Jesus

Hang in There

Over the last couple of years one of our staff members has shared a recurring encouragement to me. Mike Matheney has said to me to “Hang in there.”

In normal (pre-covid) circumstances and ministry, hanging in there is another way of encouraging perseverance. Over the last 18 months or so that phrase has taken on heightened significance.

Sometimes, it feels like we are barely hanging on.

In his book, Seven Leaders: Preachers and Pastors, Iain Murray reflected upon pastor and mentor Kenneth MacRea. MacRea pastored in a remote village off the coast of Scotland. When he was eighty MacRea penned these pertinent and insightful words:

There is only one thing I know I can do well. I cannot lead, but I can truthfully say that I am able to hang on. It may arise from natural stubbornness, but I know that popular religious movements which, despite their lack of scriptural support, carry away so many good people, leave me entirely unaffected. I believe that I can set my teeth and hold on, but that is all I am good for.

Kenneth MacRea, quoted by Iain Murray in Seven Leaders.

Did you catch that phrase, “able to hang on”? The context in the chapter reflects on pastoral ministry and theological fidelity, but the phrase is applicable in our situations today.

I’m writing this reflection on the day our county schools begin again. There is a lot going on in our lives. There are a lot of tensions and difficulties surrounding us in our community, in our personal lives, and across the world.

Are you able to hang on?

  • For some of us, hanging on has meant remote school, sending your kids back to school, and worrying about the spread of Covid in school.
  • For some of us, hanging on has meant dealing with sickness and recovering much more slowly than we would like.
  • For some of us, hanging on has meant grieving without the normal experiences of visitation, a funeral, and friends/family to hug and visit during the death of a loved one.
  • For some of us, hanging on has meant a loss of job or loss of freedom.
  • For some of us, hanging on has meant learning to do your job differently and changing habits and practices just to get by.
  • For some of us, hanging on has meant internal and psychological pressures that no one else will ever know.
  • For some of us, hanging on has meant remaining faithful to a spouse who doesn’t act with love toward you and trying to sustain a marriage that you’re not sure will make it.
  • For some of us, hanging on has meant learning new coping mechanisms to deal with the stresses of a pandemic and all the ways it has affected our lives.
  • For some of us, hanging on has meant __________________ (you can fill in the blank here).

You get it, don’t you? Maybe last month, maybe last year, maybe as you’re reading this right now, you’re just hanging on.

Some of us have both our hands wrapped around our situations hanging on rather easily. Others of us are hanging on with only one hand. And for probably more than a few of us, we feel like our fingers are slipping and we’re losing our grip.

What happens if you let go?

What happens if your grip slips?

What happens if you can’t hold on any longer?

If you are follower of Jesus, remember this.

If you let go, if your grip slips, if you stop hanging on, then you will be ok. Jesus is holding on to you and holding on for you.

Jesus gave us this assurance:

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

John 10:27-30

Jesus promised that he is hanging on to us. Jesus promised that the Father is hanging on to us. And no one (circumstance, burden, difficulty, sickness, person, Satan, etc.) can pull us from the hand of our Savior.

No matter what’s going on today, this week, or in the internal processes of your life, remember that you are in the hands of Jesus.

Hang on. Hold on. Don’t let go. Trust in the Lord. Take time to read Psalm 31. Pray for the Lord’s deliverance and rescue. Take time to read John 10. Rest in the hand of Jesus.

Hang in there. But if you let go, remember that Jesus won’t.

Photo by Dương Trần Quốc on Unsplash

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