Is There a Crisis Among Pastors?

According to some we are facing a great and growing crisis among church leaders. It is great because the failings and weaknesses of a single pastor/leader affects hundreds of members in addition to the leaders and their families. Second, in addition to the human cost there is an enormous financial cost when leaders fail. I recently wrote to some of our supporters.

I am deeply concerned about the health and influence of Christians and the church. I was called from CHPC in 1989 to develop LifeWay Counseling Centers. Ever since I have helped hundreds of distressed, wounded and ineffective Christian leaders. Many who seem successful in religious life are at a crisis at home, church and soul. Some face exhaustion, sexual involvement, financial disaster and congregational conflicts. Some of my best friends have succumbed to divorce and scandal because they refused to ask for help. It goes without saying that a church with such leaders cannot be healthy.

During my sixteen years with CHPC I learned the necessary ingredients of leading a thriving congregation. We had a great staff, strong elders and turned on laity. They taught me numerous lessons about organization, purpose, planning, focused priorities and the importance of staying spiritually healthy. CHPC invested heavily in its leaders and I spent hundreds of hours counseling and equipping leaders at our sister churches. Even so, most churches cannot thrive without ongoing consultation.

I presently coach and counsel a significant number of struggling ministers and elders, coming along side them at life-changing times. I see them during church splits, moral crises or family dissolution. Boomer leaders are especially vulnerable to burn out, confusion and spiritual crisis. Confidential, safe and capable expertise is hard to find. This summer I calls from several leaders who asked for help from people who led them into catastrophic results. Now it may be too late to save them and the church from disaster.

To whom can a pastor or elder go for help when problems arise at home or with a parishoner? Several men discovered that people they thought were able to keep a confidence gossiped and destroyed a solid career. This is why I offer my confidential counsel, wisdom and prayers when a crisis occurs.

Calls come to me from all over the USA and the world from missionaries, pastors, evangelists and Christian counselors have gotten themselves into embarrassing and sometimes sinful problems. Adding to the crisis is the fact that few places are safe for them to go and even fewer people have the clinical expertise to unravel the web of deceit, marital pain, church anger and depressive symptoms.

As a Clinical Counselor I have both training and expertise in working with church and family systems that are deeply bruised and facing a loss of hope. I am also deeply committed to health of everyone concerned. Without a healthy leader the church cannot be strong; without a strong church the world will never hear the gospel and outreach, discipleship and missions will fail.

A healthy church family is critically important to society and the Kingdom of God. It is the goose that lays the golden eggs for Christian growth.