The truth is not somewhere in the middle
I am fascinated by the discussion thread I found at Monday Morning Insight. Todd (Rhoades, of Monday
Morning Insight) picked it up from a post titled Are Pastors REALLY Overworked? FWIW (For what its worth) I believe that the "true" answer to this question lies not somewhere in the middle but at the two extremes. Some pastors enter the ministry because it is their calling. Its an old-fashioned concept but I still believe God calls people to ministry. For those individuals called to ministry, ministry isn't something that can be stepped way from at the end of the day or end of the week. It is a 24 hour a day calling. "First you own the dream (of ministry) then the dream owns you." These men and women labor tirelessly in ministry, caring for sheep, as thankless a task as it was in ancient Israel. The trouble with being this kind of shepherd is that you smell like sheep.....
There are others that believe ministry is a "career choice", and treat it accordingly. They climb to newer, "better" and "higher" positions like it was a career that just happened to have a God component. These people give little of themselves to actual service but are always complaining about how hard they work. One pastor I knew - the senior or "teaching" pastor no less - was out of the pulpit nearly one third of the Sundays over the course of his last pastorate. He left for a "higher" position. I'm not sure that's ministry, actually. Which may be why it is such a job.
That's my two cents - would have been more but the economy and all......
What do you think?
Morning Insight) picked it up from a post titled Are Pastors REALLY Overworked? FWIW (For what its worth) I believe that the "true" answer to this question lies not somewhere in the middle but at the two extremes. Some pastors enter the ministry because it is their calling. Its an old-fashioned concept but I still believe God calls people to ministry. For those individuals called to ministry, ministry isn't something that can be stepped way from at the end of the day or end of the week. It is a 24 hour a day calling. "First you own the dream (of ministry) then the dream owns you." These men and women labor tirelessly in ministry, caring for sheep, as thankless a task as it was in ancient Israel. The trouble with being this kind of shepherd is that you smell like sheep.....
There are others that believe ministry is a "career choice", and treat it accordingly. They climb to newer, "better" and "higher" positions like it was a career that just happened to have a God component. These people give little of themselves to actual service but are always complaining about how hard they work. One pastor I knew - the senior or "teaching" pastor no less - was out of the pulpit nearly one third of the Sundays over the course of his last pastorate. He left for a "higher" position. I'm not sure that's ministry, actually. Which may be why it is such a job.
That's my two cents - would have been more but the economy and all......
What do you think?
Alan, I definitely agree with your assessment. I would also make similar observations for motherhood and teaching -- and probably most service professions. Some are called and see it as such, giving themselves wholeheartedly to their calling; others are in it for the perks.
Love, Donna
Reply to this