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The Broken-Hearted Pastor

I’m not writing this post to offer any advice on what to do when brokenhearted. If you want that, you’ll probably find resources like Lecture XI of Lectures to My Students, Volume 1 by Spurgeon helpful. He knew what it was like to pastor with a broken heart. But I’m not sure that all of us need advice as much as we do realistic expectations: expect a broken heart as part of what it means to be pastor.

We should and will pastor sometimes with broken hearts. And that’s not wrong. It’s required. We need more pastors who know what it’s like to occasionally weep. We need to learn how to be a broken-hearted pastor.

“Be not dismayed by soul-trouble,” wrote Spurgeon. “Count it no strange thing, but a part of ordinary ministerial experience.” Get used to occasionally being a broken-hearted pastor.

This article originally appeared here.