There are many difficult jobs out there.
One of my favourite shows is America’s Hardest Prisons on the National Geographic Channel. The title gives it away – this show explores the lives of prisoners and their guards in the highest security prisons in America. In one episode, due to staff shortages, a kid barely out of high school was called into the maximum security wing on his first day post-training. I didn’t envy him – spending the day with rapists and murderers would not be easy. I’m sure your job has its own challenges too.
However, no job can match the challenge and responsibility of leading a church, as this is the only position for which God will call his leaders to account:
“Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account.” (Hebrews 13:17a)
What a scary responsibility. It’s one thing to be accountable to shareholders. Quite another to be accountable to God.
If you are a Christian you are under the authority of your church leaders. They are responsible for you. And what a weight of responsibility they bear.
The way you behave has a very real influence on the way in which your leaders carry out this responsibility.
You can make it a joy, or
You can make it a burden.
“Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.” (Hebrews 13:17b)
Which will it be?
There are lots of motivations for why we should make the work of our leaders a joy, but I love it that the writer to the Hebrews uses a rationale to which most of us respond best – self-interest. It is clearly of no advantage to you if you are a discouragement and burden to your leaders – they will become drained, weary and lack the energy and motivation to serve and care for you. Basic self-interest should prove to us the value of making the work of our leaders a joy.
So let’s take a look at ourselves and ask the question “am I a joy or a burden to pastor?”. If you are unsure, why not ask your leader – “am I a joy to pastor? If not, how can I make your task a more joyful one?”
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Unfortunately, our church leaders are not necessarily infallible. They are only human and all too often let themselves, and their followers down. What advice do you have to offer those that have been let down by so-called leaders?
This is a really good question. I can recall very clearly the times I have been let down by Christian leaders (and I’m sure others can just as easily recall when they’ve been let down by me). As you point out, we are all still human, all still capable of hurting one another – it’s just that those in positions of Christian leadership have a higher standard (”beyond reproach”) to reach, and the implications of their indiscretions are much more painful. (They will also be held to account by God for the way they have acted in leadership). The great comfort from the Bible is that Jesus is not ultimately defined by the behaviour of his followers (though they most certainly should reflect him), but by his actions for his believers – past, present and future, on the cross. We can always turn to Jesus when we have been let down by his leaders (and for forgiveness when we let down others). His death means we can find comfort and healing when we are let down (he knows more than anyone what its like to be let down by the religious leaders and those close to him). Our religious leaders will always show themselves to be flawed people, but they, and we, can follow a flawless saviour who knows all our imperfections and still died for us.
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