Tag: endurance

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Embrace “Place” as a Means of Endurance in Ministry

This article originally appeared at Small Town Summits Articles. I have the privilege of being the Content Manager for STS Articles.

All was silent except for the “swish, swish” of my cross-country skis through the carefully groomed tracks in the shiny snow and the occasional screech of a hawk. My elevated heart rate and the endorphin rush of using my muscles that were tired of sitting at my desk lifted my mood.

Each glide of my skis became a prayer as my heart praised God for His creation. I was surrounded by trees, snow, a frozen pond, and a brook that bubbled underneath the nearby ice.

Occasional animal tracks near the ski tracks accented my path. Things had been stressful in ministry recently, but none of that mattered now. I was able to leave it with the Lord and just praise Him.

When God called us to Vermont, I hoped that I would be able to cross-country ski someday. I had done it a couple of times and enjoyed it. I didn’t realize that our kids would soon be part of a community cross-country club similar to community soccer teams. I didn’t have any way of knowing then that my oldest son would start a nordic ski team at the local high school. I didn’t know at the time that we would all wish for more snow clear into March, hoping for a little more skiing.

Cross-country skiing has been one way that God has helped me to embrace the “place” that our small town is situated in. Over a decade ago, as we settled here and I came to love and enjoy our community, I didn’t realize how much embracing “place” would become a means of endurance in ministry.

Embrace Place by Enjoying Creation

As pastors and ministry leaders, we know that God reveals truths about Himself through creation. Romans 1:19-21 and Psalm 19:1-6 are just starting points for understanding that through creation “day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge” (Psalm 19:2). As preachers and teachers of God’s Word, we rightly place an emphasis on our study of the Book that God has given us to proclaim. Yet, we can easily fall into almost ignoring what many of the Church Fathers and Reformers called the “second book of revelation,” God’s creation. 1

When was the last time that you gave yourself time to be refreshed with a walk outside, noticing the way the trees look this time of year, or the last time you went for an evening walk during the summer to be dazzled by a firefly show in a nearby field? One of the privileges of rural ministry is that we are generally not quite as removed from God’s creation as those in city ministry.

Often, all we have to do to be amazed at what God has made is to step outside. This could look like a hike, a walk, a run, a bike ride, a kayak, or simply a drive with your wife for no other reason than to find beauty together.

Spurgeon, who of course was an urban pastor, encouraged his ministry students to get outside more: “A day’s breathing of fresh air upon the hills, or a few hours ramble in the beech woods’ umbrageous calm, would sweep the cobwebs out of the brain of scores of our toiling ministers who are now but half alive…[It] would not give grace to the soul, but it would yield oxygen to the body, which is next best.” (Lectures To My Students)

At the risk of sounding cynical, one reason that ministry leaders especially should embrace the “place” that God has stationed them in through enjoying creation is because nature doesn’t need you to counsel it or teach it or sort out relationship problems. The woods don’t require marriage counseling, but some of the members of your congregation do. Enjoying the parts of God’s creation that breathe life into you is one way to be in awe of God, and because of that to be able to serve your church members and community better.

Embrace Place by Looking for the Good in Your Community

Another way enjoying the “place” that you serve can give you endurance is by looking for the good in your community. Of course, looking for the good in your church community is always a helpful practice. But broaden your search for the good sometimes by looking out into your community and noticing what is good.

In my area, there are many hard-working people who embody the Christian work ethic, even if they are not believers. Their hard work inspires me to work hard myself, to teach in my church on why it is important to both rest hard and work hard, and to point it out to my kids when it is noticeable and commendable.

What are some of the “common graces” that you see in the life of your community? Is there an emphasis on music or the arts that you or your family can participate in or enjoy? Are there organizations doing good for others, like a robust food pantry or meals for seniors? Is there a nice library with programming that your kids enjoy? Are there good youth sports opportunities?

Looking for what is good in our communities reminds us that we are part of something bigger than ourselves and our church. Yes, the church is the primary community where God forms us and gives us close relationships. But your church is in a “place.” The people you are trying to reach with the gospel are in a “place.”

Appreciating your inner-connectedness and the good that is happening in your community reminds you that both believers and unbelievers are human beings made in God’s image. It can help you to endure in ministry by growing in thankfulness for what you have where you live instead of what you don’t have.

I love where I live. I have no desire to leave, but I trust that if that time comes, God will make it clear.

Yet I do know this: for as long as God has me here, I want to be faithful. And I want to enjoy where I live. Whether I am buried here or have just a few more years ministering the gospel here, I want to live life to the fullest as both a pastor and a person.

One way to do that is by embracing the “place” that God has placed me in. His sovereignty tells me that “here” is no accident. So even outside of my church community I will enjoy it to the fullest, marveling at His creation in these Green Mountains and looking for good things right where I live and serve.

