I want you to pull out a piece of paper. Not your phone. I want to invite you to set some time aside to look at your soul, to see what’s happening in you.
2020 is not normal. What you are walking through, what you are leading through, no one has led through a pandemic with the access to technology that we have. That adds a layer of complexity, and if we’re honest, exhaustion.
To see what’s going on in you, I want you to write down how you have felt over the last several months. What is going on in you?
For me, in the last few months, the best words to describe it are deflated and sad. Like there is a huge cloud hanging over my year. The guy who led me to Christ died from covid. We’ve had friends lose their job. If you’re a pastor, you are carrying all kinds of weight about your church and leading them through this season.
According to Barna, let’s see if other pastors said what you wrote down. According to Barna, when they asked pastors how they are feeling:
- 51% said tired
- 41% are exhausted
- 39% are panicked
I talked a pastor this week who leads a church of 400, and he said: 100 people want us to require masks, 100 people don’t want masks, 200 people don’t care. He said I feel like my church is splitting at the seams right now.
31% of pastors say they are struggling with their well-being. 68% say they feel overwhelmed by the task of leading right now.
Not only are we facing a pandemic, but a difficult economy, racial tensions that many have ignored for too long, and an election on the horizon.
The reason I say this and have you write it down is that as people, as leaders, we must name what is going on in us.
Naming things takes away its power, and until we name it, we can’t change it, because we can’t take responsibility for what is false.
The other reason naming things is essential, is until we do, we don’t know where we are asking God to meet us. Are we asking God to meet us in our exhaustion, hopelessness, sadness, depression, depletion, are we asking God to meet us in our hope, our joy?
But we also can’t lead our people forward without naming them.
And right now, our people need our leadership. Those stats are true for your people as well. They are tired, exhausted, panicked, they are struggling with their well-being, and feel overwhelmed by life right now.
Maybe for you, you need to name losses you have experienced this year. We aren’t very good at experiencing loss and grieving those losses, but they are a crucial part of our maturity and becoming more like Christ.
To re-evaluate, refocus, and realign, you have to look at where you are. Until you do, you can’t move forward.
So here are some questions to help you meet Jesus in this place and care for your soul:
- What is God teaching you as a leader right now?
- What is God revealing to you about your church? A crisis has a way of showing our cracks, as well as our strengths. What strengths and weaknesses have been revealed in you or your church during this season?
Many of us are feeling off-kilter, or even excited, because God is revealing some areas of weakness in our churches, he is showing us some new things.
It is difficult to lead when you are tired, exhausted, panicked, but here we are. Many of us are don’t have a full tank or even a half-full tank.
How would you rate your spiritual practices? On your paper, let’s evaluate ourselves:
- How is your prayer time? Your Bible reading?
- How’s your sleep?
- How are your eating habits?
- How are you doing with exercise?
- If you’re married, how’s your marriage? Your intimacy with your spouse? I’ve had countless pastors tell me their struggle with porn is stronger than before.
What is one thing you will change to experience renewal in the next week?
Don’t shoot for three things, just one. Look for one way to care for your soul and meet Jesus in a deeper place this coming week.
