Fried Pastors

So…taught two weeks ago on fighting and conflict within churches. Chatted with some people I met that day, one of them a former pastor, and it got me thinking. If being a pastor is about taking care of people and guiding people…and it is supposed to be such a noble thing, then why do so many pastors ultimately burn out and drop out of ministry? Why do so many suffer from pain, and from loneliness, and from heartache, and from feelings of failure. If the church is ALL THAT…then it ought to be a joy to work as a pastor within the church. While it is for some, for many (if not most), it is anything but a joy.

So...in my opinion, something is inherently wrong with what the church has become (at least in America) when its leaders become joyless and loveless and lifeless because of having to deal with all the stuff that goes on - the fighting and the conflicts and the selfish agendas and all that other crap.

As one who has done it for 20 years - it annoys the heck out of me that it has become this way. Why is it this way? I can think of a number of reasons:

• having to deal with crap from people who are supposed to be like Jesus (cause they call themselves "Christians") but who are really nothing like Jesus.
• Having church "leaders" tell them what to do, how to do it, what to think, what to teach...when these so-called leaders basically have a Sunday School education in the Scriptures and in dealing with people.
• Having people who only have the aforementioned Sunday School education in the Scriptures, tell them how wrong they are in their interpretation of the Bible. "So...I know you can read the Greek and the Hebrew languages and that you have devoted your life to studying the backgrounds and the world of the Scriptures; and I know that you have enough schooling in theology to choke a horse...but the book I read by Tim Lahaye says differently so YOU NEED TO CHANGE!" (whatever)
• not being able to have friendships within their faith community because they are afraid of the possibility of offending someone.

So...perhaps here is the million dollar question: What has to change in order to make being a pastor something that can be a joy rather than a curse?

A continued vent from facebook

Okay - so on fb I posted this and would like to continue the discussion:

Thinking about the paradigms within the church world...I want to consider this question: If making disciples is the primary mission of the church, then why do we use the paradigm that we do on Sunday mornings? Is it an effective means to meeting the goal or is it just an old ineffective paradigm? And if it is ineffective, what are other options/paradigms that might be more effective?

What do I mean? Well, simply put, most every church does the same thing on Sunday's. Generally it looks like this:

• Opening song
• Greeting/Welcome
• Music we sing to (anywhere from 3-7 songs)
• Message (anywhere from 20-60 minutes depending on the ego...err...uhm...wordiness of the pastor/teacher)
• go home

There is some variations like those who do communion every week, or special music (btw - what makes one song more "special" than the other?), or videos...but this is essentially the layout of most church worship services.

So - the question to consider is: Is this the best use of 1-2 hours every week in an effort to fulfill the said goal of making disciples? And if not, why do we do it this way? Is it biblical - therefore - we must? Is it cultural - therefore we do?

And if changes were to occur - what would they look like? What would take its place?

Let's get creative!

An Initial Vent: Why is there no opportunity, within the church, to vent?

Venting, or expressing one's displeasure and desire for change or alterations is often seen as a negative. While it is true that venting just for the sake of venting, can be psychologically and emotionally (even spiritually) beneficial, it ultimately changes nothing; except of course for letting off steam.

Thus this blog. At times I may just vent and anyone reading (or just the air if no one reads) may just need to say, "feel better John?" However, the goal of this blog is to use our venting expressions as a means of bringing creative change, if not to the church at large, then to this local Eugene, Oregon expression.

A couple rules:

1. no foul language. (I will try hard to obey this one too.) Foul language simply isn't creative enough to belong on this blog.
2. no putdowns of others opinions. (Again - be creative. saying one's idea is stupid isn't creative, its juvenile. Use creative reasoning to debate and discuss)
3. no holding onto past traditions just for the sake of...well...holding onto past traditions.
4. no other rules.

So...let's vent away...creatively.