So, I just read in the news yesterday about yet another pastor who has fallen into sin and has been removed from his church. That makes at least three over the last month or so. I know of many more pastors that have in one way or another, whether it's because of inappropriate relationships, it's because of embezzling money, alcoholism, pride, or all kinds of reasons.
People I know from a distance have fallen out of their pastoral positions or duties because of sin. It's really pushed me to start asking some difficult questions. One in particular is, are there more pastors today who are dropping out of ministry than ever before? Meaning, is the church in a worse position than it ever has been? Are things going on, maybe even systematically, within the local church in America this year that make it worse, a worse situation than it ever has been? I don't exactly know the answer to that.
I can certainly have my assumptions and opinions. I don't know what it was like a hundred years ago, 500 years ago, or a thousand years ago. All I can do is read history, and there were some periods that sounded pretty rough. But nevertheless, I started to reflect on these things. I started to reflect on who these pastors are, what situations they were in, what type of leadership they had, and what accountability or lack of accountability they had in their lives. It has brought me to four conclusions that I wanted to share with you.
4 Insights into the Rising Number of Fallen Pastors
1. The Reality of High Standards
The first conclusion is that a high standard, such as what we get in 1 Timothy 3 or Titus 1, a high standard for leadership means that fewer people will meet that high standard. Scripture gives us this idea that even though every believer is called to live a certain way, those who are called to set the example, as Paul tells Timothy, set the example for the youth, set the example for the young men or young women that are under your leadership. If that standard is high, naturally, fewer people within a congregation or within the American church will meet that standard. That also means that those who do not meet that standard, maybe did, but now don't, will end up stepping down. There is this natural occurrence here, I think that we see.
2. A Pastor's Failure Is More Newsworthy Than Their Success
We know this to be true. Anytime we see a headline about a pastor that's fallen from sin or something tragic that's happened in a church or even a church burns down-those types of things are a lot more newsworthy. They show up in the headlines and even get clicked on and get likes, thumbs up, and a lot more attention. We see tragic stories and problems in the news.
3. We Are All One Bad Decision Away from Destroying Our Lives
I, and I hope you know you, are just one or two bad decisions away from destroying our lives. It is very easy for all of us, myself included, to start pointing our fingers at that pastor and that church leader and that lady that stepped down from ministry or was removed from ministry, was forced to resign, was fired, all those things because of certain types of sin that are horrific and that are unrighteous and that have destroyed lives and families. I can't point my fingers at those people and say, well, I would never 'fill in the blank' because here's what I've realized, and call me a fatalist or a pessimist, which I'm really not. I just recognize human nature.
Human nature is this: left without accountability, left to kind of fend for ourselves, apart from God's constant intervention and grace, and apart from a life of continual confession and repentance with people who know us, you and I are all just a couple of decisions away from destroying our own lives. And if we're in church leadership, we're destroying our ministry, maybe even our church. That's all of us. That's why we need Jesus Christ. That's why he had to come and die for our sins and why we need the Holy Spirit to live in us, to empower us to live this Christian life, because we cannot do it alone. Left to ourselves, we're going to make a mess.
4. Maturity Is Recognizing Your Own Problems
I would say, just as I look at these news articles, and I think, man, is this person blaming everybody else, or blaming their system, or blaming their church, or blaming their past, or blaming their spouse? I've seen some of that in their own statements in some of these articles or on the news. This leads me to say that some immaturity was never dealt with here. When I look at my own life, do I play the victim? Am I defending myself when somebody accuses me of something? Whether they're right or wrong, am I immediately on the defensive? Or am I maturely considering my life and saying, okay, what do they see that I don't see? What spiritual accountability in my life can call me out and call me to repent for some things?
5. You Are a Horrible Judge of Your Own Character
You and I, me especially, are really bad judges of our own character. I'm a really bad judge of what is right and what is wrong in my own life. Again, if left to myself. I need God and others to pinpoint those things in my life. Well, church leader and Christian friend, here's what Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:12:
"If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall."
That's for me. That's for you. Friend, let's stay faithful in our ministry as Christians, as gospel representatives, where we are light in the darkness.
Let's stay faithful by recognizing that we are fallen, that we are broken, that apart from God's grace, we are nothing. Apart from help in our lives, through the Holy Spirit and others, we will fall, too. May God bless you.
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