Traction or distraction

Years ago, returning to college following Christmas holidays, two of us rode in a fellow classmate's Model-A Ford. Living in western Washington State, we had a mountain pass to cross on our way.

As we started up the mountain, the driver announced, "If we can keep the car moving up the mountain slowly, we can keep our traction. However, if a car stops in front of us, we'll be in trouble because my tires are nearly bald." Then looking at me, he added, "If we have to stop, you and Jane will have to get out and push to get the car started. Then you'll have to run and jump into the car." As it turned out, Jane and I did in fact have to get out and push several times in order to help the car get traction once it had stopped!

Traction versus distraction

When we speak of "traction" in ministry, we are saying that when pastors recognize their calling and commit themselves to do the work to which they have been called, it takes steady, focused, intentional attention to the many facets of this unique work of God. Should they allow themselves to be distracted by sidelines, or by spending untold hours on various non-pastoral matters, pastors can lose traction and thereby become ineffective with their members.

Distractions are often like dysfunctions. Dysfunctions are the result of the normal, proper, or characteristic activities of ministry jumping the track and no longer functioning in an acceptable manner. Distractions come in many shapes and sizes, forms and guises.

Robert H. Pierson, former General Conference president and a pastor-missionary, once said, "The success of any organization or project is more dependent upon the human factor than upon the budget factor."

One pastor I know spent at least one-half of most days on the golf course. Obviously that did not leave him much time to be in the office, or to do much ministry of any significance. He was often late to meetings and committees, because sometimes he and his friends were behind a slow foursome while doing his "golf evangelism," as he called it.

Another pastor was distracted by his computer. He was unusually capable with the computer and rarely left the machine, so that the members almost never saw him during the week. One of his members said of this young capable pastor that he was "six days a week invisible and on the seventh he was incomprehensible," because he did not seem to find the time to put together a well-thought-out, thoroughly prepared sermon.

One young pastor, an intern, stayed home to care for his two little children while his wife went to work at an 8-5 job because they were overextended financially and needed the money. This program did not permit him to do much of anything with the small church to which he had been assigned to serve as pastor.

Cushy job?

To some pastors, pastoring is a cushy job. It's as if a pastor has tenure. The salary keeps coming, almost regardless of the lifestyle. So there are some pastors who reason, why not pick up a sideline or two? Others are doing it.

I know that some have taken sales jobs on the side, such as in real estate; others work in "pyramid" sales. I knew one pastor who served as a counselor at a mortuary during his "spare" time.

These extracurricular tasks are serious "distractions" to the pastor's life. To the degree that we fail to make pastoral work our passion and full-time focus, God's work languishes, our churches become weak, and God's saints are not receiving an honest full measure of the leadership the church is paying for, or the church legitimately expects.

One man who had served as choir director of his church for 20 years said that during that time there had not been one pastor for whom the church was his first love, priority, and passion. Then he began to list the pastors in order and state what it was that they loved more than pastoring.

For one it was cars; for another, computers; for another, buying, selling, and collecting books; for another, houses and real estate, etc. He said "there has never been a time when we at the church didn't feel we had to make a commotion to get our pastor's attention for a few minutes, before he got back to his real passion."

Understanding the work of ministry today

I do understand that the economic crunch on minister families is real. Even when both spouses work, there are major financial pressures, especially for those with several children.

I do understand that to answer a call to minister in some areas these days, a pastoral family can be in for some dollar shock.

I do understand that pastoring is often frustrating work. The church may not have developed a mission statement so that the pastor might know what to expect. The church people are not home much and when they are, they do not want to be bothered or visited.

However, consider this: "Some who have labored in the ministry have failed of attaining success because they have not given their undivided interest to the Lord's work. . . .The energies of the minister are all needed for his high calling. His best powers belong to God....The minister who is wholly consecrated to God refuses to engage in business that would hinder him from giving him self fully to his sacred calling." ¹

Is it possible for us as pastors to see the pastorate as just a job and allow "other things" to steal our time and interest? Is it possible to take such a general view of the church that one does not see the immediate needs of people and programs? Is it possible to be so wrapped up in our own pursuits that ordinary ministry and pastoral concerns are passed by or crowded out?

Evaluating pastors

Some years ago a conference administration asked me to evaluate its pastors. The administration and I decided to send a fairly simple evaluation instrument to seven leading officers of each church of the conference. The evaluations were sent out with a note that encouraged the church leaders to be brief and honest in their answers.

How did it turn out?

From the scores of evaluations received, a picture of each pastor came into focus. Here are only a couple of highly noteworthy points that came from this work.

The pastor does not seem to be spiritual. This was probably the most serious indictment of any that I heard. The report went on to say that the pastor had a short fuse and a bad temper.Board meetings were a battleground because if the pastor did not get his own way, he tended to fly into a rage. And if someone said or did something the pastor did not like, he could not seem able to forgive or forget.

When confronted with the evaluation, the pastor was quick to shift the blame elsewhere—to the insensitivity of some of his leaders, to the fantastic pressure under which he had to minister. He found it hard to own any responsibility in these matters.

We are reminded here, "Self is the enemy we most need to fear. ... So long as we are in the world, we shall meet with adverse influences. There will be provocations to test the temper; and it is by meeting these in a right spirit that the Christian graces are developed. If Christ dwells in us, we shall be patient, kind, and for bearing, cheerful amid frets and irritations. . . . Each one has a personal battle to fight."²

Here is another serious charge that came from the evaluation of another pastor: "He pursues an agenda that centers around his own interests and for the majority of his time does not include his church or its people. Only occasionally does he show up for church commit tees and/or lay-led meetings. Rarely is he seen at conference-called pastors' meetings. His wife and family also see him very little."

"Let ministers and teachers remember that God holds them accountable to fill their office to the best of their ability, to bring into their work their very best powers. They are not to take up duties that conflict with the work God has given them."³

This pastor seemed to be unaware that he was accountable for the expenditure of his time and energy; for what was in fact properly required of him.

How can a minister stay focused in ministry?

An old preacher said to me early in my ministry, "Take a good walk around yourself regularly, Lloyd, and try to see and hear what others may be seeing and hearing. It will be a most valuable walk."

Have you listened to yourself lately? Have you observed the focus of your ministry lately? Have you evaluated the influence and example of your life? Does it meet with your approval? Do you think it meets with God's approval? The answers to the above question could fill many pages. In brief I would say:

• Review regularly your sense of calling from God.

• Renew your consecration to God as His under shepherd (Phil. 3:7, 8).

•  Every day of your life, seek to do God's will from your heart (Eph. 6:6).

• Let financial compensation take a back seat to your true and deep commitment to ministry for Christ.

• Focus on revival for the "saints" and a search for the lost and straying sheep and lambs.

• Study the Word deeply and keep at it until you can present soul changing messages.

• Spend no time trying to politically please men, but concern yourself with pleasing God.

• If you have taken unto yourself a spouse, make his or her life and your marriage a top priority.

• If you and your spouse have brought children into the parsonage, let them be your first mission field.

• Never lose your sense of urgency about what life and ministry are about. We are getting a people ready for the coming of the Lord.

Paul's charge to the young man Timothy was, "Herald and preach the Word! Keep your sense of urgency [stand by, be at hand and ready], whether the opportunity seems to be favorable or unfavorable. [Whether it is convenient or inconvenient, whether it is welcome or unwelcome, you as a preacher of the Word are to show people in what way their lives are wrong.] And convince them, rebuking and correcting, warning and urging and encouraging them, being unflagging and inexhaustible in patience and teaching" (2 Tim. 4:2, AMP)