Ministry: Spiritually Hazardous to Your Soul
Another well-known Christian leader has come under fire for sexual immorality.
I won’t go into the details. If you are at all dialed into church world, you know the megachurch pastor I’m talking about, and can find all the salacious details on the internet.
He’s denied the allegations and vowed to fight the charges. I hope for the kingdom’s sake that he’s innocent, and is fully exonerated.
But whether that proves to be the case or not, many leaders have fallen.
Why is this happening so frequently?
Some would argue that there aren’t enough checks and balances in large ministries today; some would say there is a lack of personal accountability in leader’s lives.
Perhaps.
But if that’s what it takes to keep a leader clean, well…
So I’ve got another theory to throw into the ring.
Ministry is spiritually hazardous to your soul.
Why?
First, it is because leaders are constantly doing “spiritual” things, and it is easy to confuse those things with actually being spiritual. For example, you are constantly studying the Bible in order to prepare a talk. It’s easy to confuse this with reading and studying the Bible devotionally to apply to your own soul.
You’re not.
You are praying – in services, during meetings, at pot lucks – and it is easy to think you are leading a life of personal, private prayer pouring out your praise, your confession, yourthanksgiving, your needs, to God.
You’re not.
You are planning worship, leading worship, attending worship, and it is easy to believe you, yourself, are actually worshipping your God in spirit and truth.
Again, chances are, you’re not.
What’s at play here? It’s actually quite simple. When you are in ministry, it is easy to confuse doing things for God with spending time with God; to confuse activity with intimacy; to mistake the trappings of spirituality for being spiritual.
But there’s a second reason why ministry is hazardous to a leader’s soul, and it’s even more subtle than the first. It is because as a minister you are constantly being put on a spiritual pedestal and treated as if you are the fourth member of the trinity.
In truth, the people you lead have no idea whether you have spent any time alone with God in reflection and prayer over the last six weeks; they do not know what you are viewing online; they do not know whether you treat your wife with tenderness and dignity.
They just automatically afford you a high level of spirituality.
Here’s where it gets really toxic: you can begin to bask in this spiritual adulation and start to believe your own press. Soon, left unchecked, the estimation of others becomes your own bead on things.
This is why most train wrecks in ministry are not as sudden and “out of the blue” as they seem to those who just “hear the news.” Most leaders who end up in a moral ditch were actually veering off of the road for some time. Their empty, or “false front,” spiritual life simply became manifest; or caught up with them; or took its toll.
You can only run on empty for so long.
I had a defining moment on this in my life when I was around thirty years old. A well-known leader, who had been a role model for my life, fell through an adulterous affair.
I was devastated.
But more than that, I was scared.
If it could happen to him, then I was a pushover. It didn’t help my anxieties that I was in a spiritual state exactly as I have described: confusing doing things for God with time with God; accepting other’s estimation of my spiritual life in a way that made it easy to bypass a true assessment of where I stood.
I was like a cut flower that looked good on the outside, but in time would wilt dreadfully and display quite plainly how divorced I was from any roots of life.
It was a life-defining moment.
I remember so clearly the awareness that I too, could fall; that no one would ever own my spiritual life but me; that I needed to realize that the public side of my life was meaningless – only the private side mattered.
This was not flowing from a position of strength; it was flowing from a deep awareness of weakness.
From this, the gun went off.
I began to rise early in the morning for prayer and to read the Bible.
I began to take monthly retreats to a bed-and-breakfast in the mountains for a more lengthy immersion in order to read devotional works, pray, experience silence and solitude, and to journal.
I began a two-year, intense mentoring relationship with a man who had many more years on me in terms of age, marriage and ministry.
There were many more “begans” as more disciplines, acts and choices found their way onto my agenda, but you get the idea: I was going to be a public and private worshiper; I was going to be a student of the Bible for my talks and for my soul; I was going to pray for others to hear and for an audience of One.
I hope you hear my heart on this. It’s not to boast, it’s to confess.
I still could end up in a ditch. You could too.
Let’s keep working to make sure that we don’t.
James Emery White
I have no words to add…you hit the nail squarely on the head. When ministry for God becomes more important than worship of and relationship with God, we are headed for disaster. Satan is very subtle about this and I try to be soooo careful. Thanks for the reminder, friend.
Really, I cannot wait to meet you. Sorry it couldn’t have happened this weekend at gIRL!! Soon, maybe.
Leah
BTW, hope you don’t mind, but I put a link over at The Point and on FB to this post. Everyone in ministry needs to read this.
LA
Leah,
I agree with you…about everyone reading AND about meeting 🙂 I am so glad you ladies met with God!!
Love you from afar,
pat
Thank you so very much Pat for posting this…you have no idea how much this is needed…not just for those in ministry but anyone and everyone can learn from what you’ve said.
Being in ministry for 10 years and being married to a Pastor and being on staff at a mega church and…well, you get the point, I have seen first hand the destruction this can have. I’ve seen the slippery slope and watched the path of destruction it leaves behind.
We, each and everyone of us, have a responsibility for our own walk with Christ first, then are we able to minister to others.
Thank you so much for your words of wisdom!
Melissa 🙂
Melissa!!! How are you lady?
I so agree. These are not my words of wisdom, I am just sharing and learning!!
Blessings to you sister,
Pat
absolutely and amen. Jesus alone is the one who can keep especially those on the edge of the slippery slope from slipping into the ditch. thank you for this reminder. scary thoughts, but very true.
Pat,
I came here due to Leah’s FB message and I am so thankful that I did! This gives some great insight and a check in our spirits….we are responsible for our walk and are we willing to step up to the plate or become lazy? It’s my choice. It’s your choice. It’s our choice. Thank you!!! Lovingly, Yolanda
There is not one thing for me to add. It’s a much needed read on many levels for all people. The ‘falling away’ and “falling” of many in leadership and in the body of Christ in general. I remain in serious prayer about that.
Also, I totally agree on what can happen in serving in ministry verses having a real relationship with the LORD and having our own souls feed and nourished — so critical to know the difference.
Blessings to you Pat.
Obviously some points we all “get” very clearly huh. Now if we could just “get it inside” once and for all!!!
We remain, in His grip, by His Grace!!!
Pat
I just linked this to Facebook, too. WOW.
xo m
Pat,
Whew-needed this! I need to work on being more like Mary instead of Martha these days. Not that “Martha” is a bad thing, though. 🙂 Thanks for the interesting comment on my blog. Hmmm…gives me something to think about.
love ya!
sarah