Reminders to Pastors

So the last post I penned has been far and away my most popular blog to date, logging over a thousand reads in the first 24hrs and just when I thought it was winding down, it experienced another upswing. It had me thinking, though, that if a blog on what to do when you don't like your pastor could become so popular and resonate so quickly with so many, it likely means there are a lot of dispirited pastors who have experienced strained relationships in their churches. This post then, is meant to be for pastors then, especially with struggles of ministry in mind. So below are some things I remind myself or have learned during the hardest days I've experienced in my short years of ministry.

1. Bank pastoral trust wisely. In one of my first blog posts I discussed keeping the flag in the sanctuary. In there I described the idea of pastoral trust as a bank account. Basically, certain things you do in ministry with/for people will store up for you pastoral trust - which is basically trust that you are spiritually nourishing, which is important because other things in ministry are not easy to face with people, and that will use some of your pastoral trust. It may seem a crude and overly economic interpretation of ministry, but the principle I would not quickly discard. Recognizing the dynamics of pastoral trust will help one time ones actions and assess when you can be most helpful or when trying will be a detriment to ones ministry. I'm not saying you can't do anything without pastoral trust, just that you should recognize how much harder it is to accomplish. Understand that some things do change over time. I think this principle is most helpful if you regularly use up pastoral trust. If you are very direct, or constantly trying to make significant changes within parish life, you are going to be using a lot of pastoral trust. It means to be effective is not just good planning, it's good ministering. It means understanding why you sometimes are up against a wall in your ministry plans. This is helpful not only for the pastor who overdraws, but who never takes withdrawals. If you struggle with things about individuals or your church as a whole but am very timid to address them, this may be what you need to know to believe you can. Last year in my churches another pastor from another parish and myself proposed a major plan that would have instilled a massive shift in my parish's life. We didn't have to do it (like faithfulness to Jesus Christ was not on the line), but there were a lot of practical and Christian reasons to do it. But it was a terrifying endeavor to propose. It was the knowledge that I had some pastoral trust that helped embolden me to make the proposal (which almost, but didn't quite pass). In the tension, I was able to ride my pastoral trust a bit to let people consider and not outright reject it. There is one more element, and that is understanding that not all parishes or parishioners give pastoral trust equally. Understanding history is important here. For example, churches that are used to a lot of pastoral transition don't give as much pastoral trust (especially in relation to long term issues), because they don't trust you will be around long. A church that had a bitter fight over frequency of communion will require more pastoral trust if you seek to change communion wafers to communion loafs. And also, how you address issues impacts how much pastoral trust you withdrawal/deposit.
2. Minister with patience. Patience is important in relation to pastoral trust. But it is important in general. One thing I struggle with most is when I forget to regard with patience the work of God in the people. Here I particularly commend to you three passages of scripture:
   1 Corinthians 3:7-8 - So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each.
   Isaiah 55:10-11 -  For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
       and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
   making it bring forth and sprout,
       giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
    so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
       it shall not return to me empty,
   but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
       and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
   2 Peter 3:9 -  The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.
   The Corinthians passage is most important for me in such times. To remember that as a pastor you only see often part of the work. For some I am but planting a seed, for others watering, and many times I won't know or see the full fruit of the labor. In fact, I am often seeing the labor of pastors before me, and God willing my successors will see the fruits of mine. It is important to remember when the people seem frustratingly slow in their "spiritual growth". When we remember that we may only be a part of the means by which God creates and sustains faith, sometimes maybe all we're doing is tilling soil for the seed, but we are nonetheless doing something, or more specifically, God is doing something! Remember the Isaiah promise that God's word will not return empty, and so even if you have yet to see the fruit, God gives the growth and his word has promised to go out and do just that, you can trust that when you are despairing that you accomplish nothing. Lastly I also leave the reading from Peter, which reminds us to be patient in such work. God is not slow to his promise, he even delays his return because of his patience in giving growth because he wills none to perish. Every day Christ has not returned, is another day he has granted for this work to continue in these people. 
