Do you feel isolated in your ministry? Ken Fong, pastor and a member of our Ask the Experts panel, reflects on his blog about how easy it is for pastors to feel alone, or just dazed by the position’s “continuous ball of concerns, meetings and messages.”
He compares the pastor’s situation to the story of a captured soldier in the Vietnam War who is thrown into solitary confinement. Although the officer refuses to talk at first, three years of isolation and monotony breaks him completely.
Fong acknowledges that the experiences of a pastor and a prisoner of war are on completely different scales. And of course, no one is intentionally inflicting this damage on a pastor. But being a leader gives your life a different rhythm and different set of challenges, and it’s just hard for many congregants to relate.
I’ve just finished reading Michael Lindsay’s Faith in the Halls of Power, which examines the rise of evangelicals to positions of influence in politics, academia, entertainment, and business. One thing I learned was that many evangelical corporate executives are pulling out of local church involvement and investing themselves more in parachurch networks. The reason? They feel like they can’t understand or be understood by the people in their church, people who have very different jobs and lifestyles than these executives. These parachurch groups connect them with other like-minded executives.
Fong’s solution was similar. He began to host a monthly lunch get-together for local pastors–a time to share concerns, swap stories, and glean advice. “It’s become one of those unique groups where pastors aren’t trying to impress each other with factoids that rarely get at what matters to God,” he says. Instead, they walk away encouraged, knowing that someone else understands and cares.
The best thing about it for me, though, is that, unlike this parachurch trend, Fong’s gatherings aren’t a substitute for local church involvement and ministry. I believe that God operates first and foremost through the body of Christ. And by leaving their churches, many of these executives are leaving the only place where they would ever come into touch with people who are different, who make less money or dream different dreams.
We need to be both supported and stretched. How do you find support in your leadership role?
