Surviving Chaos

Being in ministry isn’t easy. Being in ministry often means leaving everything familiar behind to follow God’s leading to an unfamiliar place filled with unfamiliar people. Ministry means leaving family behind to continue on without your immediate presence. Ministry means rarely having a place to call home or people you can depend on. Ministry either drives your own family apart or pulls them close together. Ministry is filled with emotional highs and devastating lows.

In ministry you see the good, bad, and ugly of society. You see the hurt, pain, and sorrow in people’s faces. You experience hurt people lashing out at your own family because they have no clue how to express themselves or their hurt any other way. You walk with broken families, broken homes, and broken people.

Ministry isn’t a job you can leave at the office. It’s a 24/7, 365 day a year mission. It rarely pays enough support your family. And after 30 plus years of being in ministry, there is a good chance you still haven’t accomplished the goals many under your care have already accomplished. You have no home to call your own, you have limited funds in the bank, and your health is so wrecked that death is a welcomed blessing.

So why be in ministry? Why put up with all the sorrow, pain, and grief? Why walk with people who may never take your advice or counsel? Why be a minister?

In a video I recently watched it mentioned that the greatest source of stress for a minister is people. Another pastor friend of mine once said, “If it weren’t for the people, ministry would be easy.” There is a lot of truth with that statement. But where people are the greatest source of stress for a minister, people are also the greatest point of reward. I know it sounds a bit odd but it’s true. Ministers are in ministry because of people. No, it’s not that we enjoy the abuse hurting people put us or our families through or that we have sadistic inclinations which cause us to enjoy the grief and pain of others. We believe with all our heart that God has called us to be a beacon of hope to a hurt and lost world full of PEOPLE.

So here is a truth that is often overlooked; if the world is full of hurt and broken people, and ministers are in the world and they are people, then doesn’t that mean ministers are hurt and broken people too? Exactly! We are not perfect individuals who have their lives all together. There is no such thing as a Stepford principle when it comes to a minister’s family. When I come home, I am not greeted with dinner on the table, a newspaper in my hand, and my kids drooling on my every word seeking my attention. In reality, we are hurting, broken people trying to figure out how to maneuver in a world just as broken and hurt as we are. Our families fight and yell. We burn dinner and have messy laundry rooms. We forget to pay our bills and even overspend. Just because our desire is to serve God completely doesn’t mean we should be placed on a pedestal and worshiped as God. We are simply people, followers of Jesus, who are trying their best to serve, honor, and live according to the same principles we preach. We are convicted by the same truths and challenged to live better lives because of Jesus’ sacrifice. We live under the same grace and mercy from our Heavenly Father and are empowered to move forward daily by the same strength given by the Spirit. And we do all this while experiencing the same brokenness and hurt those under our care suffer from as well.

So why minister? The only difference between ministers and those they lead is this; ministers see the hope clearly and wish to share that same hope with others. It is our calling, our passion, and our mission to share our story and hope with anyone who will listen. We see the lost and the broken. We remember our own pain and brokenness and it causes our hearts to be crushed and filled with compassion like Jesus. Romans 10:14-15 puts it this way:

14 But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? 15 And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”

Ministers go through a lot. And the life of a minister’s family isn’t easy. But to walk with those in pain, to watch those who were broken find healing, to hear that the lost have been found is the greatest reward a minister could ever receive. We give up our life, our comfort, and our freedom for you! Why, because we love people. Our love for you is simply the reflection of love God has for you. It far outweighs anything we can give you. But our biggest hope is that you will find the truth and make it known to more people.

“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.” – John Newton (1772)