{"id":21614,"date":"1998-01-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1998-01-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/1998\/01\/01\/progress-your-can-measure\/"},"modified":"1998-01-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"1998-01-01T00:00:00","slug":"progress-your-can-measure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/progress-your-can-measure\/","title":{"rendered":"Progress Your Can Measure"},"content":{"rendered":"

W<\/strong>hile serving a small church in a small town, I heard about\npastors who ran themselves ragged to keep ahead of their parish’s possibilities.\nMy problem wasn’t overwork. Mine was a loss of motivation for work that produced\nlittle progress. I coveted the stress of the too-fast life. Instead, I’d\nawake each morning to the question, “What should I do today?”<\/p>\n\n

It wasn’t that there was nothing to do, of course; there just wasn’t much\nimmediate reward for doing it. The church was small and certainly needed\nto grow, but the town was small, too, and my attempts at church growth always\ncame up hard against the small town’s barriers to change.<\/p>\n\n

I was admonished in seminary to study diligently and preach good sermons.\nBut in my little church, it soon became apparent that the extra time in my\nstudy didn’t impress anyone; a simple Bible study seemed to please everyone\nas much as a sermon I’d worked on for days. People needed to be visited,\nbut I had seen everyone in the parish, plus all of those on the fringes of\nthe church family, in the course of three weeks.<\/p>\n\n

Ours, like many small-town, small-church pastorates, was a caretaking ministry.\nAt the end of a day, I’d come home feeling like I’d achieved little\u2014nothing\nof lasting value to the church, and certainly nothing recognized in wider\ncircles as the marks of success.<\/p>\n\n

The combination of my church’s inertia and my declining interest in caretaking\nleft me with a lot of guilt. I thought, I’m being paid with people’s\nhard-earned money, but what am I accomplishing?<\/em><\/p>\n\n

I felt that I’d failed, and with no one to tell me otherwise, guilt became\nparalysis. How does a pastor fight the discouragement and see some measurable\nprogress?<\/p>\n\n

1. Take time to grow<\/strong>\nWhen I was younger and less sure of my performance, being always on the job\u2014even\nwhen I had no more to do, or when fatigue had reduced my performance to\nzero\u2014seemed the only way to feel worthy of my calling. But I’ve found that\nif I let guilt keep me from taking care of my mental and spiritual health,\nthen I and my family\u2014and even my church\u2014eventually pay a price. I minister\nbetter when I take time to relax, read, recreate, spend time with family\nand friends, and to grow professionally.<\/p>\n\n

In small-church ministry, it’s difficult to find intellectual fulfillment.\nMy wife and I have tried to seize opportunities to take classes and seminars\nthat intellectually challenge us. Sometimes that meant sacrifice for our\nschedule and budget, and occasionally for the church.<\/p>\n\n

2. Sift through criticism<\/strong>\nEarly in my ministry, I rode to a regional pastors’ meeting with Alan, a\nbright, thoughtful, articulate pastor. I wanted nothing more than for my\nministry to model his.<\/p>\n\n

In the last session, a denominational administrator gave a devotional about\nsoul-winning. Instead of inspiring us, he spent the hour berating pastors.\nAny pastor whose church wasn’t growing, he shouted, was a liar and ought\nto leave the ministry. Holding up the church-growth record for the past year,\nhe thundered, “At least a third of you could be dead and buried, and it wouldn’t\nmake a bit of difference to the work of the God in this state!”<\/p>\n\n

I rode home in despair, certain the speaker had been talking to me. Then\nI glanced at Alan, who was driving the car. Tears rolled down his cheeks.<\/p>\n\n

“I’ve done everything I know how to do in my district,” he said. “And I guess\nI’ve failed. Maybe I should leave the ministry.”<\/p>\n\n

I was shocked. A first-year pastor, I had no reason to assume I wasn’t as\nworthless as the speaker had said. But Alan? The man with a church program\nsecond to none?<\/p>\n\n

I concluded that the speaker was a sniper who knew nothing about the problems\nof being a small-church pastor.<\/p>\n\n

While I take informed, constructive criticism seriously, my ministry is too\nprecious to let unbridled criticism sabotage it. As hard as it is, I now\ntry to ignore any criticism\u2014whether from a denominational executive or a\nchurch member\u2014that doesn’t come from those willing to take the time to see\nmy life and work from the inside. Otherwise I might wrongly assume I’m not\nmaking progress.<\/p>\n\n

3. Refuse to live with loneliness<\/strong>\nIt was late November when we moved into our first parsonage in a little town\ntwelve miles south of the Manitoba border. Already snow was drifted high\nagainst the front door. Just married and from the West Coast, my bride and\nI shoveled a path to the door and carried in our belongings. The night was\ncold, but we were warmed by our enthusiasm.<\/p>\n\n

This was the Lord’s call for us. He must have something in mind for us here.<\/p>\n\n

One Saturday night a few weeks later, Carmen and I sat at the card table\nthat doubled as our kitchen table. A blizzard was roaring outside, and all\nthe streets were blocked.<\/p>\n\n

“Do you remember the last day we spent in Seattle with Charles and Becky?”\nasked Carmen.<\/p>\n\n

“Funny you should mention it,” I replied. “You know what I was just thinking\nabout? The sound of the pipe organ in the college church.”<\/p>\n\n

A few minutes and a few memories later, tears ran down our cheeks. We suddenly\nrealized how alone we felt, and how different this small-church setting was\nfrom the dreams we had cherished during our ministerial training.<\/p>\n\n

