Not News to Me

The first church I served out of seminary was in the Metro Columbus (OH) Baptist Association. For sentimental reasons, I am still on the mailing list for the associational newsletter. The September issue was in my mailbox this morning. DOM Rich Halcombe's column (actually, it took up 4.5 columns) was entitled "The Loneliness of the Leader". Rich had some great advice on how ministers can successfully navigate the dark waters that inevitably come with minstry. I found it interesting that he gave that advice before listing some statistics shared in an ordination service for a MCBA pastor. The stats were not news to me, nor will they be news to anyone who has served in the ministry for any length of time. Consider:

• Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to spiritual burnout, contention in their churches, or moral failure.
• Fifty percent of pastors' marriages will end in divorce.
• Eighty percent of pastors and eighty-four percent of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors.
• Fifty percent of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.
• Eighty percent of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years. Ninety percent of pastors said their seminary or Bible school training did only a fair to poor job preparing them for ministry.
• Eighty-five percent of pastors said their greatest problem is they are sick and tired of dealing with problem people, such as disgruntled elders, deacons, worship leaders, worship teams, board members, and associate pastors. Ninety percent said the hardest thing about ministry is dealing with uncooperative people.
• Seventy percent of pastors feel grossly underpaid.
• Ninety percent said the ministry was completely different than what they thought it would be before they entered the ministry.
• Seventy percent felt God called them to pastoral ministry before their ministry began, but after three years of ministry, only fifty percent still felt called.
• Eighty percent of pastors' spouses fell their spouse is overworked.
• Eighty percent of pastors' wives feel left out and unappreciated by the church members.
• Eighty percent of pastors' spouses wish their spouse would choose another profession.
• Eighty percent of pastors' wives feel pressured to do things and be something in the church that they are really not.
• The majority of pastors' wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry.
• Seventy percent of pastors constantly fight depression.
• Eighty percent of adult children of pastors surveyed have had to seek professional help for depression.
• Seventy percent of pastors do not have a close friend, confidant, or mentor.

While I don't know the preacher's source for the above statistics, the implications ring true to my experience. Though I'm not a preacher by trade or training, some time ago I preached a sermon entitle "Elijah's Aftermath" in which I shared my own struggles with depression. While it may be true that those who are bent toward helping professions may be wired so that they are more prone to depression than those who choose other lines of work, there can be no doubt that it is a definite occupational hazard for ministers. Fuller Seminary professor Archibald Hart (holder of terminal degrees in psychology, biochemistry, and psychopharmacology) rates ministry in the top three most stressful occupations. Not news to me.

Do you believe this?

My friend John Allen's blog included this last week. He's a big fan of Laurel Masse ... I don't know her stuff, but her blog says loads about her faith sensibilities. And what an incredible story.

Six years and a day.

In my church, we had a meeting yesterday afternoon to discuss a new approach to response in worship ... not for every week, but for every now and then. Why would we want to do that? Far too often we assume that the "response" in worship is just for:

1. those professing their faith in Christ publicly for the first time;
2. those joining the church having moved from somewhere else;
3. those rededicating their lives to Christ after a season of living otherwise;
4. those answering a call to full-time vocational ministry; or
5. those requesting prayer for a crisis need.

If none of those is me, then I just bide my time until the service is done (and I get antsy if it lasts too long -- whatever "too long" means), or I go ahead and leave to make some pressing after-church engagement (usually involving food or recreation). But here's the truth: when God's word is proclaimed, we all respond in some way. That's why we call the hymn after the sermon the Response Hymn rather than the Invitation Hymn. Of course we understand that there are many opportunities to respond to God during the course of the service. I love the liturgical pattern "The word of the Lord," "Thanks be to God." That's a response to God's revelation. It's coached, but it is a response.

Laurel Masse's story is one of spontaneous response ... pure and unadulterated. "Do you believe this?" "Yes." Can you hear it? Can you just imagine the sincerity of heart behind it? Oh that we would learn to be as children and respond to the words of Christ as the little one behind her did that day! What a profound message! There should have been many voices responding ... if not "yes", then "I want to", or "I'm working on it", or "I don't know yet", or ... or SOMETHING.

