"The Secret Pain of Pastors"

Greetings! Came across a great article following this brief introduction written by Philip Wagner  Check it out...and pray for your Pastor!

Something to think/pray about...aspiring pastors, congregants, community of faith. 

Certain that without God's calling, "pastoring" would not happen:

1. "Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ." Ephesians 4:11-13.
2. "Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit." Hebrews 13:17

 

 

The Secret Pain of Pastors

By Philip Wagner

Philip Wagner offers insight into the six major struggles pastors face in the ministry and how to overcome them. 

Peter Drucker, the late leadership guru, said that the four hardest jobs in America (and not necessarily in order, he added) are:

  • The President of the United States
  • A university president
  • A CEO of a hospital and
  • A pastor

Is that true? Pastors love God and love people. They get to pray for people, lead people to a faith in Jesus Christ, and teach the Word about God.

That’s the dream job. You can read the Bible all day, pray, play a little golf and preach. I want to do that!

 

Here is the secret. Being a pastor is hard work. It’s not for wimps. 

This is the reality—the job of a pastor can be 24/7 and carry unique challenges.

Some pastors wear themselves out trying to help people. Some wound their families because they are so involved in ministry. Others flourish in their ministry and personal life.

Approximately 85 percent of churches in America have less than 200 people. Sixty percent of churches are under 100 people. The average size congregation in the U.S. is 89 people, according to The Barna Group. Staffs are small, and needs are great. In many situations, the pastor needs to be a Bible teacher, accountant, strategist, visionary, computer tech, counselor, public speaker, worship director, prayer warrior, mentor, leadership trainer and fundraiser.

Who can be all of that?

  • Ninety percent of pastors said the ministry was completely different than what they
    thought it would be like before they entered the ministry. 
  • Seventy percent say they have a lower self-image now than when they first started.

Personally, I love being a pastor. I have a great staff. We have great people in our church. I am content whether going through good times or difficult seasons. Of course, it’s a lot easier to be “content” when things are good. I have great friends who are pastors. My marriage is strong. I am a better man because of my time in ministry.

Some of the unique problems that pastors face are:

 

1. Criticism

Pastors can be criticized by a lot of people for a multitude of things.

 “Music is too loud. Worship is not long enough. It’s too long.”

“Sermon is not deep enough. It’s too long.” 

“Pastor thinks he’s too important. It took me three weeks to get an appointment.”

“You talk too much about money.”

“Can I talk to you for a minute, Pastor?” This simple question can cause a pastor to think: “Oy vey. Now what?”

We pastors need to find a way to not take criticism so personally and learn from truths that could be hidden in the criticism.

2. Rejection

Members leave, leaders leave and pastors’ friends leave. The reality is—people leave.

The smaller the church, the more obvious it is when people leave. Some leave for reasonable decisions; many leave ‘ungracefully.’ They leave the big churches, too—by the thousands.

People leave T.D. Jakes’ church, and they leave Andy Stanley’s church.

When our church had about 150 people and some would leave, it was so disappointing. I tried to console myself by thinking, “They may be leaving by the dozens here at Oasis, but thousands have left Jack Hayford’s church, and he’s a great pastor.” … That only helped for a minute.

“I’m leaving.”

“We want something deeper.”  

“My needs aren’t getting met.”

These comments can feel like a personal rejection.

Every pastor has heard, “I’m not getting fed here.” Bill Hybels has heard it. Wayne Cordero, Dino Rizzo, Ed Young, Craig Groeschel, Steven Furtick and Matthew Barnett have heard it.

Really? Not getting fed? In those churches? How is that possible?

One of the most difficult conditions to achieve is to have a “tough skin and a soft heart.” Love people, hold them lightly and don’t take it personally. 

“Uhhh, OK. Lord, help us.”

 

3. Betrayal

Trusting church members with personal burdens can backfire. They may end up telling the pastor’s personal issues to others. Staff leaders can take church members away. The pastor trusts a person with the platform or title, and that person uses the influence given to them to take people away. The Judas kiss.

Church staff causing problems is a betrayal. Pastors rightfully think, “I’m paying you to solve problems. I can get new problems for free. I don’t need to pay someone a salary to create them.” 

  • Fortypercent report a conflict with a church member at least once a month
  • Eighty five percent of pastors said their greatest problem is they are tired of dealing with problem people, such as disgruntled elders, deacons, worship leaders, worship teams, board members and associate pastors. 
  • The #1 reason pastors leave the ministry is that church people are not willing to go the same direction and goal of the pastor. Pastors believe God wants them to go in one direction, but the people are not willing to follow or change. 
  • Forty percent of pastors say they have considered leaving their pastorates in the last three months.