Loneliness is an unexpected reality for many small-church pastors. Carmen\nand I have made cultivating friendships a priority. Ironically, perhaps our\nbiggest mistake in that first parish was to stay too close to our church.\nOn our salary, traveling to see family seemed an expense we couldn’t afford.<\/p>\n\n

But now we realize traveling to visit friends and family was something we\nshould have given ourselves permission to do. It was unrealistic to expect\nthat all our social needs could be met by church members.<\/p>\n\n

I’ve found a rich friendship with Tim, an Episcopalian priest whose theological\ntradition is much different than mine. I have discovered I’m closer in spiritual\nattitude to him than to many colleagues with whom I share theology. We discuss\nour concerns for God’s work with much satisfaction.<\/p>\n\n

4. Discern the source of your frustration<\/strong>\nI have been told that pastors worth their salt would fit well and work happily\nanywhere\u2014or the genuineness of their call is open to question. When Carmen\nand I found ourselves in a pastorate where adapting drained our emotional\nenergy, we questioned our calling to ministry.<\/p>\n\n

We learned to differentiate the challenges intrinsic to ministry from the\nfrustrations that arise because of differing cultural expectations, educational\nbackgrounds, and philosophies of ministry between pastor and church.<\/p>\n\n

Certainly, a dedicated pastor will try to minister with compassion and competence\nno matter what the setting. But we came to believe that wanting to match\nour gifts, needs, and vision with those of a church was not wrong. Our longing\nto minister where the differences between us and the church were not so sharp\nwas not unholy ambition.<\/p>\n\n

I believe now that God wants Carmen and me to find fulfillment in his work.\nHe wants Carmen to have the chance to develop her career. He wants us to\nhave friends and opportunities for growth. Coveting a place of status or\nimportance is one thing; it is quite another to ask God to put us on a track\nwhere we can grow to our full potential.<\/p>\n\n

5. Work your plan\u2014then stop<\/strong>\nHaving a long-range plan and carrying it through are the best antidotes to\nthe paralysis of guilt.<\/p>\n\n

Often I came home from a day of work and settled down with a good book, when\nthe thought came, Hey, isn’t this kind of selfish? You’re being paid with\ndedicated money. Couldn’t you be out ministering to someone?<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Now, when I finish what I’ve planned to do, I turn off that inner voice.\nFor example, I might tell myself, This week I’m going to visit four church\nmembers, whether they need it or not. I’ll follow through on each of my\nevangelistic contacts. I’m going to write one page for the monthly church\nnewsletter. I’ll plan one community service event and the church service.\nThen, barring emergencies, my work is done!<\/em><\/p>\n\n

While this list may not sound challenging to someone in a large, program-oriented\nchurch, in a small church the pastor often ends up doing much of the work\nsinglehandedly. Sometimes there’s no one to delegate to. So I must set a\nrealistic plan and stop with that.<\/p>\n\n

6. Persist<\/strong>\nA kind farmer once said to me, “I know it’s tough to pastor here, but if\nyou just keep hammerin’, you’re bound to break through somewhere.”<\/p>\n\n

I’ve thought of that often, particularly when progress seems to come to a\nhalt: The Lord wants me to accomplish something here. If I just keep hammerin’,\nhe’ll help me to break through to someone in a way that will be richly rewarding.<\/p>\n\n

Ed was a professional who’d lost his job in California and found himself\nrelocated to our conservative, small Midwestern town\u2014a square peg in a round\nhole. Just before I was preparing to move from the church, Ed came to talk\nto me.<\/p>\n\n

“Pastor,” he said, “the time you and I have spent here hasn’t been easy on\neither of us. But I want you to know that what has kept me going is that\nyou’ve been here. The Lord brought you here for me.”<\/p>\n\n

Ed’s comments helped me to see why God led me into small-church ministry.\nGod wasn’t just teaching me skills or preparing me for advancement. He was\nteaching me service. Loneliness, discouragement, and lost opportunities aside,\nsometimes ministry means just being available for someone else. My service\nin small churches has been the means by which God has taught me real ministry.<\/p>\n\n

Loren Seibold is pastor of Palo Alto Seventh-day Adventist\nChurch in Redwood City, California.<\/p>\n\n

Copyright © 1998 by the author or Christianity Today\/Leadership<\/em> Journal. For reprint information call 630-260-6200 or contact us<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While serving a small church in a small town, I heard about pastors who ran themselves ragged to keep ahead of their parish’s possibilities. My problem wasn’t overwork. Mine was a loss of motivation for work that produced little progress. I coveted the stress of the too-fast life. Instead, I’d awake each morning to the Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[2325],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[154],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[131],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[658,156,662],"tax_ctp_tags":[3717,3797,4021,4383,4498,4629,4708,5002,5102],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-21614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-loren-seibold","tax_publications-1998-leadership-journal","tax_publications-leadership-journal","tax_publications-winter_1998-leadership-journal","tax_ctp_tags-criticism","tax_ctp_tags-discouragement","tax_ctp_tags-friendship","tax_ctp_tags-loneliness","tax_ctp_tags-motivation","tax_ctp_tags-perseverance","tax_ctp_tags-priorities","tax_ctp_tags-small-churches","tax_ctp_tags-success"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"\nProgress Your Can Measure - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Overcoming discouragement so you can move ahead.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/progress-your-can-measure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Progress Your Can Measure - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Overcoming discouragement so you can move ahead.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/progress-your-can-measure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" 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