The Pastor as Minister: Facing the Unique Challenges of Ministry

FIGHT CLUBS

TREASURING CHRIST TOGETHER

Conference for Pastors

How did I arrive at that dark place where I actually wanted to kill myself? This… had been building up for a few years.

The shift from locating my identity in the message of the Gospel to locating my identity in my success as a messenger of the Gospel was slow and subtle.

I painfully learned that the more you anchor your identity and sense of worth in something or someone smaller than God, the more pain you will experience when you lose it all.

#1

20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

IDENTITY ISSUES

IDENTITY ISSUES

IDENTITY ISSUES

#2

1. What are signs in your own life that show your identity is anchored to your ministry or calling? Share one or two things, if you are able.

2. What are the ways that your relationship with your wife and family are suffering because of ministry? What is the Lord showing you about your heart right now?

3. What do you need to start teaching and admitting to your church congregation about the reality of pastoral ministry that they need to know so they can help in “pastoring” you as their pastor?