I told a friend about the book we”re excerpting this week, Anne Jackson”s Mad Church Disease. “The author paints a pretty bleak picture of pain and dysfunction among those serving in local churches,” I said. My friend travels more and visits far more churches than I do, so I wanted his opinion. “Is it really that bad out there?”
He answered without hesitating. “Oh, my, yes.”
Some time later I listened as three Christian college professors talked about their graduates who had tried professional ministry and then left it. The details of the stories varied: unreasonable elders (or one unreasonable elder the others would not hold accountable); poor leadership and lack of support for staff members by the senior minister; unrealistic or undefined expectations. But the end result for each was the same: idealism dashed and talent once committed to Christian service now diverted elsewhere.
Whose fault is this?
It”s true that each of us is responsible for our own spiritual health. Anne Jackson puts it this way:
There are no perfect churches to serve in, no perfect pastors to work for. . . . The first step in overcoming burnout is to own up to the decisions that have led you here. . . . You are responsible for the decisions you have made.
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But we”re also responsible for the effect of our spiritual lives on those we influence. Jackson says:
As leaders we are charged with the care of those God has entrusted to us. Without a high spiritual intake, our spiritual output will be low””if it exists at all. Unfortunately, because many of us are suffering spiritually, our churches and communities are suffering too.
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For the sake of those I lead, as well as for my own soul, I must tend to my relationship with God. In fact, my very ministry depends on it. One sentence jumps out from our Christian Standard Interview this week. Dean Trune says, “God cannot afford the risk of allowing us to succeed in ministry without him being the very center of it.”
Achieving this isn”t complicated. Jackson”s advice for rebuilding spiritual health is remarkably unsurprising: pray, meditate on Scripture, worship, serve, submit to God. Any of us can decide to take these steps right now, even if they have long been missing from our routine.
God himself tells us what he wants: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). Jackson points out that God does not command such love for a job, a calling, or even the church. But when he is our focus and first priority, every other aspect of our lives makes sense.
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