Operating in a vacuum of isolation, unfortunately, is how a number of pastors operate in ministry. Don’t get me wrong … I can appreciate the situations that my fellow co-laborers experience.
For some, geography is a challenge. You feel so far away from friendships and denominational connections that the locational disconnect translates into relational chasms.
Maybe, like me, you have what I would call a genetic challenge. I term myself as a “nurtured extrovert.” By nature, I’m shy and very quiet, and thus, this became my excuse to not reach out to others. Today, my wife wonders why I have to engage in conversation with random strangers in the mall.
For others, age is a huge relational issue. I can understand being the only minister in the room from one particular generation, and you long for a peer to connect with.
Then, there are situational challenges. I totally get wanting to find someone who is in a similar place in ministry and shares either a similar place of ministry or a specific season in the life of a church. Personally, I love finding other pastors and churches who have walked similar paths and/or are tracking along with my vision for the church.
But regardless of the challenges, as ministers we have to power through and intentionally engage in community. We were divinely designed to live in community. I get how busy you are. But there are times we are so busy doing “good” things that we miss out on the “best” things. And, in my limited-experiential opinion, operating in relationship as a minister is one of those “best” things we cannot ignore.
As my mentor has said to me in so many occasions, “The Enemy works in isolation; God works in community.” Read More
No comments:
Post a Comment