Setting Pastors Up for Failure
The preloaded victim mentality
This originally appeared as an X thread on June 20, 2024
We don’t discuss this enough. A lot of the advice peddled to pastors and seminarians by professors, authors, influencers, etc. seems focused on how uniquely difficult and terrible pastoral ministry, congregations, and congregants are.
It’s a bit ironic because many of those dispensing this advice (being professors and other things) are not serving in active pastoral ministry and, if they ever have, haven’t for many years. Maybe there’s other reasons for this that haven’t been adequately considered.
Guys often go straight from childhood to Bible college to seminary to ministry. Pastoring might be their first permanent job and, in light of this advice they got along the way, they come in thinking that they’re working harder and suffering more than anyone else.
They probably aren’t, but they don’t know that. They’ve had a victim mentality preinstalled that sets them up for conflict when they have to interface with the real world and real people with real problems. Those who believe they are entitled victims will act the part.
Self-fulfilling prophecies will self-fulfill. If guys come into pastoral ministry expecting to hate it and to struggle mightily with the labor and the people they’re called to serve, there’s a good chance they will hate the ministry, and not persevere in it.
Anecdotally, as someone who came into ministry as a second career, while pastoring certainly has unique challenges, they’re not on the whole greater or more difficult than the challenges I faced elsewhere. Some stuff is hard, some isn’t. God is faithful, you get through it.
Don’t heed the advice of those who peddle failure as success, normalcy as difficulty, mere competence as heroism, and resentment and bitterness as regular features of faithful shepherding. “Godliness with contentment is great gain.”