Something Has To Be Done

Contemporary pastors are caught in frightening spiritual and social tornadoes which are now raging through home, church, community, and culture. No one knows where the next twister might touch down or what values the storms will destroy. As a result, pastors ask themselves, "Does pastoral ministry make any difference in morally turbulent times?"

Society cannot flourish without godly pastors. how alarming for the Christian cause when men and women of God feel forced to brood about the future o fministry as they watch their work get harder and their world grow more corrupt.

Something has to be done. Ministry hazards are choking the hope out of pastors' souls. They feel disenchanted, discouraged, and often even outraged. They question why they should be expected to squander energy on trivial matters when evil threatens to wreck the human race. Fatigue shows in their eyes. Worry slows their stride. And vagueness dulls their preaching.

The church faces a perilous future when pastors find it so tough to survive emotionally and economically. Many flounder for meaning and mission as traditional morality keeps buckling under brutal unrelenting assualts from secular society. For good reason, pastors dread what will be next as the moral richter scale shoots up to a shocking six most days and sometimes tops ten. Some pastors consider their lives to be shadows of what they dreamed they would be, because many old formulas for ministry no longer work.

Something has to be done. Overwork, low pay, and desperation take a terrible toll as pastors struggle to make sense of crammed calendars, dectic homes, splintered dreams, starved intimacy, and shriveled purpose. Some quit in utter hopelessness to sell used cars, hawk Amway, or peddle water softeners. Others lapse into passivity like holy robots. And many of the remaining stouthearted hold on by their fingernails, hoping to find a hidden spring to refresh their weary spirits and scrambled thoughts. No aspect of pastors' lives has been spared, neither personal nor professional.

Something has to be done. Just when they are most needed, pastors are going haywire. It is obvious that nothing but vital faith will revive our times and culture. Now more than ever, a disintegrating society needs the spiritual salt that pastors provide.

Something has to be done. Pastors are at risk. The risks they face demand an all-out corrective action by the church. All this squandered devotion and wasted talent must be stopped so ministry can be restored to equilibrium and usefulness. Surely God intends pastors to be whole persons, flesh-n-blood examples of how the Gospel works in this kind of a world.

Something pastors can do. To enjoy a fulfilling future ministry that can transform our culture for Christ, pastors must intentionally move their focus away from trivia to singnificance. In the process, pastors will be reawakened spiritually and challenged professionally. God always enriches the worker busied with his work.

Effective pastors for the new century must be whole persons who deliberately balance being and doing, family and church, person and profession, worship and work. That means wounded healers must allow themselves to be healed through the same Gospel they use to bring recovery and wellness to others. The results: those now victimized by high demands of ministry will become triumphant victors (Pastors at Risk - H.B London, JR and Neil B Wiseman - pp. 11-13).