Sometimes I ‘m not sure members of our congregations understand how difficult Christmas can be for pastors and staffs of churches. Not only do we have to deal with the holiday craziness in our families (buying presents, dealing with travel logistics, etc.), we usually add more services during the Christmas season. That means we have to be at church a lot more nights than we normally do.
Add to that the unique pressures the holidays bring to the families of our churches – everything from college kids who are coming home to having to see relatives we’ve tried to avoid the rest of the year. That usually means a couple of emergency “counseling sessions” to help our friends get through the holidays without committing a felony while their family is in town.
But there’s another pressure that rarely gets mentioned. Pastors won’t even mention it to their spouses or closest friends. Can you guess what it is? For some reason, the holidays are the time when we evaluate our ministries and lives. Maybe it’s because the winter days get darker faster or maybe the end of the year is just a natural time to think about such things. And honestly, this is a hard process for most of us. Read more
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