We pastors have to find a way, with God’s grace, to love people as if we have never been hurt before.

4. Loneliness

Who’s my friend? Who can I trust? If I tell another pastor my problems, will he criticize me, tell others or just treat me differently?

  • Seventy percent do not have someone they consider a close friend.

Are my friends really my friends or a church member who is a temporary friend who may leave any day now?

Healthy friendships are crucial to a fulfilling life, especially to the wellbeing of a pastor. Put special effort in this area.

 

5. Weariness 

Fifty percent of the ministers starting out will not last five years

Seventy percent felt God called them to pastoral ministry before their ministry began, but after three years of ministry, only 50 percent still felt called. 

Keeping personally refreshed is an art and a science … and extremely important.

When fatigue comes in, you not only look half-empty, but also dirty, contaminated and undrinkable.

6. Frustrations & Disappointments

Disappointments come in many ways.

Because of smaller congregations, the average compensation package for pastors is between $35,000 and $40,000. There are many things pastors in this salary range are not able to do for their family that other people around them can do.

There are many areas of ministry in which judging “success” is difficult. Pastors can be hard on themselves. We work in an area that good work and good effort does not always guarantee success.

Many pastors work hard but are missing some kind of “X-factor.” They are good people, sincere believers, love God, know the Word, have great content in their sermons, but somehow it’s not clicking. It’s frustrating.

It’s like a worship leader who loves Jesus and has a great singing voice but somehow cannot lead people in an effective worship experience.

Some days, leaders feel like they can’t seem to do anything right. The ministry finally gets momentum, and then a leader in the church falls. Things are going well, and then a couple of your biggest givers leave.

The church needs money, but the pastor doesn’t want to put too much focus on money. It’s not about the money—but it becomes about the money.

All of this can be overwhelming. 

  • 4,000 new churches begin each year and 7,000 churches close. 
  • Over 1,700 pastors left the ministry every month last year. 
  • Over 3,500 people a day left the church last year. 
  • Fifty percent of pastors feel so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if
    they could, but have no other way of making a living. 
  • 45.5  percent of pastors say that they’ve experienced depression or burnout to the extent that they needed to take a leave of absence from ministry. 

This is not the case for all pastors. In fact, many that I know have managed to handle these issues well. 

 

How Christians and church members can help:  

Pray for your pastor.

Pray for guidance, protection, healthy friends, their marriage and family. Pray for inspiration, anointing, the leadership team, unity and clarity. 

Protect your pastor.

As best as you can, don’t allow or participate in gossip and criticism. How can you serve and problem solve to prevent overload? 

Encourage your pastor.

Thank him or her for his or her work and ministry. Thank them for their sacrifice. Tell them a specific time in which you or someone you know experienced a life change in their church. Honor them to others. Let your pastors know you are praying for them. According to the Barna report—the profession of “pastor” is near the bottom of a survey of the most-respected professions, just above “car salesman.”

To Pastors.

Don’t give up, pastor! Persistence is powerful.

Keep on. Really! Your work, your labor of love and your sacrifice matters.

I realize the last thing a pastor needs is another sermon. But these verses have helped me. Hold on to God’s Word with your life.

So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. Hebrews 10:35-36 NLT

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time, we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Gal. 6:9 NLT

Be careful of the comparison trap.

Looking at other ministries can be inspiring. Comparing yourself to other churches can be destructive and discouraging.

Make new pastor friends. Expose yourself to new influences, new leaders, churches or ministries that are doing some things differently.

Discover to some fresh views and ideas. Sometimes, it just takes one or two new ideas that can change momentum around.

Pastors that are struggling or are no longer in ministry may have unresolved hurts. I encourage you to find healing. Seek counseling; find a local Celebrate Recovery group; equip yourself with resources on healing (some examples are Safe People or Boundaries) and share your secrets with safe people. Remember, you’re only as sick as your secrets.

*The Fuller Institute, George Barna and Pastoral Care Inc. provide the statistics I have used in this post.

Philip Wagner

Philip Wagner is Lead Pastor of Oasis Church in Los Angeles and founder of Generositywater.org. Oasis is an innovative and racially diverse church, largely comprised of people in their 20’s & 30’s. Oasis is known for its local and global outreach to the impoverished; especially orphans and widows, and funding clean water projects. Philip and his wife, Holly, started Oasis in 1984, in Beverly Hills with10 people. Today they’ve grown to 3000+ members. 

 

 

TIME!!!

JUST A REMINDER!!

TURN YOUR CLOCKS BACK ONE HOUR THIS SATURDAY NIGHT (NOVEMBER 5) AS DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME COMES TO AN END ON SUNDAY MORNING AT 2AM.

 

ALSO, JUST A REMINDER...