3. Beware of Complexes. We often talk about the Messiah complex, in which we begin to put upon our shoulders what properly belongs on Jesus'. You are not the one who saves anyone, and this is not a glory seeking business, so don't get caught up in being a glory seeking success story of overcoming each person's personal struggle. Do that and you will burn out, bear undo disappointment, and move the focus of your ministry off of Jesus Christ. Even the one who sees themselves as having to get people to see Jesus put so much upon themselves they actually lose sight of Christ themselves. And like Peter who lost sight in the storm, you will sink. But there is a second complex we are equally vulnerable to and is much harder to wrestle with; I call it the martyr complex. This happens when we identify every opposition to our ministry as opposition to the gospel. When I lack humility, I idolize my own ministry. Not every rejection of your sermon, teachings, or style is because the people stone prophets. Sometimes it is our own fault. I think especially here in the western world, where martyrdom texts and words about persecution are most easily identified not with violence but with non-physical hostility it is difficult to sometimes discern when the hostility is truly to the Gospel and truly to our own work. None of us is too good to be exempt from righteous hostility. And one thing I know, even a Gospel-filled sermon can be done differently or dare I say better. When things are not going well, complexes creep up on us. We put too much of the struggles on ourselves (Messiah) or we put none of them on us, seeing ourselves as only righteous victims (Martyr).
4. Understand the burden of the office. What I mean here (since many pastors will ask "which burden") is particularly to understand what it is to be set apart by your title. It means you are perpetually "on duty", your personal and professional life are one and the same, it means people around you in the community will respond to you negatively or positively simply because you are a pastor. I've walked into a small town bar on a Friday night in my clerical, some were totally uncomfortable by my presence, others were delighted and opened up quite a bit about their own spiritual life. But my office alone dictated that whole experience, and all I wanted was to stop on the way home from a long day of work for a beer. Other burdens of the office is that people in the church judge you by it. That is, as "pastor" you are judged not just for who you are, but who "pastor" is to them (whether by some ideal or by the previous pastor). As one pastor noted to me when I first started out, "Some people will not like you simply because you aren't their last pastor. And some will like you because your not the last pastor." And that is so true. And it is hard to remember that many judge me as pastor, not as simply me. And sometimes we need to understand that, to be reminded that people who don't like us in ministry often actually aren't doing so personally (even though we inevitably take it personally). Then of course there is the added burden of not just you, but your family being all under the same umbrella of your job. And no matter how unfair that seems, this reminder is not about saying every element of being set aside is right, but to understand that it happens. Because understanding helps us handle ourselves well, and battle sometimes its frustration. When you understand why someone does something frustrating for example, it is easier to still be compassionate toward them and not let that frustration dominate your relationship. 
5. Have compassion on the parish. This flows straight from the last. Understanding the dynamics of the relationship you have with parishioners and community members helps offset the frustrations that can arise from those dynamics. And that is important because compassion is important. Here I will though especially stress compassion in the literal sense; co-passion - a companion in suffering. Suffer with your church. Where I need this reminder most is when frustrated, or something in the parish life did not play out how I'd like it to (and perhaps I made an effort to direct it differently that failed). In those times the inclination is to simply deny them. This is when "they" language becomes the great temptation. "They did this" "They did that" "They did not listen to me". It's an effort to absolve ourselves and villainize. You are part of your parish, and even in its greatest struggles, even when you tried to steer it elsewhere, you two are in the mission together. The moment I first knew I would accept the call to my parish was when I defended them before others, spoke protectively of them, even in things I was not too big on. I remember that still, and sometimes have to remind myself to come to their aid. Some may fight me on this analogy, but think of it like children, you really want the best for them and even when they disappoint you and go against you it doesn't divorce your sympathy from them, and in any way you can you will defend them and still support them. Sometimes you can't, and sometimes there is still admitting their mistake, but you are still going to suffer with them if you can through their mistake. As a pastor it is easy to not want to suffer with them. And so remember to love them enough not only to lead them in the right, but to not abandon them when they have strayed. Instead, be a faithful, loving, and compassionate witness wherever they go. And remember, loving compassion is more than just being right and telling them when they are wrong, for you can be faithful in doctrine and short on love. Just read Revelation 2:2-5 where a church committed to the right belief is absent of their love. 
