Leadership in Crisis

I pulled up to a fast food restaurant drive thru window yesterday. I ordered a sandwich, some fries, and a drink. And waited. Then I waited some more! I got to the window and the person on the other side of the glass apologized profusely and let me know that they were understaffed and overwhelmed. She was clearly agitated and trying to not blow a gasket with her co-workers and employees. There is clearly an systemic issue happening across the United States when a fast food restaurant is paying $15.00 per hour and they are ‘understaffed.’

Logging into Facebook last night, I ran across a series of ads saying that Pastors were in short supply. I could become licensed in just under 30 days to become a ‘certified’ Pastor in a local church. All I had to do was pay a little bit of money, and get my license. The ad touted that I could do weddings, funerals, or lead my own church.

Church staffing is replete with openings across the nation in churches that are looking for leadership. Youth Pastors are in short supply. Associate Pastors are nowhere to be found. Church leadership seems to be on the decline. I began to ponder why this is. Is it really because our government continues to give money away and church leaders that once were employed by a local church are simply taking unemployment? Is it because of the pandemic that has ravaged us the past couple of years? Maybe it was the closing of churches that scared off the local church leaders that once were happy and healthy in the positions that they were in.

A More Disturbing Reality

I think the answer to the questions above are more complex than anything to do with the pandemic or anything political. There is a murkier answer to be found in the studies of the recent and not so recent past. Barna has done several studies on “Pastor Burnout.” In the past couple years, men that I admired during my time as a paid profession Pastor died by suicide. Andrew Stoecklein took his own life in 2018 after preaching from the pulpit regarding depression. Darin Patrick, one of the most prolific and admired church leaders during my time in church planting died in 2020. Both of these men were clearly burned out, ready to give up the dream of leading a church.

The question is why? Most of the men and women leaving ministry don’t ever find themselves at the wrong end of a gun with their hand attached to the other side. But many of the leaders that I know struggle through depression, anxiety, addiction, and guilt. I know of several that are just a hair away from quitting ministry all together and getting into something more lucrative. There are countless people that are no longer in ministry that had talent, passion, and ability to do the job. I was one of them. I’m no longer a Pastor.

Grim Answers

Being a Pastor is a hard gig. For most, there is little reprieve from the week to week grind of leading people who don’t want to be led. There are always detractors ‘out to get you’ in their crusade against the Pastor. There are people that criticize, bear down, and berate the Pastor for doing something wrong or not doing something right. Some common examples of criticism that I heard in the churches that I served at are below. They were vague, but scathing as most of the criticisms were aimed right at the heart of ministry. I had committed my whole life and ministry to doing the things well and now those areas were being highly criticized.

• Our church doesn’t care for people well. The shepherds don’t shepherd and the sheep are dying in the field.
• The preaching at our church is shallow. We need ‘meat’ and we need to be fed from week to week, so we can grow.
• The church is all about money, it’s why we take an offering every week.
• I don’t like the style of music that our church uses, I don’t think it’s ‘Godly.’
• The people at this church are judgmental and hypocritical.

The life of a Pastor can be difficult and the bumps in the road can be damaging. Compensation generally is not nearly what the cost of the job is. Most churches underpay and overwork their Pastors. Media outlets are reporting daily how many millions of dollars the mega church pastor is making and what type of house they have purchased with their seemingly (reported by the media) extorted money. The vast majority of leaders in a local church are making little to nothing, sometimes being compensated with a meager parsonage, or a housing allowance of some sort. There are studies done on the compensation aspect of being in ministry as well. Churches that pay well, generally tend to do better overall in the health and life/growth of the church.

Depression and Anxiety Headline Any Leadership Role

Take a look at the top most stressful jobs in America and you will find the role of being a Pastor in the top 10. If you find depression and anxiety statistics alongside this list, you’ll note that both are found throughout these stressful roles and jobs. Depression and anxiety can be killers, both to the occupation, and, as noted above, to the person that is dealing with them. CEO’s of major companies wrestle with anxiety. High octane leadership in fast growing companies are anxious and restless. Pastors are depressed across our nation.

I don’t think that the mass exodus of leadership from the local church has much to do with the economic instability of our nation. It has more to do with the incredible instability of the local church as an organism. The outside forces that are ‘against’ a Pastor can overwhelm and defeat men and women that lead in a local church. It is at this point that Pastoring is longer worth the compensation, call, or dream that a Pastor may have had.

They quit.

And now we are looking for more people to fill the roles that have nearly killed the people that left them.