It seems to me that being a pastor is seen as the pinnacle of Christian ministry. If you are a pastor, you have reached the top of the profession. With the job comes a lot of power and a lot of telling others what they can or can’t do.
No one seems to say I want to be a pastor because I have this longing to be a servant which is what Jesus said you must be if you want to be great in the Kingdom of God.
I don’t know what picture is being painted by people of this ministry, but I will give you a couple of examples. A young man from a Para church ministry told us by way of introduction that he wanted to be a pastor. The reason? Wait for it. So that he could preach every Sunday. Ouch!
The second one is another young person who was going into training to be a pastor. This person had signed up for Bible College and would take on a church when graduated. Just one small problem. This person had numerable personal problems. Walked out on her parents; called Social Services saying that her parents had abused her all her life; never been able to hold down a job; when at home all she did was eat and watch TV all day. Not to worry come graduation all that would be put to one side and she would be a successful pastor.
Fortunately for us, neither became a pastor. The first ended up working with young people in a para church situation and it was obvious he was more attuned to that than being someone who wanted to preach every Sunday. The second? Faded away into the background fortunately. Just another job that seemed a good idea at the time.
Here are a couple of statistics for your consideration. In Australia, there 10,000 ex pastors who have left the ministry through burnout or unreasonable expectations.
In the USA, approximately 1,600 pastors are either fired or resign every month.
Something has to be wrong don’t you think?
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