6. Be a servant. When I was in college, I remember being taken by the description Pope Gregory the Great gave his job: servant of the servants of Christ. You are the servant of God's servants. And it is always good to remember that, because as a leader who is given power it is easy to forget it. When I was on internship someone noted to me once what it meant to see the intern pastor shoveling snow. To this individual they said it was a humble thing to see. That wasn't my intent in doing so, my intent was making sure no one slips coming into church. But it taught me something I have told myself throughout ministry: there is no job in church I'm "too good" for. There are jobs I prefer not to do, there are jobs others can do, and in fact because it is important to include others I encourage them to do. But when it comes down to it, I remind myself when the need is there to also be willing to help. Extend that now to outside the parish when I visit. People are regularly at my service, wanting to serve me. And I imagine for many pastors this is the case. Remember who we are: we're servants God, and servants of the servants of Christ. 
7. Take your job seriously. This does not mean you can't have any fun. Those who know me know that I am humorous (or at least try to be) and often very joyful. But the idea is to say that what we do really does matter. I think this is one of the things Bonhoeffer brings out in Cost of Discipleship, he saw the Evangelical Church as not treating its ministry as if it matters. Now some of his ideas I take issue with, but he's right that it is no small thing to baptize someone into Christ and a life of Christian discipleship. Along with the firm reminder that God is working in frustrating ministry is also the reminder then that what we deal with (even in frustrating times) matters, because when disheartened it can be easy to neglect giving our ministry the care it deserves. But salvation, redemption, and renewal are things this world needs.
   Think of Paul's words in Romans 10:13-14
   
    13 For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
   14 But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? 
   It is a scary thing to think of what my neglect in ministry means for others. This is a warning, but it is also a comfort. We need to be reminded sometimes that our work is meaningful. After the funeral for her father, a pastor I know once said she was reminded of how important what we do is when she was the one in grief being preached to. Someone prayed for me this week, and the shivers and feeling that courses through your veins and runs down your spine when you hear another person hold you in prayer, it reminds me how important a thing that is to do for another. Despair and hardship in ministry is worth encountering because this stuff matters. It matters enough that Jesus would die to secure this Gospel and it matters enough that the Holy Spirit was poured out to seal it in our hearts and empower the proclaiming of this message with the grace of Jesus. And if we want people to care about this ministry, we'd best care about it too. It's unfair to expect a congregation to be invested in, partners in, and partakers of a ministry we don't even show as important.
8. Remember Article VIII. Some non-Lutherans won't understand especially what this is a reference to, maybe some Lutherans are wondering too. It refers to Article VIII of the Augsburg Confession. Now this might seem the odd one to focus on, since Lutheran theology is by and large centered on Article IV, the article of justification by faith. And I certainly hope pastors are remembering that, since it is key to understanding and preaching the Gospel of free grace. But here I am referring to the article that has calmed me when the church is in a troubled state: the article on the Nature of the Church. What I remind myself from here is the line "in this life many false Christians, hypocrites, and even open sinners remain among the godly..." This sentence is important because we struggle with the church when it seems so not like the church. But the church isn't the church because we do what is right, and in fact as a Lutheran we say confessionally that there always has been and in this life always will be wicked people in the church. Remember that, because it means as pastors we will run into them, deal with them, suffer from them. And the more there are or the more they are in leadership, the harder that is to face and the more tempting it is to abandon the church or even declare it isn't a church. But don't say that. Where the Gospel is at work among believers, there is the Church. And the presence of others and their work does not simply undo that. Jesus was effective in his ministry even in the face of opposition then, and still is today. Bad leadership cannot stop him where his word is active. In fact, Article VIII reminds us that even when we are the wicked ones the church is still truly the church and God's grace is still being shared: "the sacraments are efficacious even if the priests who administer them are wicked men". And so when things seem very unChristian, don't let that discourage you. When I was a teen, my faith flourished and grew in a congregation that was dealing with some horrible discord. And I was well aware of it too, serving on the board of elders at 17. I knew more than most in the parish, yet God was still very much at work there. It has been a blessing to remember how much God can do with a church even when it is divided. Remember Paul calls the the horribly divided Corinthians saints and says they were "sanctified" (1 Cor 1:2).