Endnotes

1. https://reasons.org/explore/publications/nrtb-e-zine/historic-christianity-s-two-books-of-revelation

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Faithful Endurance: A Book Review of a Book Pastors Need in 2021

My article originally appeared at the Small Town Summits website as part of Small Town Summits Articles, for which I serve as Content Manager. This article was also featured on The Gospel Coalition’s “Around the Web” listing.

This past year has found me asking God now more than ever, “Help me to faithfully endure as a pastor. I need your strength. I need your wisdom. I need your grace.” It’s not that I have wanted to quit. And it’s not that we do not see God’s blessing on our church during one of the most difficult years in recent memory. In fact, in 2020 we saw God’s hand on our church in blessing and sustaining and expanding our ministry more than we have in past years. So why did I desperately pray for God’s help so often this year? Simply for the same reason that I hear from my other pastor friends: we are tired. 

We are tired of walking the tightrope between government regulations and freedom of worship. We are tired of the tension of valid health concerns and wanting to do ministry boldly at a time that people need it most. We are tired of trying to shepherd some through masks and others through Zoom. We are tired of facing the stresses and constant changes and challenges of doing our job during a worldwide pandemic—as all in our church are in their work also. 

But there is gospel hope in pandemic fatigue. The same Lord who shepherds our people is the same Lord who stands with us every day as pastors (2 Timothy 4:17). We need powerful reminders of this as we look ahead to 2021 and continue to pray for God’s strength, wisdom, and grace. 

A few months ago, I had the privilege of sitting down for a long chat with a good cup of coffee with my pastoral mentor. There was something refreshing, encouraging, challenging, and strengthening in talking and praying with somebody who has “been there” and who is still in the fight, serving faithfully during a hard season. This is why I picked up Faithful Endurance: The Joy of Shepherding People For a Lifetime, edited by Collin Hansen and Jeff Robinson Sr. I needed more wisdom and strength and grace from God through his faithful servants. I needed what amounts to a long chat with a good cup of coffee with many different pastors on many different topics who have centuries of combined pastoral ministry experience. I would recommend that you do the same in 2021.

The book’s strength is combining well-known pastors and ministry leaders like Tim Keller, D.A. Carson, Dave Harvey and Bryan Chapell with lesser-known but equally faithful pastors and ministry leaders like Mark McCullough, Scott Patty, and Brandon Shields. They are able to speak from a variety of backgrounds on multiple pressing pastoral concerns such as, “Ministry has left me spiritually listless” (Chapter 1), “My preaching always sounds the same” (Chapter 3), “My critics are a burden for my wife” (Chapter 6), “They’ve left, and I’m crushed!” (Chapter 7), “My church has outgrown my gifts” (Chapter 10), and “How am I going to make it financially?” (Chapter 11). This is all capped off with an interview with John MacArthur on the anniversary of his fiftieth year of serving at Grace Community Church.

I had not read a specific pastoral ministry book this year, and as I read I discovered that it was just what I needed to help me faithfully endure. I needed the reminders of godly, gospel-centered pastors to help me look not to them but to the Jesus whom we serve and trust in. I needed the sharpening in some areas, such as my preaching and my practice of a day of rest. After a difficult year, I needed the reminders of how to serve with and lead my wife more faithfully (Chapter 6), and how to keep difficulties such as people leaving the church in proper perspective (Chapter 7). 

I was challenged to look at the difficulties of ministry with eternity in view: “Pastor, that pain you feel, that stinging pain in your stomach that wells up each time you remember the friend who left—convert that aching moment into a reminder that there is a day coming when you will be reconciled. There’s a day coming when closure will happen.” (Dave Harvey, p. 82) I was encouraged with practical steps to grow in my leadership, all the while being pointed to what is most important: “The wise pastor also remembers that the main goal is to lead people to Jesus. We often overemphasize organizational leadership skills and underemphasize the pastoral skills of preaching, having conversations, and praying with people. Keeping the main emphasis on leading people to Jesus doesn’t mean we accept poorly led organizations as the norm, but it does remind us that we don’t have to be able to run a massive corporation to be an effective pastor. We do, however, need to know Jesus and be able to lead others to him.” (Scott Patty, p. 108)

For small-town pastors such as myself, there are gold nuggets throughout the book that will help us to have faithful endurance in 2021 and beyond. But the most significant chapter for you, like me, will probably be Mark McCullough’s chapter (8), “Does Staying in a Small Rural Church Make Me a Failure?” I learned from Keller and Carson, but I received an arm around my shoulder as a fellow rural pastor when I read McCullough’s words of warmth and joy from a man who has served the same rural congregation for almost three decades. McCullough spurs us on to faithful endurance by focusing on three joys that would serve us well to focus on during 2021: the joy of knowing and being known by God, the joy of making God known, and the joy of knowing others.

I pray that you will have faithful endurance in ministry in 2021. We can do this not from looking to our own wisdom or strength, but from looking to the Jesus who has promised us that he is with us always (Matthew 28:20). Faithful Endurance will help you do exactly that.

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