 

NLC'S 8:30 SUNDAY MORNING SERVICE BEGINS AT...8:30!

 

And,OUR 10:45 SUNDAY MORNING SERVICE BEGINS AT..10:45!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

PLEASE READ THIS IMPORTANT ARTICLE :

"Three reasons to get to church on time"

Why arriving before the start of the service can make a huge difference.

         BY SAMUEL MILLS  8 MARCH 2015  

I must admit, I’m not naturally someone who runs on time. I don’t really like waking up early, and often if I’m in the middle of something I don’t feel like I want to be restrained by deadlines or appointments. 

But I’ve recently become convicted of the many reasons to get to church on time, or even early! As young people (especially those of us with our own transport), it’s not really that hard –  we don’t have kids to buckle up into the car, or a whole bunch of people to organize.

Getting to church on time is actually really important, and I think we need to be starting to get into this habit in our teenage years. 

So without further ado, here are three reasons for you to get to church on time regularly:

1. To meet new people

A few weeks ago at the evening church service I attend, I looked out on the congregation ten minutes before the service was due to start. There in the chairs sat three groups of people who I’d never seen before, glancing through their service handouts. Unfortunately, there were very few regular churchgoers at church at that point (apart from those of us in the band), and so there was no one there talking to them. What a missed opportunity. 

Let’s face it – new people are usually the ones who get to church early. And if you get to church even five minutes before the service starts, you can welcome them before the first song even begins. 

Our churches need to be welcoming new people, whether they’re Christians visiting from another church, Christians who might be looking at coming to the church, or people who are yet to know Christ just coming along to see what it’s all about. It’s good to meet new people after the service over tea and coffee. But welcoming them – and having a good conversation with them – before the service even begins is going to make them feel so much more at home. It could be the difference that makes them want to come back next week!

 

2. To encourage the encouragers

I could be a bit biased here, as I’m usually playing in the band at church, but I think it’s true – getting to church on time shows those serving at the service that you appreciate what they do. If you’re there when the service begins, and sing heartily along to the music, listen when the bible is read and listen to what the service’s MC has put together, you are showing that you appreciate the work they are putting in to encourage the church. 

Contrast this with regularly turning up fifteen or even twenty minutes into the service. As someone who often is serving up the front at the start of the service, I get the message that you don’t think what goes on at the start of the service with is that important. You don’t value the way the music team has rehearsed and are using their efforts to lead the congregation in praise to God. And you don’t value the work that the MC, the bible readers and the person praying have put into helping the congregation grow in and be encouraged in their faith. You just come to church to hear the sermon – or worse, for the refreshments afterwards! 

Of course, the people serving up the front shouldn’t be doing it to impress people – they should be doing it for God. But as fellow brothers and sisters, we should be encouraging them as they encourage us, and appreciate what they do. 

 

3. Because it shows and sets your priorities

Regularly turning up to church late might not seem that big a deal for you. But I think if we’re really honest, it’s just a symptom of the real problem – we don’t see church as important as it should be. 

What is it that makes us late for church? 

  • Maybe we were asleep and just wanted a few more minutes in bed. 
  • Maybe we were halfway through a DVD and wanted to finish it off.
  • Maybe we were hanging out with friends and didn’t want the conversations to end.
  • Maybe we wanted to stop off at McDonald’s on the way to church, or… 
  • Maybe we were finishing off an assignment that we really should have done earlier.

See, when we do this regularly, we’re putting sleep and entertainment and friends and food and schoolwork before church.

And why is church so important? Because the bible says it is

(and for good reasons)!

In Hebrews 10, the author urges his reader

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” – Hebrews 10:23-25 (NIV)

The same applies for us – we are to hold on to the hope we have in Jesus, and spur one another toward love and good deeds. We’re to keep on meeting together regularly at church – for that is how we encourage each other, as we look for the day when Jesus returns.

