“What I’m noticing as I travel around to churches is that a lot of church staff would rather quit than contend for that healthy culture because of the reputation that people gain by sounding the alarm.”
“There’s a definite empathy that’s needed within church staff to be able to sit down with each other and validate the concerns that we have without it turning into gossip.”
“We don’t want to hurt each other. We don’t want to see anybody be hurt or disappointed or disillusioned to the point where they quit. And so one of the ways that I tried to do that was to really operate under the structures that I was under in the church.”
“I think all of us [church leaders] want longevity. I don’t know any of us who want to keep quitting or keep jumping church to church.”
“I’m learning as I go into new situations after being hurt, number one, that old wounds can still sting.”
“I have to remind myself all the time that God’s kids, we don’t panic—we prophesy, we speak into it, we fight for it, we contend for it. And then when he calls us out, if he calls us out, we know that we’ve done what we could to be that agent of change.”
“For our own health, sometimes the best thing we can do is go and to get out. And those have been some of the hardest seasons of my life.”
“One of the ways that I know that it’s time for me to get out [of a ministry situation] is when my emotional, spiritual and physical health is in danger.”
“We all need to have mentors and disciplers in our lives who we trust, who can listen to these situations, [people] that are removed from our organization, removed from the church, and help counsel us through what we’re experiencing.”
“We have to remember that we are all only by the grace of God still in this.”
“It’s not going to be a cakewalk. It’s not going to be this rosy thing all the time. But in it, there is so much beauty in this ministry thing. It is brutal and it is beautiful, but God is in it with us every step of the way.”
“Right now, I have the honor of being in a different church every weekend, and I want you to know that the church is very much alive. And you, as leaders and pastors and ministers of the gospel, you are doing a good job.”
Mentioned in the Show
Hebrews 12:1-2
Matthew 18
Philippians 1:6
“Raised to Stay: Persevering in Ministry When You Have a Million Reasons to Walk Away” by Natalie Runion
Check out Natalie’s website
Follow Natalie on Facebook, Instagram and X/Twitter
Abraham Piper
Brady Boyd
“Church Leaders Urged To ‘Not Give In and Not Give Up’—Study Finds Pastors Suffering Overall Health Decline” by Janna Firestone on ChurchLeaders
“Ed Stetzer: 6 Marks of Church Dysfunction” by Dr. Ed Stetzer on ChurchLeaders
Eric Geiger
Josh Harris
“Lecrae: ‘Deconstruction Isn’t a Bad Thing If It Leads to Reconstruction’” by Jesse T. Jackson on ChurchLeaders
Voices With Ed Stetzer
