Pray for Pastors - God of the Impossible: Day Eight, Week Eight

It seems that nothing shocks faithful churchgoers as much as a pastor falling into sin, leaving the ministry, or leaving the faith all together. It’s stunning to us when the men and women who have taken on the call to shepherd God’s people with His Word and Spirit trip up and fell into sin. News of their issues spread like wildfire and deplete the faith of many people. Churches split. Homes torn apart. The fallout is great. And yet it surprises us that it happened.

But why? Pastors and ministers are flesh and blood, body and soul, wrestling with their sinful nature, just like us. Standing on a stage, behind a pulpit, proclaiming the word of God, does not lift them above the temptations and attacks of the enemy. They are fallible and bound to make mistakes in life, just like us.

Peter, Jesus’ radical disciple, knew this better than anyone. 1 Peter 4:12 says, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you” (KJV). Fiery trials are part of the life of a believer and pastor, but a lot of us have support systems, people we can rely on for prayer and guidance when we are tempted or when we fall down.

For Pastors it is a bit more difficult. Who do they have they can trust when they struggle or need to process something they are wrestling with? For many pastors, they don’t often get the luxury of trusted friendships that allow them to be human and a pastor at the same time.

And it’s having a deep impact.

Pastoral Care Inc. recently said that denominations are suffering under a shortage of ministers in an “Empty Pulpit Crisis.” George Barna published stats showing that 42% of pastors thought of leaving the ministry in 2022. Nothing could illustrate the issues the pastors are facing as drastically as three prominent ministers committing suicide over the last four years—even as they were helping others with their mental issues.

Further on, Peter writes:

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.  Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world” (1 Peter 5:8-9 NKJV).

Just as we are to be sober and vigilant about our own walk, we believe God is asking us to be sober and vigilant for the men and women who have taken on the task of hearing from God and communicating with us every week.

The call for us all, and the prayer for this week, beckons us to remember the bullseye our pastors wear and to pray for them fervently and regularly.