I came across some interesting statistics that our youth guy shared with me. My understanding is these come from Barna Research group and was sponsored by Focus on the Family.
PASTORS
- Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.
- Fifty percent of pastor's marriages will end in divorce.
- Eighty percent of pastors and eighty-four percent of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors.
- Fifty percent of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.
- Eighty percent of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years.
- Seventy percent of pastors constantly fight depression.
- Almost forty percent polled said they have had an extra-marital affair since beginning their ministry.
- Seventy percent said the only time they spend studying the Word is when they are preparing their sermons.
PASTORS' WIVES
- Eighty percent of pastor's spouses feel their spouse is overworked.
- Eighty percent of pastor's spouses wish their spouse would choose another profession.
- The majority of pastor's spouses surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry.
If they 'stats' are adequate then no wonder our churches are in conflict and/or struggling. What does this say about the state of our minister's and their families?
Friday, August 24, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Churches in Conflict
Churches are in the news, but not with good news. I read yesterday about a Tennessee pastor who is being accused of the church paying for his daughter's wedding reception. There are some other accusations that have come to the surface, but that were proven false. Then last night on our local news station there was a story of a pastor who had resigned his church because money mismanagement.
I am not accusing either one of these ministers of anything. I think it is sad when churches are the news, instead of sharing the news - the Good News. What concerns me is churches are in conflict around the country. It is not just these two ministers, or these two churches, churches as a whole are experiencing conflict.
This week in our Bible Study we are studying Acts 20. In this passage, the Apostle Paul is speaking with a group of leaders from the church in Ephesus. Paul says to these leaders: "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers." The apostle literally says: "Pay attention to what is happening in your lives."
As leaders we must guard our hearts and lives, because Satan is a devouring lion who is seeking someone to destroy. If he can destroy the witness of one Christian then he is successful. If he can destroy a pastor or church leader then he has caused serious damage to a local church, a ministry, and to the Kingdom of God.
Later in that same passage Paul says: "So be on your guard!" As leaders we must not just "keep watch over the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers;" we must first "keep watch over yourselves." The writer of Proverbs 4:23 puts it like this: "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." In The New Living Translation that verse reads like this: "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life."
We must be men and women of integrity or we will never be able to reach the world for Christ. We must guard our hearts.
I am not accusing either one of these ministers of anything. I think it is sad when churches are the news, instead of sharing the news - the Good News. What concerns me is churches are in conflict around the country. It is not just these two ministers, or these two churches, churches as a whole are experiencing conflict.
This week in our Bible Study we are studying Acts 20. In this passage, the Apostle Paul is speaking with a group of leaders from the church in Ephesus. Paul says to these leaders: "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers." The apostle literally says: "Pay attention to what is happening in your lives."
As leaders we must guard our hearts and lives, because Satan is a devouring lion who is seeking someone to destroy. If he can destroy the witness of one Christian then he is successful. If he can destroy a pastor or church leader then he has caused serious damage to a local church, a ministry, and to the Kingdom of God.
Later in that same passage Paul says: "So be on your guard!" As leaders we must not just "keep watch over the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers;" we must first "keep watch over yourselves." The writer of Proverbs 4:23 puts it like this: "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." In The New Living Translation that verse reads like this: "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life."
We must be men and women of integrity or we will never be able to reach the world for Christ. We must guard our hearts.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Keith Green
July 28, 2007 marked the 25th anniversary of the untimely death of Keith Green. Keith was a Christian musician and songwriter who died in a plane crash, which also took the lives of his two oldest children and nine others.
There are two reasons for writing about Keith twenty-five years after his death. One, I read recently about his wife, Melody, who is releasing some of Keith's songs. Because of new technologies, she is releasing some of Keith's songs that have never been made public. She will be releasing the music on itunes.
The second, and the most important of the two, is a quote from Keith. It is worth pondering. Keith said: "I repent of ever having recorded one single song, and ever having performed one concert, if my music, and more importantly, my life has not provoked you into godly jealousy or to sell out more completely to Jesus!"
Those are words worth reading and re-reading. But more importantly, we should, like Keith, be able to say that our lives provoked others to sell out more completely to Jesus."
There are two reasons for writing about Keith twenty-five years after his death. One, I read recently about his wife, Melody, who is releasing some of Keith's songs. Because of new technologies, she is releasing some of Keith's songs that have never been made public. She will be releasing the music on itunes.
The second, and the most important of the two, is a quote from Keith. It is worth pondering. Keith said: "I repent of ever having recorded one single song, and ever having performed one concert, if my music, and more importantly, my life has not provoked you into godly jealousy or to sell out more completely to Jesus!"
Those are words worth reading and re-reading. But more importantly, we should, like Keith, be able to say that our lives provoked others to sell out more completely to Jesus."
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