J.D. Greear is the pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, NC, this pastor shared the following experience in his show: ASK ME ANYTHING:
Back in 2007, I sat in a conference filled with ministry leaders, listening to a prominent pastor share some sobering statistics:
- In the U.S., 1,500 pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.
- 50% of pastors’ marriages will end in divorce.
- 80% of pastors feel unqualified and discouraged in their role.
- 50% of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but they have no other way of making a living.
- 70% of pastors constantly fight depression.
- Almost 40% of pastors polled said they had an extra-marital affair since beginning their ministry.
- 80% of pastors’ wives feel that their husband is overworked.
- Over half of pastors’ wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage was the day their husband entered the ministry.
Not long ago, that same pastor—the one who had warned us about pastoral burnout and moral failure—was removed from pastoral leadership in 2016. He had abused his pastoral authority, shut out any attempts to hold him accountable, and pursued inappropriate relationships with a couple of different women. Pastor J.D painful continues to say about this brother the following: I know this man loved Jesus in 2007, and that he loves Jesus today. And I know he sincerely believed what he told us in that conference. But that didn’t prevent him from becoming one of the statistics he dreaded.
Isn’t it a painful story we have here? What is more painful about the above statistics is that they are not restricted to America but across the world and these statistics are realized just next door.
STRIKE THE SHEPHERD
The phrase ‘strike the shepherd’ is first seen in Prophet Zechariah and then latter reused by our Lord himself in Mathew 26:31. The phrase has two meanings, one is prophetic (revelation) where it stands for the capture and death of Jesus Christ, and the other is ecclesiastical, where it means the fall or injury of a leader. It is the devil’s tactic to always strike the shepherd as he targets that flock. Pastors suffer many atrocities some are psychological, some physical and others are moral.
For now, I will deal with the moral attacks on the men of God. the devil categorically attacks the men of God in 3Gs.
Glory: Shepherds fall in the trap of glorifying themselves. They suffer power struggles and become demi-gods worshipped by people instead of God. Pastors fall when they assume the place of God in their lives. This happened when shepherd Moses took the glory of God to himself by claiming that he was the one providing the water. This sin had consequences of which Moses was not allowed to enter Canaan (Numbers 20:8-11). Some ministers are praised for their right behavior and saintly lifestyle, others are too talented, others it is the gift (preaching, prophecy, teaching, wisdom or healing) they have that causes the flock to give them praises and glory. Gradually the shepherd becomes a celebrity followed by the Jesus he serves. He runs into self-glorification and Self-glorification is a moral collapse to the minister. Once a minister is glorified, and he takes on the glory to himself it is a sign that the shepherd has already been stricken. This what I call the POWER FALL.
Gold: Shepherds are struck by the devil through finances and materialism. Each of us human beings has a seed of greed or at least of consumerism in us, and once shepherds are exposed to resources, their greed is awakened and before you know it your pastor is in a financial scandal. It could be misusing church funds, harassing church treasurers or the man of God might be at the center of an unlikely business transaction in the marketplace. Money beats us pastors and easily wrestles us to the ground. This happened to the man of God, Gehazi in 2Kings 5:20-27. This is what I call the MATERIAL FALL.
Girls: Another pastoral killer-zone is women and men. The sexual sin is one that the devil strikes the shepherd by. Married or not married, the devil will strike the minister with this sexual tool. Shepherds are the most sexually vulnerable people in the church. There are cases when pastors are rapists, homosexuals, child molesters, etc. All this evil happens with real shepherds and real people. Apart from a few incidences where a pastor will approach a sheep for sex, many are the times when the sheep set up these ministers and put them in compromising positions. This is not to justify the failure of these ministers but a pointer to the fact that in a sex scandal between a sheep and the shepherd, the sheep are equally as guilty as the shepherd is. Girls have been a problem to God’s ministers for a very long time. This was the lot of the man of God Samson in Judges 13-16.
SHEPHERDS ARE ACTUALLY SHEEP
We often excuse our morally failing leaders as people who are mere men and sinners. But not every sinner is a victim; some are perpetrators who make choices and we need to hold them accountable for those choices. As Shepherds, we are not called to evangelize people to do just what we say but not what we do (Mathew 23:3). We must, in our lifestyle, demonstrate before the sheep, what we preach to them. That said, however, the sheep must understand that shepherds too are sheep like them. Saved by Grace through Faith alone.
Shepherds are not the message, but fellow sheep that God has chosen to use. God did not choose your pastor because he was morally superior to you, he chose him for his abilities and talents that have nothing whatsoever to do with his sinful propensities. Your shepherd is still a sheep to whom the message he is preaching applies as well. God will not send perfect Angels to come and minister to us human beings, God has chosen fellow fallen men to minister to others. We the Shepherds are all sinners in need of God’s grace, and the grace of others.
As a Christian leader, I have been humbled by both the strength and the weaknesses manifested in me. And I have come to a realization that however much one cow leads the herd, it is forever a cow like those she leads. Other cows must not assume that what they suffer as cows, the lead cow can’t suffer. As the lead cow volunteers and leads other cows to greener pastures, all other cows must convene to help the lead cow when it fails and falls. The messenger is not the message; your pastor does not translate into a false prophet because he morally failed. Jesus did not say you shall know false teachers by their moral failings but instead, he said, you shall know them by their fruits (Mathew 7:15-20).
A false prophet is not confirmed by his morals; there are many well-behaved cult leaders than they are gospel preachers. Jesus used the term fruit intentionally to alert us that a false preacher is determined by what he teaches before we evaluate behavior. Your pastor is not a false prophet because he failed morally, just like you, not a false believer after you sinned. Your pastor might be wrong morally, but the Jesus he gives you is right. Always check with the Jesus delivered before you run from one imperfect church to another sick one. JESUS IS THE RIGHT CONTENT ALWAYS DELIVERED BY AND IN DIRTY CONTAINER-PREACHERS. Take the message and help clean the delivery container. You and your pastor are false when you don’t acknowledge your sin, seek repentance and work towards change but insist on defending and justifying it.
God bless you I invoke TRUTH, REASON, and FAITH (2Tim 2:7)
Priest Isaiah White (+256-793/775 822833 for further inquiries)
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24)
@Think & Become
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24) 