It is my belief that being the pastor of a local church is one of the top five toughest careers a person can pursue. The reason I believe this so strongly comes down to a simple reason: Everyone who attends a church has their own definition of what it means to be a "good" pastor.
Think about that for a moment. Every single person that attends your church has their own personal concept of what a pastor should and should not do to be effective in his job. And therein lies the real problem: Every single person measures their pastor by their own definition.
Your pastor spends hours of their day spending time in nursing homes, hospitals, and various other things as well as trying to study God's word so as to bring the Word the way God requires of them. Add in trying to balance all that and having a family, these men are some of the hardest workers in the world. But even with all that, everyone that calls them "Pastor" still measures their calling by their own definition.
I have read a few different reports that are out there that a great number of pastors are stricken with internalized anger, frustration, burnout, and cynicism. Will you see it in your pastor? Probably not, unless it is when the bitter end finally arrives, when they are ready to resign and walk away.
Is every pastor feeling this way? No, of course not, but every single pastor faces these discouraging cycles from time to time throughout their career. And friend, there is something that we can do about it.
You might ask, what can I do? Well, how about encouraging your pastor. Well I already encourage him. Really? I can promise you that you don't encourage him as much as you think you do (I am saying this to me as much as everyone else). Our encouragement of these men lives in our mind, but it rarely finds its way to our mouths. It is human nature and we all make the brutal mistake of loving someone in our minds but failing to love them with our words. Speak life into your pastor's life and speak it often.
We have to have to allow him to be the man God has called him to be without projecting our expectation of what his calling should be. We all have our own job description for what a pastor should be or do but our pastors are not always going to fit into that mold. How would you react if you had 500 different job descriptions? Understand now? This is what most pastors deal with every single day. We need to chill and be easy on our pastors.
I can be easy on my pastor. I can be the one where, when his phone rings and he sees my name, he doesn't think, "Good gosh! What now?"
Every single pastor carries a load on their shoulders. It is our job to pray, support, and encourage these men of God. They are imperfect men, but in spite of all their imperfections they are doing what they feel is best to lead us and the people in our churches toward a meaningful walk with God.
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