9. Stay faithful to your office. From these last two flows this one. If what we do actually matters, even when the church is horribly flawed we are to remain faithful even when we see unfaithfulness. The Augsburg Confession one article earlier declared the Church was "the assembly of all believers among whom the Gospel is preached in its purity and the holy sacraments are administered according to the Gospel." This definition reminds us why we take what we do seriously. The working of Christ and his means of grace are the foundation for the Church. If you're like me, you might have a tendency to be a people pleaser, and therefore face the constant temptation to not be faithful to the Gospel when it is hard or unpopular. You face the temptation to put the scriptures in more desirable light, or to defend God's actions. But you are called to preach the word, and have been set apart because preaching does that. I also know, that our job sometimes is not as closely monitored as others. It is a difficult balance between doing too much and too little, and people don't always know how much time you put into things (they may think you put little in when you spend all day on something, they may think you've been hard at work on that sermon that you put little time into). And when we meet unfaithful activity, we want to play their game. Yet we are following after Jesus Christ, who did not betray his mission in the face of difficulty. Or as Paul put it in 2 Timothy "if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself." Let this be not only our creed but our own job description. I also go back to my ordination vows. I took to reading more scripture this year, because I promised to be diligent in my study of scripture and I was too often only caring about the passages that were being preached on. Remember to look at precisely what has been asked of you as a pastor, and be willing to correct yourself to be more faithful to that endeavor. 
10. Be a sheep too. For this last one, I turn to former Swedish Bishop Bo Giertz, who reminds us the Seelsorger (soul shepherd) needs soul care too. In his essay "How the Seelsorger Cares for His Own Soul" he makes these points:
    a: Even the Seelsorger Has an Old Adam. "Just as the Old Adam does not die in Baptism, so he survives ordination also. If he gets some time to himself, he can get along wonderfully well in the cassock." Take seriously your own sin, because our depth of religiousness makes us susceptible to masking sin instead of subduing and crucifying it. I multiply my problems when I forget this.
    b: Even the Seelsorger Needs God's Word. "There are pastors whose Bibles are noticeably little used. The pericopes are diligently used, but not the Bible. In such a case, one can seriously suspect that the Word applies to others but that the priest for his own part thinks that "he can do without it."...But he must also read the Bible as a common parishioner, for his own upbuilding, for rebuking, for reparation, and for fostering righteousness, in order to express the matter as Paul does when he warns Timothy to hold fast to the Holy Scriptures he has known since childhood." How true is this? I spoke just above how I fell into this very failure, and still it is easy to hear the scripture first for sermon, second for me. All the struggles talked about here remind me again how important it is to read for my spiritual care too.
    c: Even the Seelsorger Needs to Be Converted.  This one might make some uncomfortable or quick to dismiss (especially in America where the occupation is a bit different than it was with Giertz and the state church), but even still we shouldn't discount this. "There is a very great possibility that he will entrench his heart behind theological excuses. He may shun Free Church-type awakening techniques and un-Lutheran pietism and avoid asking the questions, "Am I rightly converted to God? Have I a part in my Savior?" And to Giertz the term conversion I think is also much greater than in our modern American Evangelical usage, where it means making a decision for Jesus or identifying with the Christian faith. That to Giertz is more like awakening. Conversion is faith in its fullest sense, and he speaks elsewhere of "daily conversion" much like Luther's catechism talks of "daily dying". To constantly be living by faith even when leading others into faith. When dealing with church problems and other spiritual crises, we must not neglect our own spiritual crisis.
