8. The demand for originality is an especially burdensome and constant pressure.
If a pastor preached just two sermons a week for 50 weeks in a year, he would write the equivalent of nine novels. With that much productivity required, church members ought to forgive a dull chapter every now and then!
Though the Scriptures are an inexhaustible well of subject matter, saying biblical truths in an interesting way with fresh illustrations that connect with and engage a congregation is no small feat. The pastor who cannot preach well often finds his leadership itself threatened.
His pulpit ministry is his broadest stroke of contact and leadership, and if he is perceived as dull or repetitive, he loses his most influential method of leading.
9. One of the most frustrating challenges of leadership in the church is that churches often give the pastor or other leaders responsibility without authority.
For instance, the congregation usually assumes that the pastor is supposed to help meet the needs of his congregation. If a family has a legitimate financial emergency, they may turn to the pastor for immediate help, but he often has no way to provide it. And if he does, some committee may later rebuke him for overspending the benevolence budget.
Churches often have a “get it done” attitude toward the pastor, but then complain about the way he did it.
10. Simmering below the surface of all leadership is the pastor’s friendship development difficulty.
Most pastors and their families have great difficulties making and maintaining close relationships. A church leader often finds it impossible to walk the tightrope between leadership and friendship with the same people.
Leaders and their families may be afraid to confide in others, are often burned if they do, and sometimes become the victims of jealousy or resentment if they try.
Because of egos larger than they should be, pastors even find it difficult to establish relationships with other ministers because they can never break out of the thought pattern of comparing churches and problems.
So how do we meet those challenges? That’s the subject of the next post!
