Who Bakes for the Baker?
I just read a fine article by Sarah Henson. In her article she
chronicles a portion of her life as a preacher’s daughter
experiencing the humanity of her father the Man, with the public
expectations of him as a Pastor. Using the story of famed pastor and
my buddy Zachery Tims as her case study, she prompts questions
and ideas of why Pastors alienate themselves and how this
alienation leads us down precarious paths. I appreciated this
article because it has sparked my own thoughts about my
personal Pastorate. It seems that there is a sense of alienation associated with every
success and every apparent move forward in ministry. This alienation can make
you the object of a great amount of adulation, but also the object of a great amount
of scrutiny. To some degree, one goes with the other, after all when much is given
(resources, influence etc…) much is required. However, one significant result of
the scrutiny that cannot be overlooked is the lack of transparency from Christian
Leaders. This is not a small issue because when things are not transparent, things
get hidden, and secrets abide. This has been the state of leadership period, let alone
in Christendom. Lack of transparency creates room for secrets and secrets create
room for hypocrisy, and hypocrisy for more lack of transparency etc, etc, etc… you
get the picture. The cycle breeds distrust, disrespect, and a need for a re-haul of our
approach to it. Sound familiar? If you live in the US it should!
So it leads me to some personal questions- if I were trapped in infidelity, with who
could I talk? What about porn addiction, or embezzlement, or if I realized I taught a
horrible doctrine? Who would I sit and express this to? Would I internalize it until
it spills over and destroys the integrity of what God has called me to do? Who gives
counsel to the counselor? Who pastors the Pastor? Who would do for me what I’ve
done for many? Who Bakes for the Baker?
If I were speaking to Pastors this article would be centered around self
responsibility, humility, accountability, safe relationships; etc… but I figured since
there are more congregants than Pastors, I’d give five ways the congregants can help
their Pastors and Leaders from alienation that leads to a lack of transparency and
hypocrisy.
Here are a few thoughts that I think would help us to help our Pastors:
1. Make it a point to grow as an individual Believer: Your individual
strength as a Believer makes it easier for you to go through the ebbs and
flows of your Pastor’s humanity. A strong and healthy Believer trusts in their
Savior at a fundamentally different place than they do their Pastor. Knowing
that there are mature people both in leadership and in the congregation can
relieve some of the pressure of having to be near “morally perfect” for the
sake of their congregants’ walk with Christ.
2. Help Grow and Mature the Church in Spiritual Health and not just in
Numbers- Pray, Learn, Serve
The worst enemy to a hurting Pastor is an unhealthy, spiritually immature
church. These types of congregations need, need, need!! While all of us need
something when we come to church, unhealthy congregations will demand in
an unbalanced way to have their needs fed even at the expense of the person
who feeds them. When the need is so dire, it’s easy to overlook the paleness
of the person feeding. Severe brokenness makes us all selfish and will cause
us to overlook the Leader’s unhealthy lifestyle and choices. A healthy church
will discern that their leaders are growing faint and will have the spiritual
strength to maintain while the Leaders recoup. A simple way to mature as a church
is for believers is to pray, learn and serve together. Each of these elements will help
build unity around the mission of God and not the leader or Pastor.
3. Demand that your Pastor takes sabbaticals: I know the word ‘sabbatical’
is almost a bad word in many ethnic churches because after all no one can
bring it like your Pastor! And Pastors, we are guilty as well, because we fear
attendance and finances dropping without us there. Well, this is a practice
we should work hard to reverse. Pastors and Christian Leaders are
in the business of bearing the deepest burdens of the human experience. Aside
from carrying their own, they carry that of the people they serve. This is an
extremely heavy emotional, spiritual and physical load to carry, and if not
properly shifted; it will crush everything that is important to that Leader’s
life. If a Leader is not able to take time to clear his/her mind and heart of his
parishioners’ gunk, he/she likely will not take time to do it for themselves
either. This will cause a great strain on everyone connected to the Leader;
their spouse, children, friends, co-workers and even worse, the leaders
themselves. The great Green Bay Packer coach Vince Lombardi
once said that “fatigue makes cowards of us all.” Fatigue will drain your leader of the
energy needed to confront and deal with their own personal issues. Trust me, the
Church will not fall apart because the Pastor takes 2 weeks off a few times a year.
Prepare for it, save your money, get speakers lined up, and allow for some
time off!! The Church as a whole is better off when the leaders are refreshed.
Nothing can replace your Pastors quality time with God and His family.
4. Release The Grace to Fail- Pastors are under an enormous amount of
pressure to be right nearly all the time, especially when you are in the
morality business! When you are in the morality business everything is
scrutinized from that lens. So it seems that a Pastor cannot misspeak, give
erroneous data, have a bad business deal, make a poor decision, wrestle with
personal shortcomings, etc.., without it being scuritinized through the lens
of his morality or the lack thereof. So the Leader’s life is seen juxtaposed to
the perfect message he/she is called to preach. Listen folks, preaching for a
perfect God and living perfectly for God are two entirely different concepts.
When the Pastor finishes expressing the perfection of God, he/she is now
called to live that message with the same pressures of life as any other
human being. It’s one thing to accept your Pastor when the manifest presence of the
anointing of God is on them, but are you willing to accept them after the power of
that moment lifts? No, God does not give your Pastor any “special” graces to handle
life that are different than yours. He/she has to discipline himself and stay near
to the Cross just like you. So release the grace of God on your Pastors and Leaders to
have human frailty- release the same grace you cry out to God for everyday, because
remember, if it was not for the grace of God, where would any of us be?
Wake Up Ur Dream!