That's enough to think about for now.

That's enough to think about for now.

Archbishop William Temple on Worship

I read an essay on worship this morning by Matt Redman entitled “Revelation and Response.” It included one of my favorite definitions of worship by William Temple (1881-1944).

Temple was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1942-1944. That doesn’t mean much to most American Protestants that I know. Basically that means that he was the head of the Church of England (with which our Episcopal brothers and sisters in the US are associated, if I’m not mistaken). At the very least, we can assume that one who has arrived at that position of honor and responsibility has enough theological scholarship under his belt that we would be wise to pay attention to some of what he has said or written.

The Wikipedia entry I consulted for background information on William Temple included yet another statement he made. It is a cogent point deserving of attention:

The church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.

That means that church is not about the members getting our needs and wants satisfied; it is about equipping and motivating us the members to bless others in the love of Christ.

The Wikipedia article also had Temple’s definition of worship, but in a slightly different format than the one I knew; and it included a line at the beginning and at the end that I had not encountered before (included in bold type above and below the familiar format of the quote).

Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God.
To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God,
To feed the mind with the truth of God,
To purge the imagination by the beauty of God,
To open the heart to the love of God,
To devote the will to the purpose of God.
And all this gathered up in adoration is the greatest of human expressions of which we are capable.

That’s enough to think about for now.

Lord, This Is Your Service

Early on in our relationship, the lovely wife told me that she thought I might pay more attention to her if she had words printed all over herself. I have always been known to have an almost insatiable appetite for reading. Because I publish the Musings in a blog, I have come into contact with a number of other blogs. I find it hard to connect well with long blogs with a lot of content. I like them to be about the length of my Musings. A little longer is OK, but not a whole lot. I just don’t have time.

The blog entries at worship.com are usually short enough that I can take them in quickly, digest them, then move on with my daily tasks. Last week I saw an entry that connected me to PraiseMorePowerful.com, the web site of Dwayne Moore (a college classmate of mine). Dwayne has always had a huge passion for God and His word. Out of that passion, he has developed and published a study on worship and made some companion resources available for free via the web site.

One of those free resources is a worship planning guide that is designed to focus the thoughts of those of us who are “in charge” of planning and leading worship. I thought them worthy of sharing:

1. Prayer: “Lord, this is Your service. How can we bless You?”
2. Planned Spontaneity: “Lord, this is Your service. What do You want us to do?”
3. Pliability: “Lord, this is Your service. Feel free to interrupt us.”
4. Power of the Spirit: “Lord, this is Your service. You flow through us.”
5. Pastoral Direction: “Lord, this is Your service. We submit to Your overseers.”

I encourage you to go to PraiseMorePowerful.com and explore the whole planning guide and the other things that are available. “Lord, this is Your service” focuses our attention in a completely different direction than, “Do I like what we’re doing this morning?” Worship belongs to God, and He alone has the right to decide what brings joy to His heart.

That’s enough to think about for now.

Psalm 51 (paraphrased by Leslie Brandt)

Blake alluded to King David in his message this past Sunday morning. Old Testament scholars believe that it was after Nathan confronted him about Bathsheba that David wrote Psalm 51. Here is an excerpt of Leslie F. Brandt’s paraphrase from Psalms/Now.

I know that nothing can be hidden from You.
I can only acknowledge my indictment
and accept Your loving forgiveness.
Purge me of my guilt, O Lord;
heal the hurts of those
who have been afflicted by my failures.

Revive my flagging spirit, O God.
Restore to me the joy and assurance
of a right relationship with You.
Reinstate me in Your purposes
and help me to avoid
the snares and pitfalls along the way.

It is only then that my tongue will be set free
to sing Your praises
and my hands to perform the tasks
You have set before me.
It is only then that I can relate
deeply and meaningfully to my brother
and communicate to him
the message of reconciling love.

I bring You no oblation or sacrifice, my God,
only a foolish and self-centered heart.
I do come to You with a sincere desire
to be Your servant,
to walk in Your course for my life,
to receive Your love and channel it
to my fellowmen about me.

I thank You, God, that this is acceptable to You
and that I will remain Your son forever.

That’s enough to think about for now.