Sometimes Ministry Sucks

If the title of today’s blog entry offends you, I apologize. In fact, my critics will probably have a field day with my using the “s” word but that’s okay. I often enjoy writing blogs that I know stir the pot and send the critics tripping over themselves as they run to their keypads to quickly post their rebuttals. But the title of today’s blog is just true.

So many people have such a misconception of what it is like to work full time day in and day out in the church. In fact, most people still can’t figure out what we pastors do all week. After all, how much time can it possibly take to prepare a 30-minute sermon (okay, 35-minutes….alright, 40-minutes most Sunday mornings)? In fact, my guess is that many church goers inwardly see the pastor as having a pretty “cake job.”

But let me share just a few things that pastors face on a regular basis…and the larger the church, the more often these occurrences happen. Now you might be tempted to read this and think, “Whew, Pastor Scott must have took some serious heat this week.” Honest, that’s not the case. I am very blessed to pastor the church I pastor…to work with the staff I get to work with…to lead with the Elders I get to lead with…and to minister to the people I get to minister to. But even in a great church like Grace, ministry still has its challenges. I am amazed at the fact that rarely a week goes by that someone doesn’t communicate with me their desire to be on staff here at Grace. Sometimes I think that if they could just see what those in ministry deal with in a given week, they may think twice about submitting their resume. Things like:

Anonymous notes
Harsh e-mails and letters
Unloving critics
Staff problems
People elevating personal preferences to spiritual absolutes
People blaming the church for their personal failures
Hurt feelings because we didn’t live up to one’s expectations
The consequences of sin in people’s lives
Hard decisions that not everyone will agree with
Influential people with their own personal agendas

And the list could go on and on and on and on. When I first felt God was calling me to be a pastor I shared that with a mentor in my life who told me, “Scott, if there is anything else you would rather do…do it instead.” I think I understand now where he was coming from. The last words my Grandpa, who was a pastor for over nearly 50 years, spoke to me before he died was, “Son, don’t ever give up on the Lord!” He meant that there would be days where the temptation would be to throw in towel. He was saying that when those days come, don’t quit.

Whether it offends you or not it’s true…sometimes ministry really does suck. But even with that being the case, there is absolutely nothing else I would rather do with my life and nowhere else that I would rather do it than right here at Grace Church.