    d: Even a Seelsorger Needs the Support of an External Order. We need external, devotional practices and not to carry everything simply in our hearts, head, or wherever else we think we keep our worship and devotion of God. And we need to keep to them lest we skip them. "As a matter of fact, he needs much resoluteness to hold fast to a particular order for his devotion and follow through with it despite all difficulties. Otherwise, hurry and haste come to choke out Word and prayer from his life. First, the many worries and obligations encroach upon the devotions. Then the priest thinks about his approaching sermon, about the troublesome letter he must write, on all the telephone conversations he can't forget." As I write this I had to pause, and step away. I had put off this morning prayers to prepare for a meeting with the intention of praying afterward. Did I? So easy it is to let the rush of ministry upset the routine of spiritual discipline. One of the reasons I instituted midweek morning prayer at my church was for this very reason. I knew I (and suspected many others) too easily neglected prayer. And so I established a simple order of morning prayer with a devotion. We keep a copy of it on the website so those at work can pause to pray too. And even when weeks go by with no one coming into church to join me I won't get rid of it because it is as much for me as for my members.
    e: Even a Seelsorger Needs Holy Communion. "Does it need to be said that the pastor need Holy Communion?...There are cases where it needs to be said." While I imagine you probably partake with your congregation in communion, here the reminder is it is just as important that we do so. And I think the reminder is a good one, because as the presider/distributer one has less time in devotion when partaking. But as Giertz says, "I have the experience that one is blessed by it, even when the external circumstances have been unusually hasty and pressing. Just as one is blessed by prayer and the reading of God's Word even when one cannot do it in such a peace and tranquility as one would have desired." Being on this end of communion, which puts our whole process of preparation and participation quite differently than when we get to sit in the pew does not change the grace offered and therefore the eternal significance there is every time we partake.
    f: Even a Seelsorger Has Need of Confession. This is something protestants as a whole have mournfully neglected. There is a night-day difference between silent and verbal confession. And I assure you, while you may confess to God alone (you don't need the pastor) there is a major difference of doing it before someone else. And listening to absolution is greatly different than absolving yourself. "He shares [in needing confession] all the same reasons as laymen. He needs it to help him become clear about his own standing before God...He needs it very particularly when he has lost his own peace in some other trap that the soul's enemy set before him." Find someone - pastor, spouse, bishop - someone who you trust your confession to and who will administer the words of grace back unto you. Don't let your burdens remain bound or get by on the semi-freedom of your own "knowledge" of forgiveness. Seek the assurances we provide within our fellowship.
    g: Even a Seelsorger Has a Merciful Savior, Who Never Fails to Forgive. "It is dangerous for a priest to forget that he needs forgiveness. It is even more dangerous for him to forget that he can receive forgiveness and that he has it on account of Jesus." We place so great a burden, are reminded constantly of God's great demands, can easily feel like a failure when our church does not grow or change, and if the statistics say anything - most of us battle depression in some form (I do at times). The burnout rate you face is fierce and I blame no one who ever has left the ministry. We are targets of spiritual warfare, poverty, and exhaustion. Therefore as we speak the message for others, let us not go on forgetting it is ours too by grace. We need to know we are not just shepherds of the sheep God has entrusted to us (1 Peter 5:1-2), we are sheep in the care of the Good Shepherd. 

What a way to end this blog. Though long, it is ended with the joyful word of God's grace. Therefore, I close to you with these words from Giertz (also written regarding the last point):

Serve the Lord with joy. This is not the least important for the priest, who here on earth stands in the forecourts of heaven, placed by the door through which he continually distributes heaven's gifts to his congregation. For this reason, he can always be joyful in the Lord, not because of himself, not because of his congregation, not over great successes, but because of his Lord, because of the great Savior who does not fail to forgive and who lets every day be a new day of grace.