Church isn’t just a bunch of randoms meeting in a building each week. It’s not just a combination of readings and songs and talks. It’s the time when we encourage each other in our faith, reminding each other to hold onto the hope we have in Jesus, as we wait for him to return.

~~~~~~~

 

See YOU this Sunday at NLC...on TIME!!

 

"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, 

making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.  

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand

what the will of the Lord is." 

Ephesians 5:15-17

 

Annual Mission's Banquet

MISSION'S BANQUET!! All invited to this yea,rs' Mission's Banquet, held at the Haverhill Citizen's Center, 1 Welcome St, October 28, 6-9pm.

Special foods, special mission's presentations, guest speaker, Kurt Lange, East Coast International Church/Dream Center, Lynn, Ma

Contact Samantha Berry to let us know you are coming and what foods you will be brining! 978-590-8215.

All invited!! Children, youth, adults!

 

United Night of Prayer

Join us for our United Night of Prayer!!

A a follow-up to September's United Night of Worship, NLC is partnering with numerous local churches for a concentrated effort to pray together, once a month, beginning this Thursday, October 20, at 7pm.  Each third Thursday of the month, the meeting place will vary, moving from church to church throughout the city.  The first Prayer Meeting will be held at NLC, 966 Main St (Rt 125), Haverhill. 

Churches that have been invited to attend include The River Church, Advent Christian Church, Community Christian Fellowship, King of Grace, First Church of Christ-Bradford, Riverside Church, First Baptist, Second Baptist, Rehoboth Lighthouse, Church of the Nazarene, Haverhill Community Church, West Congregational, and several others. 

YOU are invited to come and pray at this historic event!  Please feel free to invite other believers, and other churches to attend as well.  The meeting will last for approximately one hour.  There not be coffee, nor snacks!  We will simply gather to pray and to seek the Lord as one body.

Spread the word....United Night of Prayer, this Thursday, October 20, 7pm at NLC.

Next prayer meeting, November 24, 7pm at Riverside Church, 278 Groveland St, Haverhill.  Make plans now to attend.

"You were all called to travel on the same road

and in the same direction, 

so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. 

You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, 

one God and Father of all, who rules over all, 

works through all, and is present in all. 

Everything you are and think and do

is permeated with Oneness."  

Ephesians 4:4-6

The Message

 

Greetings!

Greetings and welcome to our church website!  Launched earlier this year, we hope that this medium will be helpful in informing you of our purpose and our events.  This "Pastor's Blog" will be a place to bring a special word or insight, or a special notice that we feel is really important for you to know about.  

Feel free to contact us via email: nlc.news@yahoo.com, or phone: 978-373-1379.

Our facebook page is: "Nlc-Haverhill"  You can find pertinent info there as well.

Also, check out the "NLC MEDIA" link on this website for current sermons and recorded church events.

God bless you!!  Hope to see YOU soon at NLC!

~Pastor Rick

HILLSTOCK 2016

HILLSTOCK SEVEN - JULY 2016

"Hillstock is a celebration of  praise and evangelistic music and activities designed to lift up and promote the Lordship of Jesus Christ in private and public settings"     

Make plans now to be there!!

*Wednesday Worship Night,  

July 6th @ 7pm at NLC

An evening designed for the church to honor the Lord in preparation for the major outreach in downtown Haverhill over the weekend

*Friday Evening, July 8th @7-10pm GAR Park

A night of special music designed to Praise the Lord and entice the unchurched to begin a relationship with Jesus

*Saturday, July 9th @ 12-5pm GAR Park

All day festivities include Christian music (band, solo, rap) Puppet Show, Kids Games and Activities, Bouncy House, Snow Cones, Popcorn, Hot Dogs and Hamburgers, High Striker, Hair Braiding, Face Painting, Dunk Tank…all at no cost!

Plus: free raffles for bicycles, helmets, school back packs, ipods, CD's and more!

*Sunday, July 10th @10:45am

Special Service featuring the Choir and Testimonies from  New England Teen Challenge-Brockton - Spread the word…and make plans NOW to be there!

"Sing to the Lord a new song"    Psalm 149:1

 

Hillstock 2015

Post from June 18, 2015

HILLSTOCK 2015
June 24, 26-29

“A celebration of praise and evangelistic music and activities
designed to lift up and promote the Lordship of Jesus Christ
in private and public settings.”

Wednesday, June 24, 7PM at New Life. “A Night of Praise & Worship” with Zenzo Matoga, Director of Boston Night of Worship/United Night of Worship. A great night to worship Jesus and fellowship with the people of God.

Friday, June 26, 7-10PM at G.A.R. Park, across the street from the Haverhill, Public Library. This night will feature talented artists, including: rapper Paris Fisher; soloists Anita Maldonado, Carol Tereno, Anthony Greve, Kristen Hodge; duet Steve and Dinice Newman; and Mercy Road Band.

Saturday, June 27, 12-5PM at GAR Park. This afternoon will feature many of the presentations from Friday night, plus a Children’s Puppet Show, Human Video, and the New Life Worship Team. There will also be free raffles of special gifts, including bicycles, school back packs, idads, basketballs, and more. And….there will be free hot dogs and drinks; face painting; hair braiding; kids games including races, pie throwing, dunk tank; snow cones; popcorn!

Sunday, June 29, 8:30AM and 10:45AM at New Life. Special guests will be the Men’s Choir from Brockton Teen Challenge. A picnic will follow the second service on the church grounds.

All invited! All for Free!!!

New Life Christian AG, 966 Main St, Haverhill, MA
978-373-1379