and heart of others open the door to gospel conversations.

Share who you know. I could have written, “Share what you know.” Both are appropriate. But ultimately, we are sharing not just the facts of the gospel, but a person-Jesus Christ. What is it you must share? J. I. Packer’s outline above is a good starting place. But if you’re not sure how to explain those truths, then just share Jesus. Tell how Jesus forgave you and redeemed you. Share about the new life you have and the eternal life you anticipate. Sharing the gospel can be as simple as sharing the Jesus that you met when you became his follower.

If you’d like to go a little deeper, then follow the link to this podcast from my friend Dr. Craig Thompson. Craig regularly hosts the Ordinary Christian podcast where he addresses specific relatable issues within Christian life. In episode 42, Craig interviews Dr. Timothy Beougher, a professor and mentor of mine and Craig’s from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Beougher explains and relates personal evangelism for ordinary Christians. Craig’s podcast is helpful and relatable. Consider subscribing.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash