Young Ministers on the Joys & Struggles of Ministry
Late this summer, we asked young ministers to answer two questions:
Question 1: What is the greatest joy, in general, you have in vocational ministry?
Question 2: From your experience, what is the most difficult part of vocational ministry?
Here’s how they responded.
QUESTION #1: What is the greatest joy, in general, you have in ministry?
Seeing people take their next-step in following Jesus: First-time commitments to Christ, water baptism, Spirit-baptism, starting new small groups, seeing people accept a calling to ministry. All of those next-steps roll into one big wave of joy that floods my soul, every time I see them take place!
Being able to have an active role in seeing students pursue a call to ministry.
It is a tie for me: (1) developing ministry teams, (2) seeing former students continue to serve and follow Jesus, whether it’s in full time ministry or being faithful wherever they are planted…it’s an amazing feeling.
Leading my people to the Lord through preaching, prayers, baptisms, visits, and conversations.
Dinners with people in our congregation.
Knowing that what I am doing is a part of God’s great commission to make disciples of all nations as we prepare for the coming of the Lord.
I am privileged every day to pastor people and preach the Gospel. Knowing that this pleases God is my greatest joy.
My greatest joy is investing in my ministry peers. When I invest in them as people, I am investing in their ministries through them – that’s multiplication. And it’s the way Jesus lived and did ministry – he ministered to people and he invested in the 12 so they could minister to people.
Seeing people become a part of the church – not just attending services, but being the church – living out their faith in worship, breaking bread together, ministry in the church and community, helping each other paint their house or prepare meals.
Spiritual direction – leading people through the Word of God and prayer – as they grow in Jesus.
Relationships – with God and with the people I am privileged to serve in the church and outside the church.
Sending people into ministry. They believe in Jesus but want a “complete salvation”: they want to take Jesus to the world as missionaries, pastors, teachers, plumbers, factory workers or whatever.
Preaching and teaching God’s Word, trusting the Holy Spirit to anoint my words and plant them deep in the hearts of everyone listening.
Seeing people’s lives being transformed by the Gospel. Not just at salvation, but day-by-day over the years.
The greatest joy of ministry has been seeing people accept Jesus as Lord and Savior in response to ministry and relationships.
Showing people God’s grace and seeing their reaction as they taste it. It never gets old.
Seeing young people grow strong in faith and experience the power of the spirit.
Being a part of a person’s spiritual growth.
Seeing the spiritual growth in lives that you have walked with over a long(er) period of time. Looking back and realizing you don’t even recognize the person they once were.
Seeing teenagers graduate out of youth ministry and continue to faithfully serve the Lord.
Getting up every day knowing I am answering God’s call on my life, trusting and obeying Him.
Leading people to Jesus and seeing them grow and develop into their calling.
Helping people walk closer to Jesus and help them figure out what He wants them to do then do it.
My greatest joy in ministry is seeing the people that I have ministered to in the past still serving Jesus today.
Seeing students experience joy from their personal relationship with Jesus for the first time.
Walking alongside others as they seek God and seeing how He transforms their lives.
Seeing students truly follow the Word of God and share it with others. More so seeing my daughters follow my example and live for Jesus!
Coaching/encouraging people in a one on one setting and watching as the Holy Spirit guides, convicts, and encourages them.
Making disciples who make disciples, people passionate to know and grow in Jesus Christ and just as passionate to help others know Him and grow in Him.
Seeing youth receive salvation and tell others about the Lord.
Seeing people’s lives transformed, especially people I have mentored.
Being able to lead kids in salvation and be part of their journey discovering who Jesus is and how they can have a relationship with Him.
The students that still contact me from years ago at our first youth pastorate. Just knowing the lasting impression and impact on them.
My greatest joy is being able to have one-on-one conversations with people. I enjoy this much more than the preaching and teaching aspects even though I love those activities.
Seeing families restored.
The greatest joy has been seeing the light bulb come on for people. That Jesus truly loves them and cares for them.
Being able to walk with people and work with them as they come to see the gospel and their relationship with Jesus in a new light that actually changes the way they live their lives.
Helping lead people to Jesus.
QUESTION #2: From your experience, what is the most difficult part of vocational ministry?
Caring for your own soul—and the soul of your family—while caring for the souls of so many others.
When I care more about the spiritual growth of kids and students more than their parents. Equally, when people who I have grown close to in the church move away.
Separating my identity and value from what I do as my job. It’s been a gray area for me, for most of my ministry years.
Relationships.
Seeing people come and go.
Dealing with personal hurt at the hands of people we trust.
The external and internal pressure to be perfect.
Without a doubt, there is a constant battle against discouragement in some form or fashion.
Being avoided by people because they have decided to cut Jesus out of their life.
People aren’t perfect and ministry is heavy on serving people. People will hurt you, accidentally and intentionally. It may tempt you to lose trust in God.
The expectations Ministers place on themselves.
Letting go of the fear of the unknown. Examples: Will finances keep coming and how? Are other people secretly going to up and leave with no warning?
Seeing people walk away from faith.
Dealing and processing through the pain of what people say to me, do to me, etc. not condemning myself and shedding expectations.
Existing in a ministry silo, with no support from the lead pastor.
As a college campus missionary, the constant recruitment of freshmen and new student leaders. It would be nice to have some people around for more than 4 years. We have to grow by 25% every year to stay the same size.
The high expectation people have of your time and family and how little it often pays. While we have the heart to serve people, they often are not willing to pay a livable wage for the pastor and his family.
The most difficult part of vocational ministry is the cycle of not having guarantees that people will continue to support, attend or invest in your ministry. They can decide to quit, leave and withdraw and you are left in the dust.
Living with wrong expectations, my own and those of others for me. Expectations can be a very heavy taskmaster.
The rules… what I mean is Christians in the past didn’t worry about the regulations set on them but rather spoke and worked in boldness. The “church” as a building and organization hampers us in ministry.
The sometimes apparent lack of fruit coming out of your ministry, and that the impact of our ministries is outside of our control.
Seeing people leave your church who you thought were friends for no good reason. People who stop living for the lord and don’t talk to you anymore.
Seeing people walk away from the faith, do things they know are spiritually or emotionally damaging, or distorting their faith to justify personal decisions.
Time management. There is a lot to do: people to pastor, logistics to finalize, projects to oversee, people to connect with. So much require attention, figuring out what is the most important is the hardest to do.
That people can abuse you emotionally or verbally.
The unrealistic time commitment. Most churches operate with an employee mindset. As a result, Pastors work 40 hours in the office and then are on-call around the clock.
Living in a fish bowl, the expectations seem overwhelming at moments.
My greatest difficulty has been being hurt within a church context by leaders. People you respected and served that then caused great pain.
Struggling with desire to see/make results happen. It is incredibly difficult to simply be faithful and show up repeatedly with people who show little signs of growth or change.
Remembering I’m not the savior. I have to take care of myself and family before I can help anyone else. Sometimes, it feels the opposite.
Taking things personally. If people tell me a sermon, event, project, or ministry didn’t go well, I can take it personally instead of accepting it as constructive criticism of that sermon, event, etc. and not of me.
Comparing myself and my ministry to the well-known ones on my flat screens or the bigger church and “more successful” pastor across town. This is my weakness, to be sure, but the attractional-consumer church culture makes it acceptable, and even right, to change churches when a church isn’t giving people what they want or think they deserve. It’s hard to fight against the comparison temptation.
The “If I was better, more gifted, more capable” trap. Thinking that it’s me and not Jesus who builds his church. I pastor as faithfully as I can, trusting him to save souls and build his church, even if that means the local church across the street and not mine.
My own insecurities.
I don’t know how to say it. Years ago, pastors taught Sunday School, preached twice on Sunday, and taught Wednesday night and it’s all I can do to preach once a week. I’m always busy but am I busy doing the right things? I don’t know.
Lack of self-discipline. I live too much by my feelings, and so, I minister too much by them. Then I feel guilty for what I don’t get done or do in a haphazard way.
Letting go of past mistakes and moving on.
FINAL WORD
Vocational ministry has always been a blend of the best and the bitter, the sweet-to-our-taste and the hard-to-swallow. This will not change, not in this present world.
Those who not only survive but thrive in vocational ministry know this. And they know how to live healthy with that blend. In fact, the bitter and hard-to-swallow do not harm or handicap them, but make them stronger and sweeter in their souls.
How is this possible, you ask?
It is possible as the vocation minister keeps first things first, not as a mental list to work on, but as heartbeats to live on:
ONE: God has formed us – and formed us for Himself; we belong to Him.
TWO: God has redeemed us, giving us new life – in Him we live and move and have our being;
THREE: God has called us – we live our lives, and carry out our ministries, in obedience to Him;
FOUR: God has defined us – we are to be disciples of Jesus Christ, and it is from this life as disciples that we live out our calling as vocational ministries; our being in Christ defines our doing for Christ;
FIVE: God has pursued us – and pursues us daily, inviting us into Himself through spiritual disciplines like reading the Bible, prayer, worship, etc. that we might live in relationship with Him, abundant life in Him.
SIX: God has received us – our life is not one of performance but of relationship with Him and worship of Him; I do not live to build a “great” ministry, but to make my life one of worship and glory to Him.
SEVEN: We have an Audience of One – ultimately, we are servants of God, not ourselves or others. If we please Him, we can, with heads bowed, be at peace with ourselves and our circumstances in ministry.
“Loving (God) should be our first priority and the only and sufficient motivation to serve Him. . . If we do not serve out of love, we will end up giving up on serving. There is not enough human energy to resist the battering of serving your whole life. Only love will provide us the necessary strength to travel this road.”
José Luis Navajo, Mondays With My Old Pastor
Saddled with large student debt, just beginning to set up homes and start families, and serving in low paying first and second positions, Millennials are those who most desire but can least afford to pay for pastoral coaching.
We are able to do so thanks to the faithful and generous support of individuals and churches like yours who want to see young leaders not only enter the ministry, but remain in the ministry.
Now, more than ever, we need your help.
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